Hello all! I am a newbie and have been issued a civil summons notice to answer. I have several outstanding debts that have been turned over to several CA's which I hate because of a job loss and unwise use of funds. One CA is now sueing for a little over $5000. My question is if a judgement and garnishment of wages are ordered,(since I am now working again) can another CA gain another garnishment if one is already in effect on my paycheck? I've read post here where they can garnish 25% of income. If another garnishment is ordered that would total half of what I already don't have! Currently I can't even afford the basics; food-shelter-car to get back and forth to work. If a garnishment is ordered, this will more than devistate my already depressed financial state. I do not want to file BK, because I feel it's wrong and because I do owe the money. I just keep hoping and praying that my money matters and the economy would turn around before anymore creditors come to a head. Any input will be greatly appreciated!
If for example you have five judgment, you can have five garnishment orders against you. You can always file BK to stop the garnishment, and payback your creditors as funds permit.
Only one garnishment can be made at a time.You can have many garnishments but they would have to wait in line.The second garnishment would start after the first one was satisfied.
How much debt is there? Are all these accounts within statute of limitations? If they are you may need to rethink your options. If you are already struggling with just the basics then something needs to give. Alot of bk attornies give free consults. It wouldn't hurt to talk to one. Noone likes bk but sometimes it is necessary. You can always rebuild after a bk, it's hard but it can be done. Look at it this way, your credit has already suffered, whether you eventually payback or bk the damage is already done. A bk will stay on your report for 10 years. I think you really need to sit down and figure out the best route to take. Good luck, I've been there & I know how you feel. Tegleg
Enigma is correct--you can have multiple garnishments. However, I believe that in some states at least there is a limit on the total amount that can be garnished at one time. Bankruptcy may be a good option. As others have stated, you could pay off the debts later, if you want, on your own terms. When you've saved the money, go and pay it.
They absolutely do not! __________________ The most that can be garnished is 25% at one time.So how in god's name are five garnishments going to be collected at the same time?
It's like you said, they wait in line. I do payroll and we can set up as many garnishments as we want but our system will only process one. When one is paid off then the next one starts and so on.
i would consult with company counsel on this practice. Let say your state says the max that can be garnished from an employee paycheck is 25% of disposable income. Employee X has a continuing writ of garnishment already that takes 10% of disposable income. I am a judgment creditor and I send an order for a continuing writ of garnishment for the remaining 15%. You say thank you but our software only allows one at a time, you will have to wait. As the judgment creditor I would ask the court to step in, hold you (company) in contempt of court, issue an order to show cause, and to enter a writ against your company to pay the judgment. Yes, by refusing to comply with the writ, your company can be held to pay the judgment.
Wow! I definatley do not want to get my employer in any kind of trouble, nor do I want to get garnished multiple times! With $5k being garnished, does anyone know what the usual time for payback is, 2 yr's, 5yr's? I have a feeling the other debt of about $4k may come into play if the first judgement is awarded/ordered! Are there any mandatory middle grade and high school classes about credit, debt, CA, CA Attorney's and life in public/private schools? I probably would have never have gotten into this mess if there were! It all started with one preapproved card and then another came and everything was fine! The payments were paid on time and my balances were decreasing normally. Then life's bill's start to hit. Kid's - the most expensive, medical bill's, house and car maintenance and wham your at almost $10K in debt. Then maybe you incurr a job loss and end up getting sued like I am! I do feel sorry for all the college kids getting the $40k+ student loans, which they do not have to pay back until after graduation! What happens if they don't find a job in their field? Is this how the world is set up; for us to fail by no means of formal education during our pre-teen and teenage years? Hedwig, Was the person you were reffering which was multiple garnished, more than 25% of their pay?
I don't know what the percentage was. And I think it can vary from state to state as to what percentage can be garnished. It's been a while since I was involved in payroll activities. The time of payback will depend on how much you make. If you make $1000 a week and 25% is garnished, that's $250. If you make $2000 a week, it would be $500, and it would get paid twice as fast. As far as I know, no school has mandatory classes in things like credit and personal finance. I think they should.
If a creditor is going to garnish your wages he is going to go for the max. % allowed in your state.He wants his money as soon as possibleIf you owe creditor one 2,000 they will garnish the max until that creditor is paid off.If you have another creditor you owe 2,000 to if that creditor filed later he can't garnish your wages until creditor one is paid off because 25% of your pay is already being garnished.
Not necessarily. Some garnishments, like child support, are ongoing for a certain dollar amount per month. That may not reach the limit of what is permitted to be garnished per your state laws. The next garnishment in line then gets the remainder of the allowed cost until that garnishment is fulfilled. If that happened to be a set dollar value as well, and the two of them together did not reach the state max, a third could enter into the picture. Not all garnishments allow the maximum to be taken from each check. It depends on the legal language of the garnishment order.
I live in Missouri and I'm facing garnishment now. I researched it and i believe in Mo. if you are 'head od household' they can only garnich 10%.
As I said, rules in each state vary. There are a few states that don't allow garnishment of salary. Then they go after other assets first.
I live in NY and already have one garnishment in place for 10%. Can another garnishment be added if there is another judgement?
If as you say you can hardly pay the basic's,and you have kids.It's not just you that's suffering,your whole life is affected,your kids life our affected.It's a very admireable to oppose filling bk.Yes your responible for those debt's,But my friend your paying the price,if you still don't file your paying the same priceThe last thing i wanted to do is file but when your dinner is a bag of popcorn it;s time to reconsider.What ever you decide i wish you the best.
I believe the law in NY State is 25% of gross salary can be garnished. If multiple judgments exist, they wait in line until previously filed judgment is satisfied.
Hedwig and peeper are both right on target. Both federal and state garnishment laws do apply. You can only be garnished a max of 25% of your take home pay unless that amount is lowered by state law. Federal sets the maximum amount but states can reduce that amount to whatever they want. They just can't increase it. In theory at least you could have 100 garnishments going at the same time provided that each one did not exceed 1% of your take home pay. There is also a floor and if you earn less than that federally mandated floor then they can't take anything. That is calculated on a formula based on a certain number of multiples of the minimum wage. Works out to be somewhere very close to $158 a week. Of course, what often happens is that the first garnishment takes the whole 25% but if it don't then a second or even a third could possibly get their share of what is left over. Depending on state law and maybe federal law too, child support payments might enter into the equation. I know nothing about that. They can't fire you because you get a single garnishment against you but if you get more than one then I think they could terminate you without breaking that federal law. Another possibility that might change the equation could be if IRS or Student loan is taking a chunk out of your pay. I tend to think that might make a difference too but again I don't know about that either. Those two, child support and IRS or Student loans are the ones I'd like to learn about too and that is why I even got into this conversation.
