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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6786
AN ACT CONCERNING SERVICE OF BANK EXECUTIONS, WAGE
EXECUTIONS AND TAX WARRANTS BY STATE MARSHALS AND
AUTHORIZED SERVICE OF PROCESS BY INDIFFERENT
PERSONS.
SUMMARY
This bill makes various changes to the laws relating to service of
process.
For executions against financial institution accounts, the bill allows
officers serving certain accounts by certified mail to collect actual
postage costs and requires the institutions to (1) respond to the
execution within five business days and (2) notify the judgment debtor,
who is a natural person, of certain court information.
The bill also:
1. expands the instances for which levying officers may mail
executions on wages after judgment and allows them to collect
actual postage costs incurred,
2. limits when an indifferent person may serve process to specific
instances authorized by law, and
3. reconciles two differing minimum fees for serving tax warrants.
The bill also makes technical and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2023
§§ 1 & 2 — EXECUTION AGAINST FI NANCIAL INSTITUTION
ACCOUNTS
By law, a person who has a court judgment against someone may
apply to the court clerk to have an execution served on a financial 2023HB-06786-R000536-BA.DOCX
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institution (e.g., a state or federal bank or credit union) for payment of
the debt from the debtor’s deposit account (see BACKGROUND). This
is a type of levy (i.e., legal seizure of property to satisfy debt).
Actual Costs and Fees
For executions at out-of-state financial institutions that lack a main or
branch office in Connecticut, but conduct transactions online or by other
electronic means, the law allows serving officers to serve the execution
by certified mail, return receipt requested. The bill allows the serving
officer to collect the actual postage costs incurred from the levy.
For executions where the judgment debtor is a natural person,
current law requires financial institutions to receive an $8 fee from the
serving officer as representative of the judgment creditor. The bill
instead requires the financial institution to collect this fee from the levy.
Financial Institution Duty to Respond
Under existing law, the serving officer must only serve one financial
institution for each debtor at a time and must not serve the same
execution on another financial institution until receiving confirmation
from the original institution that the judgment debtor had insufficient
funds to satisfy the execution.
The bill requires financial institutions to respond to the serving
officer about the execution. In the case of no account found, a closed
account, or an account with insufficient or protected funds, the
institution must respond by endorsing its response on the officer’s cover
sheet. Within five business days after service is made, the institution
must return to the serving officer, by U.S. first class mail, a complete set
of the documents served on the financial institution, including the
serving officer’s cover page, with other financial institutions’
endorsements, as the case may be, and return to the officer the complete
true and attested copy of the execution as served.
For these executions where the natural person is the judgment debtor,
the bill also requires the institution to include with its response an
affidavit and exemption forms, which include, among other things, a 2023HB-06786-R000536-BA.DOCX
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checklist and description of the most common exemptions, instructions
on how to claim the exemptions, and a space for the debtor to certify
these exemptions under penalty of false statement. By law, false
statement is a class A misdemeanor (punishable by up to 364 days’
imprisonment, up to a $2,000 fine, or both) (CGS § 53a-157b).
Notice
For executions where the natural person is the judgment debtor,
existing law requires the financial institution to notify judgment debtors
and any secured party that is party to the control agreement between
the financial institution and the secured party if any funds are removed
from the judgment debtor’s account. The bill also requires the institution
to give the judgment debtor the docket number for the execution
proceeding that has been granted and the judicial branch’s website
address to access the proceeding’s online records.
§ 3 — EXECUTION ON WAGES A FTER JUDGMENT
Under current law, an officer empowered to serve process must levy
on all earnings that are due or become due to the judgment debtor, to
the extent specified in the wage execution plus the officer’s fees and
costs. The bill specifies that the levy on costs is for actual postage costs
incurred.
Generally, the law allows state marshals and other proper officers to
serve process in their precincts (a state marshal’s precinct is the county
for which he or she is appointed). But they may serve process outside
their precincts in certain circumstances. The bill expands the instances a
levying officer may mail executions by allowing him or her to mail
service to an address within the officer’s precinct or extension of
precinct if done following the laws on serving process outside an
officer’s precinct, instead of just in the officer’s appointed precinct.
Current law also allows these officers to serve process by mail in cases
involving an employer whose address is not within the officer’s
appointed jurisdiction to the address the employer designates. The bill
specifies that the address must be outside Connecticut with an out-of-
state payroll address. 2023HB-06786-R000536-BA.DOCX
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In these instances, the bill requires the service to be made by certified
mail, return receipt requested, and the officer may collect the actual
postage costs incurred under the levy.
§ 4 — INDIFFERENT PERSON
The bill limits when an indifferent person may serve process to
specific instances authorized by law. It does so by eliminating the
authority for them to do so (1) if multiple defendants living in different
counties in the state are named in the process or (2) in the case of a writ
of attachment (an order to seize or attach property), a plaintiff, or his or
her agent or attorney, makes an oath before the authority signing the
order that he or she is in danger of losing the debt or demand unless an
indifferent person is authorized to serve process immediately.
By law, an indifferent person is someone who is not a proper officer
and is not involved in the case. The law authorizes an indifferent person
to serve process in various instances, such as delivering notice of special
and convened sessions to legislators, serving notice to quit possession
or occupancy of premises, and carrying out a bench warrant of arrest
(CGS §§ 2-7, 47a-23 & 54-64b).
§ 5 — TAX WARRANT MINIMUM AMOUNT
The bill reconciles two differing minimum fees for serving tax
warrants. In the tax warrant statute, the minimum amount a serving
officer must receive is $30 while the service officer fees and expenses
law has a minimum of $50. The bill eliminates the $30 minimum fee.
Under existing law, a state marshal or constable who executes a
warrant and collects delinquent municipal taxes receives, in addition to
expenses otherwise allowed, 15% of the taxes collected under the
warrant (CGS § 52-261).
BACKGROUND
Law on Execution Against Financial Institution Accounts
Under this law, the procedures differ in some respects depending on
whether the debtor is a natural person or an entity. Among other things,
the law generally provides that: 2023HB-06786-R000536-BA.DOCX
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1. when a judgment debtor is a natural person, he or she has certain
protections and exemptions from execution;
2. serving officers may not serve the same execution on a second
institution until they get confirmation from the first institution
that there are insufficient funds to satisfy the judgment;
3. if another party has a security interest in an account that is also
subject to an execution, the financial institution must notify the
secured party, who can submit to the court a claim for a hearing
to determine the relative interests;
4. a similar hearing procedure applies if the debtor is a natural
person who claims an exemption;
5. if no claim for interest determination or exemption is made, the
financial institution pays the serving officer, and the officer pays
the sum, minus his or her fees, to the judgment creditor unless a
court orders otherwise; and
6. a financial institution that fails or refuses to pay the execution
amount to the serving officer is liable in an action to the judgment
creditor and the amount is applied to the amount due on the
execution.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Judiciary Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 37 Nay 0 (03/28/2023)