Garnishments can be a major strain on your ability to support yourself and your family. The garnishment procedure begins once a creditor obtains a court judgment against you. This means that the creditor has sued you in a civil court and obtained a court order that states that you owe the judgment amount. The amount garnished will also include payment for the judgment creditor’s attorneys’ fees and the cost of filing the law suit.
Once the judgment is obtained, the creditor will send the garnishment form to your employer to begin garnishing your wages. You will have a set period of time (currently 14 days) to challenge the garnishment. The law may allow you to avoid the garnishment if you can show your income is below a certain amount or otherwise qualify for other relief under the law. Child support payments take precedence over garnishments.
How Can I Stop Wage Garnishment?
Here are three ways to avoid an earnings’ garnishment:
- change jobs;
- pay your judgment in full; or
- file bankruptcy.
Change jobs
Job-hopping is an unwise strategy in a recession, and can cost you far more than what you hope to save by ducking the wage garnishment. Furthermore, some aggressive judgment collectors will find out where your new job is, or focus on your bank accounts instead. All the while, post-interest judgment continues to accrue.
Pay it off
If you are facing a garnishment, then you are probably unable to pay the underlying debt, otherwise, you would have paid it before the matter progressed to the garnishment stage.
File Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy stops garnishment proceedings upon filing the case with the bankruptcy court, and with limitation, may return amounts collected through the garnishment back to you. Bankruptcy can also provide effective relief for any other debts you may owe. Explore this website to learn more about bankruptcy and dispel some of the myths. For example, you typically will not lose your house, or your car, or your household belongings. Your overall credit profile may improve in some cases, especially if you avoid incurring debt after you file. You can get rid of most types of debt, including the judgment used to garnish your wages.
Serving Southwest Ohio clients in Cincinnati, Mason, Lebanon, West Chester, Montgomery, Hamilton, Middletown, Batavia, Wilmington and surrounding areas.
Warren County • Butler County • Hamilton County • Clermont County • Clinton County
