Section 3253. Interrogatories in attachment

Interrogatories of the plaintiff to the garnishee shall be substantially in the following form:

(Caption)

Interrogatories to Garnishee
To

---

: (Garnishee)

You are required to file answers to the following interrogatories within twenty (20) days after service upon you. Failure to do so may result in judgment against you:

1. At the time you were served or at any subsequent time did you owe the defendant any money or were you liable to the defendant on any negotiable or other written instrument, or did the defendant claim that you owed the defendant any money or were liable to the defendant for any reason?

2. At the time you were served or at any subsequent time was there in your possession, custody or control or in the joint possession, custody or control of yourself and one or more other persons any property of any nature owned solely or in part by the defendant?

3. At the time you were served or at any subsequent time did you hold legal title to any property of any nature owned solely or in part by the defendant or in which the defendant held or claimed any interest?

4. At the time you were served or at any subsequent time did you hold as fiduciary any property in which the defendant had an interest?

5. At any time before or after you were served did the defendant transfer or deliver any property to you or to any person or place pursuant to your direction or consent and if so what was the consideration therefore?

6. At any time after you were served did you pay, transfer or deliver any money or property to the defendant or to any person or place pursuant to the defendant’s direction or otherwise discharge any claim of the defendant against you?

7. If you are a bank or other financial institution, at the time you were served or at any subsequent time did the defendant have funds on deposit in an account in which funds are deposited electronically on a recurring basis and which are identified as being funds that upon deposit are exempt from execution, levy or attachment under Pennsylvania or Federal law? If so, identify each account and state the amount of funds in each account, and the entity electronically depositing those funds on a recurring basis.

8. If you are a bank or other financial institution, at the time you were served or at any subsequent time did the defendant have funds on deposit in an account in which the funds on deposit, not including any otherwise exempt funds, did not exceed the amount of the general monetary exemption under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8123? If so, identify each account.

(The plaintiff may set forth additional appropriate interrogatories.)

Explanatory Comment

Numerous federal and state statutes provide that funds paid to individuals pursuant to the statutes are exempt from execution, levy and attachment. Perhaps the premier statute in this regard is the Social Security Act which provides, 42 U.S.C. § 407:

§ 407. Assignment; amendment of section

(a) The right of any person to any future payment under this title shall not be transferable or assignable, at law or in equity, and none of the moneys paid or payable or rights existing under this title shall be subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process, or to the operation of any bankruptcy or insolvency law.

Section 407 provides that not only are future payments exempt from execution but so too are the funds once they have been deposited in the recipient’s account in a bank or other financial institution.

Prior to the present amendments, the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure did not comply with these provisions. The writ of execution under Rule 3252, paragraph 2(b), provided that ‘‘the garnishee is enjoined from paying any debt to or for the account of the defendant and from delivering any property of the defendant or otherwise disposing thereof.’’ The writ contained no exception for funds of the defendant which are exempt from execution. In addition, the defendant was required to claim the exemption by filing a claim under Rule 3123.1.

The present amendments to the execution rules address this problem. Under the amended rules, the judgment creditor rather than the defendant has the burden of raising an issue with respect to exempt payments within the scope of new Rule 3111.1. The defendant need not file a claim for exemption as exempt funds are not attached.

The amendments are as follows:

1. New Rule 3111.1 is to be promulgated, explicitly stating that funds of the defendant on deposit in certain accounts with a bank or other financial institution are exempt from execution. Social security payments are not named. Rather, the rule speaks in terms of ‘‘funds on deposit in a bank or other financial institution in an account in which funds are deposited electronically on a recurring basis and are identified as being funds that upon deposit are exempt from execution, levy or attachment under Pennsylvania or federal law.’’

2. The form of the writ of execution set forth in Rule 3252 is amended by incorporating the language of new Rule 3111.1(1). New paragraph 2(c) of the writ advises the garnishee that the attachment does not include the defendant’s funds in an account which exempt funds are deposited electronically on a recurring basis.

3. Rule 3253 governing interrogatories to the garnishee is amended by adding new interrogatory no. 7. This interrogatory inquires of a bank or other financial institution as garnishee whether the defendant had ‘‘funds on deposit in an account in which funds are deposited electronically on a recurring basis and which are identified as being funds that upon deposit are exempt from execution, levy or attachment under Pennsylvania or federal law.’’ The garnishee is then required to ‘‘identify each account and state the reason for the exemption, the amount being withheld under each exemption and the entity electronically depositing those funds on a recurring basis.’’

4. The prior practice under Rule 3146(b) was that ‘‘the prothonotary, on praecipe of the plaintiff, shall enter judgment against the garnishee for the property of the defendant admitted in the answer to interrogatories to be in the garnishee’s possession.’’ Rule 3146(b) has been amended by adding new paragraph (2) providing that if the answer of a bank or other financial institution to interrogatory no. 7 identifies one or more accounts as containing exempt funds, ‘‘the prothonotary, in the absence of an order of court, shall not enter judgment pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subdivision as to funds of any account of the defendant that is identified in the garnishee’s answer’’ to the interrogatory.

5. Section 8123 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 8123, provides for a $300 monetary exemption. This exemption is treated separately in new Rule 3111.1(2), in new paragraph (2)(c)(ii) of the writ of execution prescribed by Rule 3252 and in a new interrogatory to the garnishee under Rule 3253, interrogatory no. 8. The amendments provide a similar procedure for the $300 monetary exemption as for recurring electronic deposits described above: $300 or less in an account of the defendant is exempt from attachment, the writ of execution notifies the garnishee that $300 or less in an account of the defendant is not attached and interrogatory no. 8 inquires of the garnishee concerning the funds of the defendant on deposit in accounts with the garnishee. As the $300 amount is exempt from attachment, the defendant need not claim it under Rule 3123.1 governing claim of exemption.

Explanatory Comment—2010

New Rule 3111.1 was promulgated in 2007 to address the failure of the rules of civil procedure to protect funds held in accounts of banks and other financial institutions that are exempt from execution, levy, and attachment pursuant to federal and state legislation. The current rule protects from attachment all funds in an account in which any funds are deposited electronically on a recurring basis and are identified as being funds that upon deposit are exempt from execution, levy, or attachment. The amendment to subdivision (1) of Rule 3111.1 provides that only the first $10,000 held in an account may not be attached whenever the account includes any funds that are identified as being exempt from execution, levy, or attachment. If an account holder believes the remainder is also exempt, he or she may petition the court for relief. Under new subdivision (2) any funds that exceed $10,000 in an account may be attached unless all funds in the account are identified as exempt funds.

The provisions of this Rule 3253 adopted March 30, 1960, effective November 1, 1960; amended April 12, 1999, effective July 1, 1999, 29 Pa.B. 2281; amended February 7, 2007, effective April 1, 2007, 37 Pa.B. 939; amended April 16, 2010, effective May 17, 2010, 40 Pa.B. 2243. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (326461) to (326463).