An alimony judgment in Georgia can be collected by garnishing the paying spouse’s wages, and because alimony is support, the garnishment takes up to half of disposable earnings and continues until the arrearage is paid.
Alimony Is a Money Judgment
In Morgan v. Morgan, 156 Ga. App. 726 (1980), the Court of Appeals held that “[a] decree of alimony is a money judgment” that “may be the subject matter of a post-judgment garnishment proceeding,” and Antico v. Antico, 241 Ga. 294 (1978), rejected a due process attack on garnishing wages for alimony. No execution has to issue first, Black v. Black, 245 Ga. 281 (1980).
Continuing Garnishment for Support
Child support orders must carry a continuing-garnishment clause under OCGA 19-6-30(a); alimony needs none, because OCGA 18-4-50(3) defines “periodic support” as money paid regularly “for the support of a minor child of the defendant or a spouse or former spouse of the defendant.” Under OCGA 18-4-52, the affidavit attaches the judgment and states that the obligor is at least one month behind. Under OCGA 18-4-53(b), up to “50 percent of the defendant’s disposable earnings” may be taken, against 25 percent for an ordinary debt under OCGA 18-4-5, and OCGA 18-4-53(c) removes the usual exemption for pension and retirement funds. Under OCGA 18-4-55, the garnishment “shall not terminate until the original arrearage is retired and all support payments are current.”
Only Alimony Gets the Support Rate
In Boyd v. Boyd, 191 Ga. App. 718 (1989), a $27,000 payment “to equalize the value of these assets” was property division, not alimony, so only 25 percent of the husband’s earnings could be garnished. Similarly, in Kile v. Kile, 165 Ga. App. 321 (1983), installments on debts assigned in a property settlement could not be garnished from a husband’s Air Force pay, because the federal statute the court applied excludes a division of property from the alimony for which federal pay can be garnished.
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