Opening a P-account: when protection starts
Enter the day you ask your bank and the day the garnishment was served: the tool gives the business day from which your account runs as a P-account and whether the conversion still reaches back.
P-account protection applies from
3 November 2026
In time: the conversion applies back to the garnishment of 20 October 2026 (section 899(1) sentence 2 ZPO).
| Start of the fourth business day | Tuesday, 3 November 2026 |
| Convert with backdating by | 20 November 2026 |
| Bank pays the creditor at the earliest on | 20 November 2026 |
Business days: Monday to Friday without nationwide holidays. From the fourth business day after the request the account runs as a P-account (section 850k(2) ZPO).
Prepared by Radif Partners · How we calculate · 2026 table (Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No. 80) and ZPO checked on 28 October 2026
You set up a P-account (Pfändungsschutzkonto) by asking your bank to run an existing payment account with garnishment protection (section 850k(1) ZPO). You need no new account, and an overdraft does not stand in the way. If your balance has already been garnished, you can demand protection from the start of the fourth business day after your request (section 850k(2) ZPO). Ask on 28 October 2026, for instance, and the account runs as a P-account from 3 November 2026. Public holidays push the date back: asked on 21 December 2026, protection begins only on 28 December 2026. For money already garnished, a second date decides. Convert within one month of the transfer order being served on the bank and the €1,590 base amount applies back to the garnishment (section 899(1) sentence 2 ZPO). With service on 12 November 2026 that runs until 14 December 2026. When asking, you confirm that you keep no other P-account anywhere.
Two routes to a P-account
With no garnishment, converting is simply a request the bank has to fulfil. Section 850k(1) ZPO says “at any time” and expressly includes an overdrawn account. If you have debts but no garnishment yet, this is how you plan ahead: when an order arrives later, the base amount is protected from day one.
If the balance has already been garnished, subsection 2 sets a fixed point: the start of the fourth business day following the request. The calculator counts Monday to Friday and skips the nine nationwide public holidays; holidays that apply only in some federal states are not included. The table shows how weekends and holidays shift the start.
| Requested on | P-account from | Calendar days between |
|---|---|---|
| 28 October 2026 | 3 November 2026 | 6 |
| 27 November 2026 | 3 December 2026 | 6 |
| 21 December 2026 | 28 December 2026 | 7 |
| 30 December 2026 | 6 January 2027 | 7 |
| 24 March 2027 | 1 April 2027 | 8 |
The one-month window for money already garnished
The key deadline runs from service of the transfer order on the bank, not from the day you open the court’s letter. Convert within one month of that service and the base amount applies as if the account had been a P-account when it was garnished (section 899(1) sentence 2 ZPO). This fits section 835(3) ZPO: from a garnished balance of an individual, the bank may pay the creditor only one month after that service. The calculator counts the month under section 188 of the Civil Code: it ends on the day of the following month with the same number; if that is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, section 222(2) ZPO moves the end to the next working day. With service on 12 November 2026 that is 14 December 2026.
If the account is overdrawn, the window has a second effect. From the day the bank knows of the garnishment, it may not set credits that would be protected on a P-account against its debit balance. Under section 901(2) ZPO that ban falls away, however, if you do not convert within the month. Convert in time and the blocked credits are moved to the P-account as balance (section 901(3) ZPO).
Convert to a P-account by
Convert to a P-account by
14 December 2026
| Garnishment covers balances from | 12 November 2026 |
| Bank pays the creditor at the earliest after | 12 December 2026 |
| Objections to one month’s allowance by | 31 May 2027 |
| Deadline moved (weekend, holiday) | yes |
What to say when you ask
The law asks for little formality. You name the account that is to run as a P-account and confirm you have no other one. The rest of your account contract stays as it is. The bank applies the €1,590 base amount without proof; if you have children, dependants or benefits, you also hand in a certificate, which takes effect from the second business day after you present it. How to get one is explained under the P-account certificate.
A special case for couples: an account with two holders never becomes a P-account itself. Section 850l ZPO gives you one month after a garnishment to move your per-head share to a sole account at the same bank and have it run as a P-account. The transferred money is then covered by the P-account rules; the garnishment carries on against your share, but not against the share a co-holder moves to an account of their own. What happens after the conversion is described under account garnishment.