How do judgements/garnishments work?

[monster1234]

[optimistic1]

Until someone can answer your specific questions, please refer to this link.

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=18889

[treehugger1]

In some states (such as mine,) there is a court fomr a debotr must fill out to claim exemptions. In the several garnishments I went through, I always filled one out. It was not really necessary in my case as I make good wages and the wage garnishments eventually paid off the judgments. On the other hand, to be safe, I filled out the exemption form and specifically stated my state statutes by rule number that applied to each exemption. In my case, I don;t have anything other than wages, pension accounts, and tax-deferred optional retirement accounts. I listed my personal property and wild card exemptions, but I highly doubt they would want several 8-year-old skiing and backcountry backpacking equipment. My cars are not an issue as I owe more on them than they are worth. But, I listed everything and claimed the exemptions to be on the safe side.

If your cars are paid off, then they are likely targets. It all depends upon your state exemptions. Some states double many exemptions if both a husband and wife are in the household. What state are you in?

You might google "your state name" debtor exemptions and see what comes up. In many states, the exemptions against judgment are the same as those allowed in a bankruptcy court.

As BB pointed out, this is not going to go away. It sounds as if they already have a judgment, so it is up to them when/if they execute it and go searching for asset information.

[treehugger1]

My apologies. I see you live in Florida. The following seems pretty good. read it:

http://library.findlaw.com/1998/Dec/1/126478.html

Note that as many of us have preached over the years, it is generally up to YOU to file your exemptions. It sounds as if Florida has a pretty good system for doing so.

[ando]

OK lets run this down...

Hope you read wage garnishment nuts and bolts that Optimistic posted, so I am not going to cover that. Other than it just depends, sometimes nothings happens and other times the creditor pulls out all the stops. Its another magic 8 ball queston...

The house: they can and most likely will put a lien on the house, its just a matter of some paper work.

The cars: The value is based on "black book" not blue book, search this forum under my nick name for the words "black book" and you will get a better explanation of what it mean. It is all relative to your states exemptions. You need to look up your states exemptions to see what they are for vehicles and ALL the rest of your personal property. They "could" take more than just your car.

For the most part depending on where you live they can be very active in some areas for seizure of property and in other areas really not that interested in a 95 Honda.

Go before the court: if you are summoned to appear for a debtors exam (not likely) yes you need to go. Also it is up to you to fight for your exemptions of property and income. So if you get notice of a garnishment or seizure you need to show up at the hearing and explain (or make your case) why your earnings and property is exempt and how you arrived at that.

Do more searching on here about bank accounts, lot of info on how they find them, simply put, you used the bank account to pay them at one time.

They can find who you work for from various sources a lot of times it is your own neighbors or relatives that tip them off, again search the posts on here.

I do not advise anyone to lie about assets in a debtors exam. There is some question as to if it a bank account or cash on hand. But for the most part, if you don't have either at the time you are required to answer it doesn't matter.

What do you have to lose? Your mind... this never goes away for the most part. So what is the exit plan. Come up with the exit plan and you won't have to lose anything else, with no exit plan you can keep losing. If you land a good job the next day you will find you wages garnished. You need to figure out how to resolve this.

great reply,

I have a question , if I move overseas, and open an account before resolving my debts here in the States (which by the way I am intending in resolving them) do I have to tell them about the foreign account?