Let's say you've defaulted on a loan, stopped paying your credit card bills , or run up huge medical bills. Your creditors can't just start garnishing your wages. They must first sue you. If you lose the lawsuit and the court enters a money judgment against you, the person or entity that won the lawsuit can garnish your wages by providing a copy of the court order to the local sheriff or marshal.
That person will then send it to your employer. Your employer must then notify you of the garnishment, begin withholding part of your wages, send the garnished money to your creditor, and give you information on how you can protest the garnishment.
Federal law places limits on how much judgment creditors can take from your paycheck. Some states set a lower percentage limit for how much of your wages can be garnished. You may not be fired or otherwise retaliated against because your wages have been garnished to pay one debt.
Generally, though, once you have more garnishments, less protection is available. Under federal law, you're not protected from retaliation if more than one creditor has garnished your wages—or the same creditor has garnished your wages for two or more debts. Some states offer more protection. If you want to protest a wage garnishment, you must file papers with the court to get a hearing date.
See below for more information on how to object to a creditor's wage garnishment. You can present evidence at the hearing that you need more of your paycheck to pay your expenses or that you qualify for an exemption. The judge can terminate the garnishment or leave it in place. Since , all new or modified child support orders include an automatic wage withholding order.
If child support and alimony are combined into one family support payment, the wage withholding order applies to the whole amount owed; however, orders involving only alimony don't result in automatic wage withholding. Once the court orders you to pay child support, the court or the child's other parent sends a copy of the order to your employer, who will withhold the ordered amount from your paycheck and send it to the other parent.
If you're required to maintain health insurance coverage for your child, the payment for that will be deducted from your paycheck as well. More of your paycheck can be taken to pay child support. State law sometimes differs a bit.
You may not be fired, disciplined, or otherwise retaliated against because your pay is subject to a wage withholding order to pay child support.
Unfortunately, it can cripple your ability to pay normal living expenses and other debts. A wage garnishment is typically an order that gives a creditor the right to receive a portion of your wages each pay period to repay a debt. The garnishment continues until the debt is payable in full. The types of debt collected vary by state. In some states, only the federal government and state agencies may garnish wages.
However, other states allow general creditors to obtain wage garnishment orders. The wage garnishment continues until the debt is payable in full. Once the debt is paid, the creditor should notify the employer to stop deductions for the debt. It is difficult to stop a wage garnishment after it begins. The time to fight it is during the debt collection lawsuit or before the garnishments begin. There are several options that you can do to fight and stop wage garnishment.
If you do not owe the debt, you can fight the debt collection lawsuit. An attorney can help you fight a debt collection lawsuit. You may also negotiate with a creditor to set up a payment plan directly with the creditor. In some cases, you might be able to negotiate a lump-sum payment to settle the debt in full.
However, lump-sum payments also have drawbacks. In a Chapter 7 case, a creditor can continue to collect a nondischargeable debt —such as using a wage garnishment after the bankruptcy. In Chapter 13, you'll pay all of your nondischargeable debt in your repayment plan. If you believe that the creditor obtained the judgment improperly, you can file a motion to vacate get rid of the judgment.
In this request, you should list the reasons why you believe the judgment isn't valid. Your situation will need to fall within the specific grounds allowed for vacating a judgment, and you should file the motion as soon as you find out about the judgment.
If you win the motion and the judge vacates the judgment, the lawsuit won't go away. But you'll have the opportunity to file a response and challenge the lawsuit in court. Some of the procedures listed above are more difficult than others to do yourself. Many courts have self-help hours staffed by volunteers who can help you file an exemption. Filing a motion or a bankruptcy case will likely be more complicated. If you aren't sure about the consequences of any process, you should get help from a local attorney.
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Meet the Editors. My wages are being garnished and I can no longer afford food. Read the law: 15 United States Code A garnishee can oppose the garnishment by filing a motion with the Court. A garnishee may also claim that the garnishment sought by the creditor is exempt earnings that belong to the debtor.
The court may release some or all of the property if the judgment has been vacated, has expired, or has been satisfied, if property is exempt, or if the creditor fails to comply with court rules. Once the total amount is paid off, the creditor must file a written statement indicating the amount has been satisfied.
If they fail to do so, then the debtor may file a motion to declare that the judgment has been satisfied. This site offers legal information, not legal advice. We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information and to clearly explain your options. However we do not provide legal advice - the application of the law to your individual circumstances.
For legal advice, you should consult an attorney. In the absence of file-specific attribution or copyright, the Maryland Thurgood Marshall State Law Library may hold the copyright to parts of this website. External Resources. Note: In this article, the garnishee will be an employer and the debtor will be an employee The following processes are based on District Court Rules of Procedure.
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