You've got a judgment. The debtor still isn't paying. The question that lands in our inbox next is almost always the same. Can I make their employer pay me directly?

Yes. That's what a garnishee order does.

It's a court order that grabs the money before it reaches the debtor. Their wages, their bank account, money someone else owes them. Redirected straight to you.

It works when it works. This guide is the operator's read on when that is, how to file in NSW, QLD and VIC, what employers must do, and when handing it to an agency recovers faster than doing it yourself.

A garnishee order tells a third party holding the debtor's money to pay you instead. That third party, the garnishee, is usually an employer paying wages, a bank holding the debtor's account, or a business that owes the debtor money on an invoice.

Before anything else, it helps to know who's who. The judgment creditor is the person or business owed the money. The judgment debtor is the person or business the court has ordered to pay, but hasn't.

The order isn't a first move. It sits at the enforcement end of debt recovery, after a court has already entered judgment in your favour. Without a judgment, a garnishee order isn't available.

Orders generally fall into two categories. A one-off order captures money available at a particular point in time, such as funds in a bank account or a single wage payment. A continuing order applies to wages over multiple pay cycles until the judgment debt is paid or the order ends.

The basic process is similar across Australia, but the terminology and court procedures vary from one state to another.

In NSW it's called a garnishee order, issued out of the Local Court or Supreme Court depending on the debt size. In Victoria, the equivalent is an attachment of earnings order, run through the Magistrates' Court. Queensland uses the term warrant of redirection of earnings, which practitioners still call a garnishee order out of habit.

The naming trips creditors up when they file interstate. A NSW solicitor's precedent won't slot into a Queensland registry. The purpose is the same, but the rules and forms differ from state to state.

There's a version of a garnishee that skips the court entirely. The ATO's.

Under section 260-5 of the Taxation Administration Act, the Commissioner can issue a garnishee notice directly to a third party holding money for a tax debtor. No judgment, no hearing, no filing fee. The notice itself is the order.

Private creditors don't get that power. If you're chasing an unpaid invoice, a loan or a contract debt, you need judgment first. That means a filed claim, served defendant, and either a default judgment or a hearing outcome before enforcement even starts.

For creditors, the timeline is where the difference becomes obvious. The ATO can move relatively quickly because it doesn't need court approval. Private creditors usually spend months working through the court process before a garnishee order is even available, particularly if the debtor contests the claim.

The rules aren't interchangeable. Here's how each of the three biggest jurisdictions actually runs.

NSW, Local Court garnishee order

You'll need judgment from the Local Court or Supreme Court, then a notice of motion for a garnishee order and completed UCPR Form 71. The form specifies whether you're targeting wages, a bank account or a debt someone else owes the debtor.

Once served, Form 71 directs the garnishee to pay the attached wages to you within 14 days after each pay cycle falls due, and to keep paying until the judgment amount clears or the court orders otherwise. Filing fees vary by claim size and are set by the NSW Local Court's schedule.

Common rejections come from stale employer details, incorrect judgment debt figures, or serving the wrong branch of a bank. Precision at the paperwork stage saves weeks.

QLD, warrant of redirection of earnings

Queensland calls it a warrant of redirection of earnings. It's still what most people mean by a garnishee order on wages.

You apply to the court that issued the original judgment. The warrant must generally be applied for within six years of the judgment unless the court grants leave to file later. Once granted, the warrant doesn't take effect until seven days after the debtor's employer is served. That gives the debtor a short window to challenge or pay out.

The seven-day rule matters for cash flow forecasting. If you're expecting deductions to start the day the warrant issues, you're wrong. Build the delay into your recovery model.

VIC, attachment of earnings order

Victoria's Magistrates' Court runs it as an attachment of earnings order. You file a complaint for attachment along with your judgment details.

The court then sets a hearing. Attachment of earnings documents must be served on the debtor at least 14 days before the hearing. The parties must attend a court hearing to obtain an order for payment. Once the order is made and the employer served, the employer should begin paying according to the order after seven days.

Victorian process is heavier on debtor-side notice than NSW. Expect more contested hearings, more chance the debtor turns up asking for instalments instead. This is where litigation lawyers earn their fee, keeping the enforcement moving when the debtor stalls.

Serving an order is one side. Receiving one is the other. Plenty of employers get a garnishee notice and have no idea what they're legally required to do.

Once served, you must comply. In NSW under UCPR Form 71, deductions on each pay cycle are paid to the creditor within 14 days of the wage falling due. In Queensland, deductions start seven days after service. In Victoria, same seven-day window post-service.

You deduct according to the order, respecting the protected earnings floor (more on that below). You don't pay the employee the amount that's been redirected. Doing so doesn't discharge the order. The garnishee stays liable to the creditor.

Ignoring the order or paying the debtor instead exposes the employer to personal liability for the deducted amount. Some jurisdictions add contempt exposure. That's why legal and compliance risk for failure to comply with a garnishee order sits with the business itself, not the employee.

You're not required to explain the order to the employee beyond the fact of the deduction. Discretion is generally the better call.

Garnishee orders don't clean out a pay packet. Every state protects a minimum living amount.

NSW sets the current floor at $626.10 net weekly wage. A wage garnishee cannot reduce the debtor's take-home below that figure. If the debtor earns close to the threshold, you might get very little per pay cycle. If they earn well above, deductions are meaningful.

Centrelink is a different category again. Section 62 of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 protects a saved amount from any court order in the nature of a garnishee, calculated by taking social security payments credited during the four weeks before the order and subtracting withdrawals in the same period. In practice, straight social security income is close to untouchable.

Priority matters when multiple orders compete. Generally, first-served takes precedence, and later creditors sit in queue until earlier debts clear. Tax and child support debts often jump the queue by statute.

And the order doesn't chase the debtor. If they change jobs, your order dies with the old payroll. You'll need to identify the new employer and reapply. That's why enforcement windows and the time limit for debt collection matter to keep in mind.

After two decades handling enforcement matters, the pattern is consistent.

For a single debt, DIY garnishee is slow and expensive. Filing fees, motion drafting, service costs, chasing the employer for compliance, dealing with a debtor who changes jobs mid-cycle. Add solicitor costs and the recovery maths on a mid-sized commercial debt starts to look thin.

Where DIY makes sense: the debt is small enough to justify Local Court fees only, the employer is known, cooperative and stable, and the debtor isn't the type to move jobs to dodge the order. Those files close cleanly.

Where an agency wins: multiple debtors, evasive debtors, cross-border enforcement, or where you need judgment obtained before the garnishee even begins. eCollect has recovered over $120 million for more than 10,000 clients on a no-win-no-fee basis. E C Legal, our in-house law firm, drafts the paperwork, files the enforcement and runs the hearing.

The other advantage is volume. Agencies handle a book of files, so the fixed cost of enforcement gets absorbed rather than sitting on one debt. That's the difference between chasing one file to breakeven and chasing ten to profit. It's also why most commercial creditors default to debt collectors rather than filing garnishees themselves.

Free debt appraisal from our Debt Terminator tool. Send us the file. We'll tell you honestly whether it's worth chasing to court, whether an agency route recovers faster, or whether the debt's already past the point of return.

• NSW Local Court, Garnishee amounts

• UCPR Form 71, Garnishee order for wages or salary

• Queensland Courts, Warrant of redirection of earnings

• Magistrates' Court of Victoria, Attachment of earnings order

• Social Security (Administration) Act 1999

• ATO – Due dates for lodging and paying your BAS

• ATO – Two-week lodgment concession terms and conditions

• ATO – Tax agent lodgment program: activity statements

• ATO – Failure to lodge on time penalty

• Legislation – Penalty unit determination ($364 from 1 July 2026)