Missouri Continuous Wage Garnishment: How Rule 90 Keeps Payments Coming

A standard wage garnishment in Missouri covers a fixed period — 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, or 180 days. When that window closes, you have to file a new application, pay another clerk surcharge, and wait for the sheriff to serve the employer again. For a small claims judgment that takes months to collect at the applicable cap (up to 25% of disposable earnings), that cycle gets expensive and slow. Missouri's continuous wage garnishment eliminates the refiling loop entirely.

What Makes a Continuous Garnishment Different

When you file your Garnishment Application (OSCA Form CV92), you can check the box for continuous wage garnishment instead of selecting a fixed return period. A continuous garnishment runs until the full judgment balance — principal, court costs, and accrued post-judgment interest — is paid in full. No renewals, no re-service, no additional filing fees.

The employer withholds the garnishable amount each pay period (up to 25% of disposable earnings for most debtors, with weekly disposable earnings of $217.50 or less protected, or 10% if the debtor qualifies as head of family under RSMo § 513.440) and sends it to the circuit clerk. The clerk disburses the funds to you.

The CV93 Six-Month Reporting Requirement

Continuous garnishment comes with one critical ongoing obligation. Under Missouri Supreme Court Rule 90.10(b) and Rule 90.19, you must file a Statement of Judgment Balance (Form CV93) with the circuit clerk every six months. The filing is due within 20 days after each six-month anniversary of the garnishment's start date.

Form CV93 reports:

• The original judgment amount
• Total payments received to date
• Post-judgment interest accrued under RSMo § 408.040
• The current outstanding balance

If you miss the 20-day filing window, the court terminates the garnishment automatically. You would then need to file an entirely new application and re-serve the employer to resume collections. Calendar the deadline the day you file the initial garnishment — it's easy to forget six months later.

Return Periods and Employer Answers

Missouri permits fixed writ return periods of 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, or 180 days, or a continuous wage garnishment. For a continuous wage garnishment, the employer must file written Answers to Interrogatories with the court within 20 days of service, then continue withholding each pay period while the garnishment remains in effect.

The employer must answer OSCA Form CV110 (Interrogatories to Garnishee) detailing the debtor's employment status, pay frequency, and the amount being withheld. If the debtor leaves that job, the employer files a response indicating employment ended, and the garnishment terminates for that employer. You'd then need to discover the debtor's new employer — a debtor examination is the standard way to do that — and file a new garnishment against the new employer.

Multiple Garnishments Against the Same Debtor

What happens when more than one creditor is garnishing the same debtor's wages? The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. § 1673) limits the amount of disposable earnings that can be garnished; it does not establish a universal first-in-time queue for competing judgment creditors. Confirm how existing orders affect a new garnishment under the applicable Missouri rules before estimating what it may collect. Filing early alone does not establish priority.

When Continuous Garnishment Is the Right Tool

Continuous garnishment works best when:

• The debtor is employed with a steady paycheck
• The judgment balance will take multiple pay periods to satisfy
• You want to minimize repeat trips to the clerk's office

For smaller balances that one or two paychecks could cover, a shorter fixed-period garnishment may be simpler. For bank garnishment, you'd use a separate application since bank levies work differently from wage withholding.

The Full Garnishment Process

Filing a continuous garnishment involves the application form, the $10 clerk surcharge, sheriff service fees, and the five-day debtor notice requirement under Rule 90.03(b), which runs after the serving officer returns proof of service on the garnishee. The Missouri Small Claims Judgment Collection Guide covers the complete sequence — from choosing between wage and bank garnishment through filing Form CV93 every six months — with the forms and fee amounts for each step.

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