Garnishee Order Minimum Amounts In Malaysia: What Creditors Should Know

Rule & Co Editorial Team
5 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 5 hours ago

Unlike bankruptcy proceedings, there is no legally required minimum amount to pursue a garnishee order in Malaysia under Order 49 of the Rules of Court 2012.

However, speaking as a debt recovery law firm that’s overseen many garnishings over the years, Rule & Co recommends an effective minimum of RM100,000.

If that’s all, hope we helped, and feel free to get in touch for a free case assessment!

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For creditors who want to understand how we arrived at this figure, please read on.

Initial court judgement required

A garnishee order is a subsequent proceeding after a court judgment is obtained against the debtor, which means initiating a civil suit (and winning it).

While everyone sort of knows court cases are not cheap, once you see costs pile up in real time, you will feel it as:

filing, lawyer, and court expenses can easily run into thousands of Ringgit, and
the case drags on for months to years depending on complexity and objections

On top of all this, there is never a guarantee you’ll win the suit!

But let’s say you win your case and obtain a judgement, and the debtor has not emptied their bank accounts despite having more than enough time to do so.

A garnishee order will now require a separate subsequent application.

Subsequent garnishee order application

We cover this at length in our guide to garnishee proceedings, but basically there are three main stages to securing this court order:

Ex-parte application – Court freezes funds and orders garnishee to appear.
Inter-parte hearing – Garnishee discloses amounts owed; objections may be raised.
Garnishee Order Absolute – Court directs garnishee to pay the creditor directly.

From start to end, even simple cases often take up to five months and thousands of Ringgit.

If objections or multiple garnishees are involved, expect it to take even longer and cost more.

Finally, don’t expect a full recovery the moment an Order Absolute is granted as courts may order repayment in installments, in which case regular follow-ups can be needed to ensure garnishees comply (like we said, we’ve overseen many garnishing arrangements in our time).

If this is beginning to sound like a huge pain, it is!

What you should be prepared to spend

For a full civil case and garnishee order application, expect to spend something in the RM40,000 - RM50,000 range, a significant sum, and why we suggest RM100,000 as an effective minimum.

Below this amount, from a financial perspective, even a full recovery rarely justifies the cost.

Of course, we’re not suggesting you abandon debts under RM100,000, merely that you consider an alternative solution.

Pre-court recovery strategies for smaller debts

For debts between RM5,000 and RM100,000, pre-court debt recovery is often more economical and effective. The upfront costs for this method of recovery are usually negligible, and you can ensure your costs of recovery do not exceed the amount of the debt itself.

Via pre-court recovery strategies, creditors can apply pressure through formal demand letters, structured negotiations, and threats of compulsory wind ups (for corporate debtors).

In fact, we generally advise our clients to fully exhaust pre-court strategies before even thinking of going to trial regardless of debt amount.

Ultimately, the decision is yours; we just want you to make an informed choice!

Final thoughts

While garnishee orders can be extremely effective, it comes at a high price and if the debt value doesn't justify the cost, a practical creditor might want to explore partial settlements or monthly installments as an overall more cost-effective method.

That’s it from us, and we wish you a smooth recovery 🙂

Let Rule & Co handle your debt recovery