How to Garnish Wages in Delaware After a Judgment

Wage garnishment is the most reliable collection tool for employed debtors in Delaware. If you won a judgment in Justice of the Peace Court and the debtor isn't paying voluntarily, garnishing their wages forces a portion of each paycheck to come directly to you. But Delaware's garnishment rules are strict, and getting a detail wrong means wasted fees and months of delay.

What You Need Before Filing

You need three things: a final judgment, confirmation that no supersedeas bond or court-ordered stay blocks execution (an appeal alone does not automatically stay it), the debtor's current employer name and payroll address, and $30 for the garnishment fee.

If you don't know who employs the debtor, you'll need to find out through a post-judgment debtor examination under JP Civil Rule 69 before filing the garnishment. Serving a writ on a former employer wastes your $30 fee and resets the timeline.

The Filing Process: Forms 17, 17A, and 34

You'll file three interconnected forms at the JP Court:

JP Civil Form No. 17 is the garnishment request itself. It identifies you, the debtor, and the employer (the "garnishee"), and states the outstanding judgment amount including accrued post-judgment interest and court costs.

JP Civil Form No. 17A is the employer's answer form. You file it blank — the employer must complete and return it to the court within 20 calendar days of being served.

JP Civil Form No. 34 is the wage calculation worksheet. The employer uses it to compute how much can legally be withheld each pay period based on the debtor's disposable earnings.

Submit the forms to the civil clerk with the $30 fee. The clerk verifies the judgment is final and assigns a constable to serve the employer.

Delaware's 15% Garnishment Limit

Under 10 Del. C. § 4913(a), 85% of a debtor's earned wages are exempt from attachment. That leaves a maximum of 15% of disposable earnings available for garnishment each pay period.

This is significantly more protective than the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, which allows up to 25% of disposable earnings. Because Delaware's state limit offers greater protection, the state rule controls.

Use JP Civil Form No. 34, the Wage Garnishment Calculation Worksheet, to calculate disposable earnings; the 15% cap applies to disposable earnings, not gross pay.

The Single-Garnishment Rule

Under 10 Del. C. § 4913(b), only one wage garnishment can be active against a debtor's earnings at any time. If another creditor already has an active garnishment, your writ goes into a queue. You won't receive any payments until the prior garnishment is fully satisfied — principal, interest, and court costs.

The clerk's office can tell you whether an existing garnishment is in place before you file, which saves you the $30 fee if you'd just be joining a line.

What Happens After Service

The constable serves the employer, who has 20 days to return the completed Form 17A. The employer's answer confirms employment status, pay frequency, and the calculated withholding amount. If the debtor quit or was terminated, the answer says so — and you'll need to locate the new employer and file fresh.

Once withholding begins, the employer sends payments to you (not to the court) until the judgment is satisfied. Track every payment against the declining balance, because post-judgment interest under 6 Del. C. § 2301(a) continues to accrue on the unpaid principal.

When Garnishment Doesn't Work

Wage garnishment is blocked entirely for medical debt judgments under the Delaware Medical Debt Protection Act (6 Del. C. Ch. 25J). If the debtor is self-employed, there's no employer to serve — you'd need to pursue other tools like a property levy or real estate lien. And if the debtor's only income is Social Security, VA benefits, or other federally protected payments, those are fully exempt under 42 U.S.C. § 407.

The Delaware Judgment Collection Guide includes the full wage garnishment workflow with Form 34 calculation examples and a tracking ledger for managing partial payments across multiple pay periods.

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