2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 35 - Magistrate and Municipal Courts › Article 12 - Magistrate Court; Garnishment › Section 35-12-18 - Garnishment; form of writ.

Writs of garnishment in civil actions in the magistrate court shall state whether the writ is issued in advance of or in aid of execution of judgment and shall be in substantially the following form:
"STATE OF NEW MEXICO
__________________MAGISTRATE DISTRICT, DIVISION ________
(Name), Plaintiff
)
)
v.
)
CIVIL DOCKET NO. ___________
)
(Name), Defendant
)
)
(Name), Garnishee
)
WRIT OF GARNISHMENT
THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO to the above-named garnishee:
You are ordered to appear before the magistrate court located at _______________________ within twenty days from the service of this writ upon you to answer under oath the following questions, as of the date of service and as of the date of your answer:
1. What, if anything, are you indebted to the defendant in this action and on what account?
2. What, if any, personal property of the defendant is in your possession or under your control?
3. What other persons, if any, within your knowledge are indebted to the defendant or have personal property of the defendant in their possession?
Service of this writ upon you has the effect of attaching all nonexempt personal property, money, rights, credits, bonds, bills, notes, drafts and other choses in action of the defendant in your possession or under your control at the time of service and that may come into your possession or under your control or be owing by you between the time of service and the time of making your answer.
This writ was issued in (advance) (aid of execution) of judgment against the defendant. If this writ was issued in advance of judgment, it does not attach any wages or salary due from you to the defendant. If this writ was issued in aid of execution of judgment, it attaches wages or salary due from you to the defendant in excess of the greater of the following portions of the defendant's disposable earnings:
A. seventy-five percent of the defendant's disposable earnings for any pay period; or
B. an amount each week equal to forty times the highest applicable minimum hourly wage rate at the place the wages were earned. A table giving equivalent exemptions for pay periods of other than one week may be obtained from the director of the financial institutions division of the regulation and licensing department. "Disposable earnings" means that part of the defendant's wage or salary remaining after deducting the amounts that are required by law to be withheld. "Highest applicable minimum hourly wage rate" means the highest federal, state or local minimum hourly wage rate for an eight-hour day or a forty-hour week. It is immaterial whether you are exempt under federal, state or local law from paying the highest applicable minimum hourly wage rate.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WRITS
If you are a financial institution, the defendant who is an individual or sole proprietor has an exemption totaling two thousand four hundred dollars ($2,400) in depository and investment accounts. This writ attaches only to money in excess of two thousand four hundred dollars ($2,400). You may rely on the representations of the person executing this writ as to whether the exemption amount has already been satisfied with other accounts held by other financial institutions. This provision shall not prevent the individual or sole proprietor from claiming that additional money in depository or investment accounts is exempt under any other available exemption provided by law.
Any wages you owe the employee in excess of two thousand four hundred dollars ($2,400) or that you may come to owe the employee in excess of that amount must be kept by you until further order of this court. This means that you shall not pay the non-exempt amounts to the plaintiff until further order from this court requiring payment.
It is unlawful to pay or deliver to the defendant any item attached by this writ. If you fail to appear and answer as directed, or if you unlawfully dispose of any item attached by this writ, judgment may be rendered against you for the full amount of the plaintiff's claim against the defendant in this action.
Dated _______________, 20 ___________________________
Magistrate".
History:
1953 Comp., § 36-14-15, enacted by Laws 1968, ch. 62, § 147; 1969, ch. 139, § 9; 1978 Comp., § 35-12-18; 2023, ch. 104, § 3.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2023 amendment,
effective July 1, 2023, revised the statutory form for a writ of garnishment; in Item 3, after "attaching all", added "nonexempt"; in Subsection B, after "forty times the", deleted "federal" and added "highest applicable", after "hourly wage rate", added "at the place the wages were earned", after "obtained from the", deleted "commissioner of banking" and added "director of the financial institutions division of the regulation and licensing department", after "withheld", deleted "Federal" and added "Highest applicable", after "under federal", added "state or local", and after "paying the", deleted "federal" and added "highest applicable"; and added the heading "FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WRITS" and added the first two undesignated paragraphs.
Applicability.
— Laws 2023, ch. 104, § 13 provided that the provisions of Laws 2023, ch. 104 apply to actions filed on or after July 1, 2023.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references.
— United States Postal Service as subject to garnishment, 38 A.L.R. Fed. 546.