Tamie Rae Rivers brought a continuing garnishment action to collect a Florida money judgment that had been domesticated in Georgia. The garnishee filed one answer but failed to file the additional answers required during the 179-day garnishment period. Rivers later moved for a default judgment, but the trial court denied the motion and dismissed the case for want of prosecution because she had waited to seek judgment. The Court of Appeals vacated and remanded. Under Georgia’s garnishment statutes, a garnishee that fails to answer at least every 45 days automatically enters default, and a default judgment may be sought after the statutory period for opening default expires. The statute does not impose a deadline for the creditor’s motion for default judgment. Although trial courts have inherent authority to manage their dockets, that authority cannot vary the unambiguous statutory command. Rivers’s delay might not have been encouraged, but it did not eliminate her statutory entitlement to seek judgment. The trial court therefore dismissed the action under an erroneous legal theory.