Sec. 4012.

(1) Except for garnishment of a tax refund under section 4061a, and subject to subsection (2), a writ of garnishment of periodic payments remains in effect for the period prescribed by the Michigan court rules.

(2) A garnishee is not liable for a writ of garnishment of periodic payments under subsection (1) to the extent that the garnishee is required to satisfy another writ of garnishment against the same defendant having a higher priority or having the same priority but received at an earlier date. For purposes of this subsection, writs of garnishment have priority in the following order:

(a) A garnishment resulting from an obligation of court ordered support as defined in section 2 of the support and parenting time enforcement act, Act No. 295 of the Public Acts of 1982, being section 552.602 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.

(b) A levy of the state or a governmental unit of the state to satisfy a tax liability.

(c) Any other garnishments, in the order in which they are served.

(3) Except as otherwise provided by statute, a plaintiff shall pay a fee of $6.00 at the time a writ to the garnishee of garnishment of periodic payments is served upon the garnishee.

(4) As used in this section and section 8410a, “periodic payments” means wages, salary, commissions, and other earnings, land contract payments, rent, and other periodic debt or contract payments that are or become payable during the effective period of the writ of garnishment. Periodic payments do not mean any of the following:

(a) Payments by a financial institution of interest on a deposit account.

(b) Charges made by a financial institution automatically against an account which applies to a debt under an automatic payment authorization executed by the account owner.

(c) Payments made by a financial institution to honor a check or draft or to comply with an account holder's order of withdrawal of funds from an account.

(d) Interest earned on a certificate of deposit that is paid into a deposit account.