Garnishment proceedings in Georgia — the attachment and realisation of a debtor's movable property — are governed by the Georgian Law on Enforcement Proceedings. The law defines what seizure means, which property is subject to it and which is protected, how the property is described and valued, what the inventory-and-seizure act must contain, and how the proceeds reach the creditor, on the basis of Articles 40, 44, 45, 47, 48 and 49.
What seizure of movable property means
Under the first part of Article 40, seizure of movable property means the description of the debtor's property, the declaration of a prohibition on the owner disposing of it — alienation in any form, pledging, or lease and rental contracts over it — and/or the transfer of the property for safekeeping, recorded by the enforcement officer in the act of description and seizure.
Once the seizure is imposed, any transaction over the seized movable property is void. Seized money is immediately deposited into the Bureau's deposit account, while securities and valuables are kept in a specially allocated, guarded room. Where items remain with the debtor or a custodian, the seizure may be effected by sealing, and attempted disposal triggers criminal liability. Fruit not yet gathered from the land may be seized until enforcement against immovable property has occurred, but not earlier than one month before the harvest. Where a third person asserts a right over the item, it is still entered into the act with a note; on presentation of an ownership document, the officer, with the creditor's consent, removes it from the act.
The object of seizure and protected property
Under Article 44, all items of the debtor are subject to seizure except the property listed in Article 45. Article 45 defines the property against which enforcement is not allowed: personal-use and household items necessary for the debtor's professional activity, life and household; four weeks' supply of food, fuel and lighting means for the debtor, his family and co-residents, or the money to buy them; small livestock in limited numbers and one milch cow, or at the debtor's choice two pigs, sheep or goats, if needed to feed the household, plus a three-month supply of animal feed and straw or the money for it.
Also protected are farm implements, livestock, fertiliser and products needed to sustain a farm until the next harvest; items needed for persons earning income by their work; targeted state assistance; and property of a family member from the database of socially vulnerable families whose indicator is below the government threshold, except property securing the claim. The subsistence minimum is set by separate legislation; exemption disputes are examined in court.