Can I garnish the income of a self-employed person to collect a judgment in Ontario?

Garnishing income from a self-employed person is more challenging than garnishing wages from an employer, but it is not impossible. For a traditionally employed person, you serve the Notice of Garnishment on their employer, who withholds and remits a portion of wages. A self-employed individual, however, does not have an employer in this sense.

The practical approach for self-employed debtors is to garnish their bank accounts (where client payments typically accumulate), garnish accounts receivable owed to them by clients (if you can identify them), or file a writ of seizure and sale against real property or personal property they own.

You can serve a Notice of Garnishment on a self-employed person's known clients if you have information that those clients owe the debtor money at the time of service. This requires knowing who owes the debtor payment — information that may be uncovered during an examination in aid of execution, where the debtor is required to disclose clients and amounts outstanding.

Ongoing enforcement against a self-employed debtor often requires monitoring and multiple steps: filing the writ on title, periodically serving bank garnishments, and checking for new assets disclosed at periodic examinations. It is more labour-intensive than a single wage garnishment, and the cost-benefit analysis matters. A lawyer can help you assess whether the debtor's business generates enough accessible income to make enforcement worthwhile.