A person with a debt or demand due, or a plaintiff in an action, may seek attachment against a debtor’s property when listed conditions are met.
Any person having a debt or demand due at the commencement of an action, or a plaintiff after action for any cause has been brought, and either before or after judgment, may sue out an attachment at law or in equity, against the property of a debtor or defendant, in the following cases: Where the debtor or defendant resides out of the state; Where the debtor or defendant is about to remove, or has removed, the debtor's or defendant's person or property from the state; Where the debtor or defendant has removed, or is removing, the debtor's or defendant's person out of the county privately; Where the debtors or defendants concealed is so that the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon the debtor or defendant; Where the debtor or defendant absconds, or absconded concealing the debtor's or defendant's person or property; Where the debtor or defendant has fraudulently disposed of, or is about fraudulently to dispose of, the property; Where any person liable for any debt or demand, residing out of the state, dies, leaving property in the state; or Where the debtor or defendant is a foreign corporation which has no agent in this state upon whom process may be served by any person bringing suit against such corporation; provided, that the plaintiff or complainant need only make oath of the justness of the claim, that the debtor or defendant is a foreign corporation and that it has no agent in the county where the property sought to be attached is situated upon whom process can be served. Code 1858, § 3455 (deriv. Acts 1794, ch. 1, § 19, 21; 1835-1836, ch. 43, § 1; 1837-1838, ch. 166, § 1; 1843-1844, ch. 29, § 1; 1851-1852, ch. 365, § 10); Shan., § 5211; Code 1932, § 9396; Acts 1968, ch. 523, § 1 (17.05); T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 23-601.