Garnishee order on your wages in Malta: what is protected
A garnishee order (mandat ta' sekwestru) lets a creditor attach money that a third party owes to the debtor (article 375 of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure, Cap. 12). When the third party is your employer, the order targets your pay. Maltese law, however, starts from the opposite rule: salary and wages, including bonus, allowances, overtime and other emoluments, may not be attached at all (article 381(1)(a)). The only opening is article 382: where the salary or wage exceeds €1,233 a month, the order applies to the part above that amount, and even that part can be released by the court if you need it to maintain yourself or your family.
Maintenance is the exception. For a spouse, a minor or incapacitated child or an ascendant, the court may order a specified portion of the salary to be paid directly to the creditor, whatever its amount (article 381(2)).
This guide is for employees whose employer has been served with a garnishee order, and for payroll staff who must apply it. It explains how to read the order, what the employer must lodge in court and by when, how to ask the court to free the excess or revoke the order, and where the protection ends once wages reach a bank account.
Key facts
Deadline
The garnishee must lodge the attached money in court within nineteen days of service of the order (article 376(2)(e) of Cap. 12). An application to revoke an executive garnishee order is answered within ten days and decided within one month, with six days to appeal (article 281); a counter-warrant against a precautionary order is answered within seven days (article 836(3)); the creditor holding a precautionary order must sue within twenty days of its issue (article 843). A garnishee order stays in force until revoked by the court (article 383).
What to do
Get a copy of the order and read what it says. A garnishee order must be served not only on the garnishee, here your employer, but also on you as debtor (article 377(2) of Cap. 12). If you learn of it from payroll first, ask the court registry or the creditor's advocate for a copy.
The order must state your name and identifying particulars, the amount due, the title under which the creditor sues out execution, the injunction to the garnishee not to pay you the attached money, and the order to lodge it in court within nineteen days at the debtor's expense (article 376(2)). The lack of any of these particulars renders the order null ipso jure (article 376(3)). Check the identity card number and the amount against the judgment or other title: an order aimed at a namesake or for the wrong sum can be challenged at once.
Establish whether the order is executive or precautionary. An executive garnishee order enforces a judgment or another executive title, such as an unopposed judicial letter under article 166A. A precautionary garnishee order is issued before the creditor has a title, on a sworn application, to secure a claim (article 830(1)(d) of Cap. 12). Its effects on the garnishee are the same, and articles 375 to 383, including the wage protection, apply to it (article 849).
The difference lies in your remedies and in the creditor's duties. A precautionary creditor must bring the action within twenty days from the issue of the warrant, failing which its effects cease and the creditor answers for damages (article 843). Your first steps on enforcement generally are set out in our guide on garnishee orders and warrants of seizure.
Apply the €1,233 threshold to your pay. Article 381(1)(a) of Cap. 12 excludes any salary or wages, including bonus, allowances, overtime and other emoluments, from attachment. Article 382(1) then allows a garnishee order only where the salary or wage exceeds €1,233 per month, or the amount established by order of the Minister responsible for justice, and only on the part in excess. On a monthly wage of €1,650 the attachable part is therefore €417; on €1,200 nothing can be attached.
The Code does not say in terms whether the figure is compared with gross or net pay, so ask payroll how they computed it and, if the result seems wrong, raise it in your application to the court. The threshold was last amended in 2023; before relying on it, confirm that no later ministerial order has changed the amount. Article 13(2) of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act (Cap. 452) repeats that wages may be attached only under these provisions.
Understand what your employer must do. Once served, the employer may not pay you the attached part, under penalty of damages and interest (article 376(2)(d) of Cap. 12), and must lodge it in court through the Registrar within nineteen days. A garnishee who holds attached money and does not lodge it is liable to the creditor for damages and interest, and the court may issue orders to compel the deposit, including personal arrest for up to three months (article 378). The employer may retain the cost of the lodgement before depositing, and both you and the creditor must be notified of every lodgement (article 379).
The employer has no power to attach more than article 382 allows, and may not make other deductions from wages unless a law or a court order requires them (article 15 of Cap. 452). The protected part must reach you on the normal pay day.
Ask the court to release the excess you need to live on. Even the part of the wage above €1,233 is not lost automatically. If you show, by application, to the satisfaction of the court that you need the excess or part of it for your own maintenance or that of your family, the court shall revoke the garnishee order as regards that excess or part, and the order is deemed never to have had effect to that extent (first proviso to article 382(1) of Cap. 12).
File the application in the court that issued the order. Attach recent payslips, the lease or home loan statement, utility bills, proof of dependants and of maintenance you pay, and a simple monthly budget. The court may later vary its order on the application of either side if your material circumstances change (article 382(2)), so a pay rise or a new dependant justifies a fresh application.
Challenge an order that should not have been issued. Against an executive garnishee order, apply under article 281 of Cap. 12 to the court that issued it for total or partial revocation for any reason valid at law: the debt has been paid, the amount is wrong, the title is not yet enforceable, or protected wages or benefits were attached. File all submissions and documents with the application. The creditor has ten days to reply, failing which the court accedes to the demand; the court decides within one month and an appeal lies within six days.
Against a precautionary order, apply for a counter-warrant under article 836(1): the conditions for issue do not subsist, the amount is not prima facie justified or is excessive, other security is adequate, or the order is no longer necessary. The creditor has seven days to answer and the court decides with urgency. A precautionary act is also rescinded if you deposit or give security the court considers sufficient (article 830(2)).
Deal separately with maintenance orders. The wage protection does not shield you from a claim for maintenance. In maintenance causes the court may, in the judgment or in a later decree on the creditor's application, order that a specified portion of your salary be paid directly to the creditor, where the creditor is your spouse, a minor or incapacitated child, or an ascendant (article 381(2) of Cap. 12). Service of that order on the employer has the same effect as a garnishee order, and the employer must pay the stated portion straight to the creditor, not into court.
The €1,233 threshold does not limit such an order: the portion is fixed by the court. Article 13(3) of Cap. 452 likewise lifts the bar on attachment of wages where the purpose is maintenance. If your income has fallen, the remedy is to ask the court that fixed the maintenance to vary it, not to stop paying.
Watch what happens to wages once they are in the bank. A creditor may also serve a garnishee order on your bank. The Code obliges banks to keep unaffected only accounts used solely and exclusively to receive social security benefits and pensions, Government charitable grants and Housing Authority benefits or subsidies (article 381(1)(j) of Cap. 12); the paragraph does not mention salary. An ordinary account into which your wage is paid can therefore be frozen in practice, even though the wage itself was protected in the employer's hands.
If that happens, act immediately: apply under article 281 for partial revocation, producing payslips and statements showing that the balance consists of protected wages, and rely on articles 381(1)(a) and 382. Ask the bank in writing which amounts it has declared or lodged. Keeping benefits in a separate, dedicated account avoids the problem for those payments.
Bring the order to an end. A garnishee order may not be extended, but it remains in force until revoked by a decree of the court (article 383 of Cap. 12); it does not lapse by itself when the debt is paid. Keep a running record of every amount lodged by the employer and compare it with the sum due, including legal interest at 8% a year (article 1139 of the Civil Code) and taxed costs.
Once the debt is cleared, or if you reach a settlement, ask the creditor's advocate to file the act withdrawing the order, or apply yourself under article 281 with proof of payment. Give payroll a copy of the decree so that the attachment stops with the next pay. If you agree instalments instead, put the agreement in writing stating when the creditor will withdraw the order.
What to watch out for
- Assuming the employer will work out the protected amount correctly. Payroll departments sometimes withhold the whole wage or a flat percentage; the law allows attachment only of the part above €1,233 a month (article 382(1) of Cap. 12).
- Not applying for release of the excess. The court revokes the order over the attachable part only on your application and on proof of need (proviso to article 382(1)); without it the excess keeps flowing into court every month.
- Treating a maintenance order like an ordinary debt. For maintenance due to a spouse, child or ascendant, the court fixes the portion of salary payable directly to the creditor and the threshold gives no protection (article 381(2) of Cap. 12; article 13(3) of Cap. 452).
- Leaving wages in an account that is not protected. Only accounts used solely for benefits, pensions, grants and housing subsidies are shielded by article 381(1)(j); a bank served with a garnishee order may block a mixed current account.
- Missing the short time limits. The creditor's reply under article 281 is due in ten days and appeals must be filed within six days; under article 836 the reply is due in seven days. Late or undocumented applications are easily refused.
- As employer, ignoring the order or paying the employee in full. A garnishee who fails to lodge the attached money within nineteen days is liable to the creditor for damages and interest and may be compelled by court order, including arrest for up to three months (article 378).
- Believing the order ends when the debt is paid. It stays in force until revoked by the court (article 383); without a decree or a withdrawal by the creditor, payroll must go on applying it.
Legal basis
Frequently asked questions
How much of my salary can be garnished in Malta?
Only the part of your salary or wage that exceeds €1,233 a month, or the amount set by order of the Minister responsible for justice (article 382(1) of Cap. 12). Everything up to that figure, including bonus, allowances and overtime, is not subject to attachment (article 381(1)(a)). Different rules apply to maintenance, where the court itself fixes the portion of salary to be paid to the creditor.
I earn more than €1,233 but cannot live without the rest. What can I do?
Apply to the court that issued the garnishee order and show that you need the excess, or part of it, for your own maintenance or that of your family. If the court is satisfied, it must revoke the order for that excess or part, with retroactive effect (proviso to article 382(1) of Cap. 12). Support the application with payslips, rent or loan documents, bills and proof of dependants.
Can my wages be attached for child maintenance?
Yes. In maintenance causes the court may order that a specified portion of your salary be paid directly to your spouse, minor or incapacitated child, or ascendant (article 381(2) of Cap. 12). The order is served on your employer and works like a garnishee order, except that the money goes straight to the creditor. The €1,233 threshold does not apply to it.
What must my employer do when served with a garnishee order?
The employer must stop paying you the attached part of your wage and lodge it in court through the Registrar within nineteen days of service (article 376(2) of Cap. 12). The costs of lodgement may be retained, and you and the creditor must be notified of the deposit (article 379). The protected part of the wage must still be paid to you on the normal pay day.
Can my employer dismiss me because of a garnishee order?
Nothing in the garnishee provisions of Cap. 12 gives the employer any right over your employment; the employer is simply a third party holding money due to you. Dismissal remains governed by article 36 of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act (Cap. 452), which requires redundancy or a good and sufficient cause. A debt owed to a third party is not, by itself, misconduct at work.
Can a garnishee order freeze the bank account where my salary is paid?
It can. Banks must keep unaffected only accounts used solely to receive social security benefits and pensions, Government grants and Housing Authority subsidies (article 381(1)(j) of Cap. 12). A salary account is not listed. If protected wages are frozen in the bank, apply to the court under article 281 for partial revocation and produce payslips and statements showing where the money came from.
Are my pension and social benefits protected from a garnishee order?
Yes. Any benefit, pension, allowance or assistance under the Social Security Act cannot be attached (article 381(1)(b) of Cap. 12), and any assignment of or charge on such benefits is void (article 101 of Cap. 318). Private and foreign pensions are protected up to the amount of the highest pension issued by the Government. Maintenance claims are again the exception under article 381(2).
How do I get a garnishee order on my wages lifted?
Pay or settle the debt and have the creditor withdraw the order, or apply to the court. For an executive order use article 281 of Cap. 12 (any reason valid at law, such as payment or a wrong amount); for a precautionary order use the counter-warrant under article 836. The order does not expire by itself: it stays in force until revoked by a decree of the court (article 383).
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