He opened a law office in Millersburg, Ohio, and was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1898.

[1] In 1927, Garver returned to his law practice in Millersburg, until he was elected to an unexpired term in the 5th District Court of Appeals, serving from December 1930 to January 1933.

On September 29, 1933, Justice Robert H. Day of the Ohio Supreme Court died, and Governor George White appointed Charles B. Zimmerman until a successor would be elected in November 1934.

Garver won election for the short term, and served as a justice from November to December 31, 1934.

Garver died January 29, 1942, in Somerset, Kentucky, from a heart attack while on a trip to Florida for a vacation.