Govt Code Section 501.014 seems to allow garnishing a defendant's inmate trust account for fines, court costs, and appointed counsel's fees. Anybody doing it already? If so, I would appreciate any ideas / forms you have.

Our District Clerk (Kerr COunty) tells me that we (and a number of other counties) have been doing this for years; however, recently TDCJ has begun refusing to allow the garnishment, on the theory that the inmate has not received due process for the garnishment, despite the language of the statute specifically allowing this.

Our District Clerk has asked this office to help her fight TDCJ, to which we have responded that we would be glad to help, but since a lawsuit against TDCJ would probably have to be filed in Austin, politically it would probably only be successful if (a) a number of counitse and/or district clerks get on the bandwagon, and (b) the Travis County District Clerk is one of the active participants.

You might want to check out Abdullah v. State, 211 S.W.3d 938 (Tex. App. Texarkana 2007) (requiring due process before withdrawal of money).

Kerr County has added specific language into all pleas wherein the judge admonishes about garnishment & defendant acknowledges due process and agrees to the disbursements. Theoretically our bases are covered.