Garnishment (Third-Party Attachment)

Garnishment is the attachment of a debtor's money or assets that are in the hands of a third party — most commonly bank account balances, but also amounts owed to the debtor by employers, tenants or business counterparties. The creditor obtains the attachment order from the court (precautionary before judgment, or executive at enforcement stage); the third party — the garnishee — is notified, must disclose what it holds for the debtor, and is barred from releasing those funds, paying them instead as the court directs. A garnishee who pays the debtor anyway risks liability for the amounts released. In UAE practice, electronic linkage between courts and banks makes account garnishment fast and sweeping across multiple banks at once. It matters because it converts a judgment into actual money — salaries, receivables and balances are usually the most reachable assets. You meet it as a creditor enforcing a judgment, a debtor with suddenly frozen accounts, or an employer served with a deduction order.