Nevertheless, the assessment would ultimately be a holistic one based on the entirety of the evidence adduced. The effect of the provisional garnishee order operated only to shift the “evidential burden” to the judgment debtor and his wife to challenge the prima facie case.
The judgment creditor still bears the burden of proof to show that the garnishee order should be made final. This was despite there being strong prima facie evidence that the judgment debtor solely owned the monies in the joint-bank accounts. The High Court affirmed the AR’s decision and dismissed the judgment creditor’s appeal. The judgment creditor appealed against the AR’s decision. However, this application was dismissed by the Assistant Registrar (AR), who declined to attach two joint-bank accounts on the basis that the judgment creditor had failed to prove on a balance of probabilities that the entire sum in the joint accounts belonged to the judgment debtor alone. 1 granted a provisional garnishee order because there was strong prima facie evidence that the judgment debtor owned all the monies in the two joint-bank accounts held by the judgment debtor and his wife.Īt the show cause hearing, the judgment creditor applied to make the provisional garnishee order final against the judgment debtor. The High Court accordingly declined to grant a final garnishee order despite the judgment creditor having already shown a strong prima facie case during the first stage. 2) (the appeal in respect of the show cause hearing), held that even though a provisional garnishee order had been issued, the judgment creditor failed to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that the monies in the joint-bank account belonged solely to the judgment debtor. Subsequently, the High Court in Timing Ltd v Tay Toh Hin and anor SGHC 5 (Timing No. 1) declined to follow such a position, and instead ruled that provisional garnishee orders could be issued against joint-bank accounts if there is strong prima facie evidence that all the monies in the joint-bank account(s) belong to the judgment debtor. However, the High Court in Timing Ltd v Tay Toh Hin and anor SGHC 169 (Timing No. The previous position was, at least generally, that joint-bank accounts could not be garnished: One Investment and Consultancy Ltd v Cham Poh Meng 5 SLR 923 (One Investment). However, a judgment creditor faces complications when the bank account sought to be garnished is in the joint names of the judgment debtor and a third party. 
Second, the judgment creditor will then seek to make the garnishee order final at what is known as the “show cause” hearing.
First, a judgment creditor must obtain a provisional garnishee order, ordering the garnishee (often a bank) to show cause as to why the order should not be enforced. Garnishee proceedings consist of two stages. These proceedings are typically used to obtain monies in a judgment debtor’s bank account – such that the bank in question would have to transfer the monies in the account directly to the judgment creditor to satisfy the judgment debt owed.
Garnishee proceedings are one of the many options available to a judgment creditor to enforce a judgment debt.
0 kommentar(er)
