Settlement after judgment

[salsa]

I have struggled getting the two judgments against me settled. I've offered 30%, no deal. So they are really giving me no choice but to file chapter 13, in which they will get about 20% or so over 5 years.

[rogue22]

Salsa,

Are they able garnish wages or levy your bank, or are you able to claim head of household (HOH)?

I'm able to offer them up to 60%, but of course I'll start low

[justbroke]

There is no limit to the head of household exemption in Florida. Even if you make a $10,000,000 a week and you are head of household then your wages are exempt.

I missed this post and apologize for the late response. Where in the code does it say that "everything" is exempt?

You must be VERY CAREFUL with understanding how the Florida Head of Household (HOH) exemption works. If you agreed in writing, then the garnishment is possible for HOH debtors. For example, if the paperwork that you signed for the loan or credit includes a provision that you waive the exemption, then only the first $750/week may be protected (period). This is why I ask people to be VERY CAREFUL when playing around with the "head of household" exemption in Florida. It's not a simple "everything is protected".

I suggest everyone from Florida re-read the statute:

F.S. 222.11(2)

(a) All of the disposable earnings of a head of family whose disposable earnings are less than or equal to $750 a week are exempt from attachment or garnishment.

(b) Disposable earnings of a head of a family, which are greater than $750 a week, may not be attached or garnished unless such person has agreed otherwise in writing. The agreement to waive the protection provided by this paragraph must:

1. Be written in the same language as the contract or agreement to which the waiver relates;
2. Be contained in a separate document attached to the contract or agreement; and
3. Be in substantially the following form in at least 14-point type:

IF YOU PROVIDE MORE THAN ONE-HALF OF THE SUPPORT FOR A CHILD OR OTHER DEPENDENT, ALL OR PART OF YOUR INCOME IS EXEMPT FROM GARNISHMENT UNDER FLORIDA LAW. YOU CAN WAIVE THIS PROTECTION ONLY BY SIGNING THIS DOCUMENT. BY SIGNING BELOW, YOU AGREE TO WAIVE THE PROTECTION FROM GARNISHMENT.

Now how many people do you suspect sign anything put in front of them? I never sign arbitration agreements or I cross them out. However, people wanting credit will sign just about anything placed in front of them.

I will concede that if you are under-the-median, it's highly unlikely that you'd ever hit the $750/week ($39,000/year) in disposable income test anyhow, so that "exclusion" would really mean nothing.

[salsa]

Higher percentage may work. They could have garnished, but aren't. I did work out a payment arrangement with them to avoid garnishment(paying less than half of what they would get). Up to $5,000 is protected where I live for the bank acct, so they don't usually go after that. That's what's odd about these people... It's like they are avoiding trying to push us into bankruptcy. I mean if they can get $1,300.00 per month, why wouldn't they? I've threatened that if they get a garnishment, I'll be forced to stop paying the tax installment plans.. Not sure if that deters them or not.

But bottom line is I"m not going to pay on these judgments for 20 years... That would be insane.

[Freddy03]

Salsa,

Are they able garnish wages or levy your bank, or are you able to claim head of household (HOH)?

I'm able to offer them up to 60%, but of course I'll start low

I'm not sure if HOH exemption is available in all states.

[Freddy03]

I missed this post and apologize for the late response. Where in the code does it say that "everything" is exempt?

You must be VERY CAREFUL with understanding how the Florida Head of Household (HOH) exemption works. If you agreed in writing, then the garnishment is possible for HOH debtors. For example, if the paperwork that you signed for the loan or credit includes a provision that you wave the exemption, then only the first $750/week may be protected (period). This is why I ask people to be VERY CAREFUL when playing around with the "head of household" exemption in Florida. It's not a simple "everything is protected".

I suggest everyone from Florida re-read the statute:



Now how many people do you suspect sign anything put in front of them? I never sign arbitration agreements or I cross them out. However, people wanting credit will sign just about anything placed in front of them.

I will concede that if you are under-the-median, it's highly unlikely that you'd ever hit the $750/week ($39,000/year) in disposable income test anyhow, so that "exclusion" would really mean nothing.

Exactly! Many credit card/loan agreements state the collection process. I went back and pulled one of mine and it stated I agree to "all forms" of collection if I enter default.

[rogue22]

JustBroke,

Nice catch, I didn't realize that about the HOH $750/wk.

The person in our family who has the judgment and is also the HOH just received a big promotion last week, messing up a lot of plans.... Our HOH will now be making about $73,000 per year (big difference from previous salary), obviously kicking us out of ch.7 and we have no interest filing ch.13. This of course is well above the $750/wk too. So this is why we are trying to settle with the CC company to avoid wage garnishment. Luckily, when we sent in our fact sheet, that was when the HOH was only bringing home about $700 to 750/wk so they have no clue that the promotion happened at this point.

[justbroke]

rogue, remember that the $750/week is for "disposable earnings".

I just want people to be careful about what they do when it comes to judgments, garnishments, and even filing bankruptcy! I have read too many posts on this board alone where people have been mistaken about how a particular exemption or statute works, because they didn't read the whole thing or understand how it works.

Perhaps, you would still not be garnished and protected by the HOH statute (F.S. 222.11), but I would reserve that for a qualified Florida attorney to say... so don't take my word on it.

(Note: F.S. 222.11 defines disposable earnings as "that part of the earnings of any head of family remaining after the deduction from those earnings of any amounts required by law to be withheld." In other words, "disposable earnings" are after tax! This is a much different definition than in the Bankruptcy context.)

[karm43]

I had a credit card i originally owed 9500 then they put interest 16000 wow took me for judgement. if i could pay 9800 up front they would settle ha ha I will just write them a check..... When I file they will get nothing,

[karm43]

If your not filing they usually will make payment arrangements, thats what I did for now.I called them before I had to go to court, but they will still get a judgement they just will not take your paycheck. I don't like the idea of payments for 5 years at this point I cannot wait to file chap 13!!!!!!!!! So I could start over.

[Freddy03]

JustBroke,

Nice catch, I didn't realize that about the HOH $750/wk.

The person in our family who has the judgment and is also the HOH just received a big promotion last week, messing up a lot of plans.... Our HOH will now be making about $73,000 per year (big difference from previous salary), obviously kicking us out of ch.7 and we have no interest filing ch.13. This of course is well above the $750/wk too. So this is why we are trying to settle with the CC company to avoid wage garnishment. Luckily, when we sent in our fact sheet, that was when the HOH was only bringing home about $700 to 750/wk so they have no clue that the promotion happened at this point.

Be careful b/c if the judgment creditor disputes the HOH exemption you will have to produce all paystubs, tax returns and bank accounts at the hearing. I believe they have 3 days to dispute the HOH exemptions. So keep an eye on that.

Also when DH's wages were garnished it was 25% after all taxes, medical insurance and manditory payroll deductions were taken out.

Good Luck to you! I hope they don't dispute it and you are in the clear!

[IamOld]

Rouge22 hello! If your significant other JUST got he promotion, that would NOT "mess up" the Ch 7 lookback period though...if you can file before he gets his first larger check, and then I guess (and others will correct me) you just still need to show negative income with your projected income on Schedule (whatever it is....) Is that no longer possible for you?

JustBroke,

Nice catch, I didn't realize that about the HOH $750/wk.

The person in our family who has the judgment and is also the HOH just received a big promotion last week, messing up a lot of plans.... Our HOH will now be making about $73,000 per year (big difference from previous salary), obviously kicking us out of ch.7 and we have no interest filing ch.13. This of course is well above the $750/wk too. So this is why we are trying to settle with the CC company to avoid wage garnishment. Luckily, when we sent in our fact sheet, that was when the HOH was only bringing home about $700 to 750/wk so they have no clue that the promotion happened at this point.

[rogue22]

Freddy03, No worries with CC disputing HOH status, spouse doesn't have a job and hasn't for over a year now. Even when spouse did have a job, I have always made more anyways.

IamOld, thanks for your post. We wouldn't be able to file for till the end of this November due to an inheritance that was received and rolled over into an annuity. Attorney said we had to wait 6 months after the annuity was created to file BK. I don't believe we will be able to establish a negative income projection with spouse's new salary increase. Went from $50,000 to $73,000... $23,000 is a big difference. We were already over the means test for ch.7, but our attorney got us some credits that just barely lowered us to qualify for ch.7.

[IamOld]

Hello Rogue22 - you know it's funny - my atty says what is "BAD" in the real world is "good" in BK and vice versa...I guess your inheritance is "bad" in this sense!

I hate to ask the obvious - and I'm sure that your atty already did this - but you guys counted everything possible for your budget, etc right?

Also, if you have a manageable and/or low enough Ch 13 payment, it's not too bad! As many others will attest here, that is where a good lawyer is worth his/her weight in gold!! (at today's prices!!)

[rogue22]

IamOld, your attorney's comment is very true... The inheritance happened just one week before we were scheduled to file ch.7, but its better that it happened before the bk and not during. Luckily we were able to simply roll it over into an annuity within the same company so we never had the money in our bank accounts.

Our attorney is very good and we counted everything possible.. Spouse makes $50,000+ and then im on unemployment making $12,000+, = $62,000+ trying to qualify for ch.7 is tough lol.

Spouse and I both agree that we do not want to monthly ch.13 payment no matter what it is. Rather just use the inheritance to settle and be done with everything. This way we can go about our lives without concerns over big purchases (like a new car) and how it will affect our bk.