It’s a bad day when you open your mail or get a letter from HR that says your wages are about to be garnished. You have to act fast to protect your next paycheck. What can you do?
What is a garnishment? A garnishment is a Court Order that says part of your paycheck can be sent to someone that has a judgment against you. A garnishment happens after a lawsuit has been served on you and the Court has entered a judgment against you that says you owe someone else money.
The first thing you can do is determine if you are the head of your household. If you are, print out this form. Follow the instructions on the second page and do this as fast as you can. This will decrease the garnishment from 25% of your wages to 10%.
The next thing you can do is talk to a lawyer to see if the judgment can be set aside and the garnishment stopped. Sometimes there is a defect in a judgment that allows it to be set aside, for example, if you were not properly served papers at the start of a lawsuit. Talk to a lawyer to see if this is your situation and if there is any way to contest the judgment that was entered against you.
The third option is settling the judgment debt. If the debt is settled, there is no garnishment! Talk to the lawyer that is garnishing you about setting up a monthly or lump sum payment on the debt in exchange for dropping the garnishment.
The fourth option you have is filing a bankruptcy. Once your bankruptcy is filed, the garnishment must stop according to Federal Law. Any funds garnished from you after your bankruptcy is filed must be returned to you.
I am always happy to answer your questions about these options, and offer free consultations to get you the information you need! Contact me and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!