Before a creditor can garnish your paycheck, they must have already served you with a Summons and Complaint. The creditor then must obtain a judgment against you. This judgment may be obtained either through default or through actual litigation. Once a creditor has a judgment against you, they may go back into court and ask the judge for a Writ of Garnishment. This Writ of Garnishment is then sent to your employer, requiring them to send 25% of your gross paycheck directly to the creditor. Your employer must send the 25% of your pay to the creditor or your employer will be responsible for reimbursing the creditor whatever money they should have sent them that they did not. It’s important to note that this is 25% of your gross or pre-tax dollars. This is roughly 40% of your total take home pay!

Once a creditor begins garnishing your check there are only two ways to stop it. 1) Pay the creditor in full or; 2) file for bankruptcy. The minute you file bankruptcy, the garnishment immediately stops. So it doesn’t really make sense to let your garnishments go for several months and then file bankruptcy. If you’re going to file bankruptcy then don’t wait until you’ve been garnished thousands of dollars before filing.

Many people struggle to live off of 100% of their paycheck let alone 75%. So if you’ve been served with court papers don’t procrastinate, call us today! Let us stop your garnishment before it even starts!