State Guide
How to Collect a Judgment in Georgia
Georgia flips the logic of the twenty-year states. The tools are creditor-friendly: wage garnishment is available on the familiar federal model, bank garnishment works, the homestead exemption is modest compared to Texas or Florida, and the judgment lien, carried by a writ called the fieri facias, or fi. fa., recorded on the county General Execution Docket, attaches broadly to the debtor’s property in that county.
The trade is the clock: a Georgia judgment generally goes dormant after seven years if not kept alive, and while dormant judgments can be revived within a window, dormancy surrenders leverage and invites avoidable procedure. In Florida you can afford patience; in Georgia the winning behavior is speed and calendar discipline. Educational content, not legal advice.
The Georgia Toolset
- Wage garnishment. Available for ordinary judgments on roughly the standard federal math, a percentage of disposable earnings with protections for low earners, served on the employer through a garnishment action. Georgia garnishments are periodic, so a job change breaks the pipe until you find the new employer.
- Bank garnishment. Georgia creditors use it heavily. It lands when you know where the debtor banks and the account holds non-exempt funds; it freezes air when you do not.
- The fi. fa. and the General Execution Docket. Recording the execution in a county puts a lien on the debtor’s property there and tells the world the judgment exists. Recording in the right counties, where the debtor actually owns or is likely to acquire property, is an asset-intelligence decision.
- Modest exemptions. Georgia’s homestead exemption is a defined dollar amount (doubled for joint filers, adjusted over time), not a fortress, and the personal-property exemptions are similarly bounded. More of a Georgia debtor’s balance sheet is legally reachable than in the shield states.
Beat the Dormancy Clock
The seven-year dormancy rule shapes everything. The discipline: enforce early while the data is fresh, record the fi. fa. promptly in the relevant counties, and calendar renewal well before year seven, because keeping a judgment alive is routine while reviving a dormant one is a proceeding with its own deadline.
The corollary is that stale intelligence costs more in Georgia than anywhere: a year spent garnishing a former employer or levying a closed account is a seventh of your primary window. Front-load the locate and the Asset Search, act on what they show, and re-verify before each new enforcement move rather than after each failure. The general sequence is in How to Collect a Judgment; Georgia just runs it on a shot clock.
Frequently Asked
Does a Georgia judgment really expire in seven years?
It goes dormant, generally after seven years without enforcement activity keeping it alive, and a dormant judgment can be revived only within a limited window. Treat year six as the deadline and renewal as routine maintenance.
Can I garnish wages in Georgia?
Yes, for ordinary judgments, on roughly the federal disposable-earnings formula with low-earner protections. The prerequisite is knowing the current employer, which is part of the comprehensive trace where lawfully available.
What is a fi. fa.?
Short for fieri facias, the writ of execution issued on a Georgia judgment. Recording it on a county’s General Execution Docket creates the lien that attaches to the debtor’s property in that county.
The debtor moved to Georgia from another state. Can I use these tools?
Yes, after domesticating your judgment in Georgia under the uniform procedure. From there Georgia’s tools and Georgia’s clock apply, so domesticate promptly rather than eventually.
Georgia Rewards the Fast
Fresh locates and asset maps for a seven-year clock. Same day, from $59, no hit no charge.