Non-Earnings Garnishment in Wisconsin: How to Garnish a Bank Account After a Judgment

Wage garnishment gets most of the attention, but a bank account garnishment can recover your money in a single sweep rather than a 13-week drip. If the debtor has funds sitting in a checking or savings account, a non-earnings garnishment under Subchapter I of Chapter 812 is the tool you need.

The process is fast on the bank's end — the account freezes the moment the bank is served — but the paperwork leading up to that moment has to be precise.

How a Bank Account Garnishment Works

Non-earnings garnishment targets funds held by a third party, most commonly a bank or credit union. The "garnishee" is the financial institution, not the debtor.

Here is the sequence, guided by instruction packet SC-6071V:

1. File Form SC-301 / CV-301 (Garnishment Summons & Complaint) with the Clerk of Circuit Court. You name the bank as the garnishee.
2. Serve the bank. When the bank receives the summons, it immediately freezes the debtor's account balance up to the amount of the judgment plus estimated costs.
3. Serve the debtor within 10 days of serving the bank under Wis. Stat. § 812.07.
4. Wait for the bank's answer. The bank completes Form CV-302 / SC-302, disclosing the account balance as of the date of service.
5. Await the debtor's response period. The debtor can file Form CV-303 to claim exemptions. If they do not respond within the statutory window, the court can order the bank to disburse the frozen funds to you.

The Freeze Is Immediate, but Payment Is Not

This is the part that trips people up. Serving the bank freezes the account on the spot. But the bank does not pay you immediately. The funds stay in a hold until either the debtor's exemption window passes, or the court enters a disbursement order.

This waiting period exists because the debtor may have legitimate exemptions — particularly federal benefit deposits.

Federal Benefit Protections

Under 31 CFR Part 212, banks must automatically protect qualifying federal benefit deposits when they receive a garnishment order. The bank reviews the account for direct deposits from Social Security, SSI, Veterans Affairs, and Railroad Retirement during the prior two months, and the amount deposited during that period stays accessible to the debtor.

The debtor does not need to file anything. The bank runs this lookback automatically. If the debtor's entire account balance consists of protected federal deposits, there may be nothing left to garnish.

Practical Considerations

Bank garnishment works best when you know which institution holds the debtor's accounts. That information should come from the Financial Disclosure Statement (Form SC-506B). If the debtor listed multiple accounts at different banks, you may need to file separate garnishment actions for each.

Timing matters too. Serve the bank when the debtor is likely to have funds on deposit — after a paycheck clears, for example, not the day before rent is due. The freeze captures whatever is in the account at the moment of service.

Filing fees for non-earnings garnishment are set under Wis. Stat. § 814.62(1), and you can add these costs to the total judgment balance recoverable from the debtor.

What Comes Next

If the bank levy recovers your full balance, you file a Satisfaction of Judgment and close the case. If it recovers only a partial amount, you still have wage garnishment and property execution available.

Our Wisconsin judgment collection guide covers the complete non-earnings garnishment workflow — from identifying the right bank on the disclosure statement to calculating the updated balance after a partial recovery.

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