Garnishee inability to determine whether it holds property of judgment debtor
Va. Code Ann. § 8.01-511.1
in effectIf a summons for the garnishment of property other than wages, salaries, commissions, or other earnings does not contain sufficient or accurate information to enable the garnishee to reasonably identify the judgment debtor, the garnishee shall have no liability to the judgment creditor for failing to deliver the judgment debtor's property in response to the summons. If the summons contains either the social security number or taxpayer identification number of the judgment debtor as it appears in the records of the garnishee, or the name and address of the judgment debtor as they appear in the records of the garnishee, the summons shall be deemed to contain information sufficient to enable the garnishee to reasonably identify the judgment debtor.
If the summons contains sufficient or accurate information to enable the garnishee to reasonably identify the judgment debtor, the garnishee shall (i) answer to the summoning court and further state what the garnishee's records show as the last known address for the judgment debtor and any other information the garnishee deems relevant and (ii) send to the judgment debtor at the last known address a copy of its answer to the court. If the garnishee is a financial institution, such garnishee, prior to sending or filing an answer to the summons, shall complete an examination of any account of the judgment debtor in accordance with the provisions of § 34-4.3 or 34-4.4 to determine whether an automatic exemption applies and to proceed accordingly after making such determination.
No garnishee or creditor who proceeds under the terms of this statute in good faith shall be liable to any person therefor.
2002, c. 688 ; 2026, cc. 637 , 638 .
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/8.01-511.1/Fetched: 10/17/2026