Foreign Attachment Law and Legal Definition
Foreign attachment is a process by which the property of a foreign or absent debtor is attached for the satisfaction of a debt due from him/her to the plaintiff. It is the attachment of property within the jurisdiction but owned by a nonresident defendant.
The statutes provide for the issuance of writs of foreign attachment upon affidavit showing non residence, in both contract and tort actions, and the writ directs the attachment of the defendant's goods and chattels, rights and credits, lands and tenements. [Greene v. Johnston, 99 A.2d 627, 631 (Del. 1953)]
The following is an example of a state statue (Delaware) on foreign attachment.
10 Del. C. § 3506. “A writ of foreign attachment may issue against any individual not an inhabitant of the State on any cause of action after proof satisfactory to the court that the defendant cannot be found, that the defendant resides out of the State, and that plaintiff has a good cause of action against the defendant in a sum exceeding $ 50.”
