Question about Wage Garnishment

[nomoney4u]

I was just wondring about the process for wage garnishment.???I have been having having financial difficulties for the past 6 months and pretty much let all my Credit cards go..Pretty much I sent all my creditors cease and assist letters and calls from my creditors are minimal. Howerver I have recently recieved an letter from an attorney (Hyat,Haut & Landau) which they advetise themselves as collection attornies. that one of my creditors are using and advise me that they are planning to file suit...at this point I have no assets so I am not worried about that,I have no money in my bank account so they can't levy that. I am howerver worried about wage garnishment because I'm only I'm one pacheck away of being evicted from my apartment..I wanted to know if anyone know the process for wage garnishment. In my case I work in one state....and my actuall employer actually resides in another state..They lawyer my creditor hired pracices in my state. So I just wanted to know if anyone if anyone knows what the process would be for them to actually be able to garnish my wages. My actual income is just below $400.00 per week. I want to be prepared for what happens...If I can get advice, would be appreciated..

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

Wage garnishment is going to be a processtaken through the court system, depending on the State you live in. If the creditor(s) succeeds your wages will be garnished. You may want to consider BK depending on your financial status before this all takes place?!

Good Luck, Catchmeifyoucan

[nomoney4u]

Thanks for the quick reply, but your infromation I already know..I wanted to get more info on the legal process....Am I going to get a summons to appers in court?? And if thay get a judgemen in this state are they going to be able to serve the judgement in another state??? I have looked into BK but I already filed 1 BK 5 years ago and I am going to be eligable for CH 13. Unformtunatly I don't have money to afford an attourney yet alone any payment plan....So I have to takle this myself....

[no_it_all]

Wage garnishment is a two-step process. Maybe even more. First, you will get a summons to appear in court. You will have to be <served>, which can be as simple as sending you a letter that you sign for, posting it in the newspaper if they can't find you, or even hiring a process server to deliver it personally to you. Next they have to show up in court. The interesting thing is that in some states if the amount is say, under 5grand, it must be heard in Small Claims court. Interesting also is that some states do no allow attorneys in Small Claim actions. Check your state. Once/if they get a judgement, all that says is that you legally owe them money. Collecting it is a whole other process. The creditor (Plaintiff) would have to BACK to court and convince them to garnish your wages (which is not allowed in some states). During this process you will be notified. You could concievably drag this out for quite a while. My guess is if the amount is small, the letter you recieved is all talk and no action...good luck

[HHM]

no it all has it correct to a point...the fist step in garnishing wages is to get a court judgment (note, this step does not apply to the IRS) against you which requires the filing of a complaint by the creditor, issuance and service of a summons and so on, and assuming you either don't show up, or have no defense, the creditor will get a judgment. This 1st step is pretty much the same in all states.

The second step, collecting on the judgment has quite a bit of variation. I disagree with no it all in that once they creditor has a judgment. The process for garnishing wages, once the creditor has a jugdment, is quite streamedlined, in most states, you won't even know its happening until your employer is served with a writ of garnishment. Typcially, writs of garnishments are done ex-parte, meaning you are not notified that the creditor is seeking garnishment, until its already done. However, most states provide a method for claiming exemptions etc after the fact.

As for practical advice, if the only debt your worried about is credit card, you have some time. It will typically take 12-18 months from your first default on the credit card before anyone even "thinks" about sueing you to get a judgment. They will try all manner of other low cost collection tactics first.

[nomoney4u]

That's great info...thanks. And how would that work if I actually reside in one state lets say like Florida. And the company that actually writes my paycheck is in another state lets say like Illinois(my paycheck gets mailed). Would that create another hurdle for them ???

[HHM]

That's great info...thanks. And how would that work if I actually reside in one state lets say like Florida. And the company that actually writes my paycheck is in another state lets say like Illinois(my paycheck gets mailed). Would that create another hurdle for them ???

As to your question, no, the fact that your check is printed out of state won't matter. The writ of garnishment is served on your employer in-state, and it becomes the employer's responsibility to comply, if the employer fails to comply, they can become liable (in most states), so your company is not going to play games with the garnishment and will simply inform who ever handles payroll (wherever they are) to enforce the garnishment.