Garnishee Order Victoria: How to Attach a Debtor's Bank Account

What a Garnishee Order Does

A garnishee order — formally called an Attachment of Debt in Victoria — directs a third party who owes money to the judgment debtor to pay that money to you instead. The most common target is a bank holding deposited funds in the debtor's name, but it can also reach insurance payouts, rental bond refunds, or trade debts owed by the debtor's own customers.

The mechanism is powerful because it reaches cash directly. No Sheriff visit, no auction, no argument about exemptions — the bank simply pays out from the debtor's account balance.

Form 71A vs Form 71B

Victoria uses two forms depending on how the third-party debt compares to your judgment:

• Form 71A — used when the amount the third party owes the debtor is less than the total judgment debt (including interest and costs). The order attaches the entire third-party debt.
• Form 71B — used when the third-party debt exceeds the total amount due under the judgment, including interest and costs. The order attaches only enough to cover that amount, leaving the rest untouched.

Choose the form based on the amount the garnishee owes compared with the judgment debt, interest, and costs: use Form 71A if it is less, and Form 71B if it is greater. If you do not know the amount, do not select a form by guessing; check the court's form guidance before filing.

The application is made ex parte — you do not need to notify the debtor first. The court issues a provisional order, which is then served on the third party (the bank).

How Bank Account Attachment Works

When a provisional garnishee order is served on a bank's head office, the bank freezes the debtor's deposit accounts up to the specified amount. The debtor cannot withdraw the frozen funds. After a set period (typically 14 days), if the bank does not dispute the order, the provisional order becomes final and the bank pays the attached amount to the court or directly to the creditor.

The freeze is immediate upon service. This makes timing important — serve the order when you believe the account has funds, such as just after a pay day or after a known business transaction.

What Cannot Be Attached

Not every dollar in a bank account is fair game:

• Joint accounts — if the account is held jointly with someone who is not your debtor, the funds generally cannot be attached unless specific rules allow joint debt execution. The co-holder can apply to the court to release their share.
• Trust accounts — money the debtor holds on trust for a third party is protected from attachment.
• Centrelink and social security payments — section 62 of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth) protects a defined "saved amount" in an account: eligible payments credited during the previous 4 weeks, less withdrawals from the account during that period. The protection does not attach indefinitely to every dollar that originally came from a benefit. If protected and other funds are commingled and the account is frozen, the debtor can ask the court to release the protected amount.

One wrinkle worth knowing: wages deposited into a bank account lose their character as "earnings" and become an ordinary bank debt. This means Attachment of Debt (Order 71) can reach wages after deposit, even though Attachment of Earnings (Order 72) is the normal mechanism for ongoing wage deductions. The timing of the order relative to the deposit determines which rules apply.

Finding the Debtor's Bank Details

The garnishee order is only useful if you know where the money is. If you do not know which bank the debtor uses, there are several approaches:

• Oral Examination — an oral examination compels the debtor to disclose all bank accounts under oath, including account numbers, branches, and approximate balances
• Payment records — check the account details the debtor used to pay you (or anyone you know) in the past, such as refund transfers, invoices, or prior VCAT settlement payments
• ASIC and ABN searches — for business debtors, company extracts and ABN Lookup can confirm the trading entity and sometimes reveal bankers through registered charge details

You cannot privately access the debtor's bank account balances, tax records, or Centrelink records without a court order.

When the Third Party Disputes

If the bank or other third party believes it does not owe the debtor money, or disputes the amount, it must file a notice with the court within 14 days of being served. A court hearing then determines whether the debt is properly attachable. This sometimes happens when the debtor's account is overdrawn, the funds are in dispute, or the bank claims the money belongs to someone else.

The VCAT Order Enforcement Guide covers the full Attachment of Debt process with a debtor asset register worksheet for tracking account details and third-party debts across multiple enforcement rounds.

See more Victoria guides →