I am getting desperate. I may post this question on a million boards. So please be patient if you have read this before. I need answers. I have been online. I have read the laws. I have called The District Court. I have called The department of treasury. I have called an attorney. (just one out of the phone book, I am sure I spoke to a paralegal) I cannot find an ACTUAL answer ANYWHERE. The situation is this. My husband has a child support order, and in michigan it is taken directly from your paycheck...as a garnishment.His Child Support order is for $173.00. That is about 20% of his disposible weekly income. He also has another Garnishment for a Repo (Asset Acceptance) for a total of 9000K. (it was a 4K car,and it was a default judgment - before I knew him, but thats another story) His employer is taking out 265 a week to pay this garnishment. making his total garnishments something like 50%. I spoke with his employer a few weeks ago...and told her that the maximum was 25% -- she agreed. the A.A. garnishment quit coming out. But, its back. AND she says that she can take 50% of his income towards garnishment. ---------------------------------------------------- Here is the link to the laws. They are the same in michigan. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casec.../41/subchapters/ii/sections/section_1673.html ------------------------------------------------- It basically says this... Under the consumer credit protection act, the maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subjected to garnishment may not exceed 25 percent of his disposable earnings for that week, except as to any order for the support of a person which is established by state law, affords substantial due process, and is subject to judicial review, in which case the maximum may not exceed, when the individual is supporting a spouse or dependant child not subject to the support order, fifty percent of the individual's disposable earnings for that week, and if not supporting a spouse or dependent child not subject to the support order, sixty percent of the individual's disposable earnings for that week. ----------------------------------------------------- I take that to mean that a SUPPORT order can be 50% and is taken out first. But that a regular garnishment can only be 25% and IF a support order takes all or part of the 25% - the other order only gets the remaining garnishible disposible income (in our case around 5%)if there is any. I *believe* the employer takes that to mean that IF there is a support order she can take a TOTAL of 50%. (so if you have a child... you get to live on only half of your income) Here is a link to the michigan garnishment calculation worksheet. http://courts.michigan.gov/scao/courtforms/garnishment/p01.pdf Who is right??? And, short of finding a lawyer and suing his employer, what on earth can I do?????? PLEASE HELP. We were trying to do credit repair - and avoid bankruptcy - but if they really CAN take 50% of his income in garnishments - really, we can't afford to do either. BTW, the only advice the paralegal gave - was a motion for installments - but I DON'T BELIEVE that is needed. I think he is almost garnishment proof. you know?? Am I wrong??
You are right. Child support takes priority so it is garnishment #1. If any of the 25% is left, the *remainder* can be given to garnishment #2. You will have to take the Garnishment #2 folks to court to prove this, I suspect. I would also list the employer in the suit for having violated the law regarding garnishments. You may get $ for the damages there and that could help pay off that company in the process. Good luck
when I spoke to the district court people. They said that the fault (if there is fault) lies directly in the lap of the employer and that they have been given a worksheet to determine how much can be taken. (I included the worksheet in the first post) That the creditor - has only done what they needed to do - filed. and that it is up to the employer to distribute the amount available - if there is any. BUT, the law, COULD possibly be understood either way. I am assuming that she is getting her information from that law. I need to find something that will state it more clearly...so that I can FORCE her to read it - and UNDERSTAND the LAW. I want to call her directly, and I don't want to be overly confrontational. I just want to be able to KNOW that I am correct.
The worksheet that you provided says nothing about deducting up to 50% of wages. Is there a new worksheet somewhere?? According to what you have posted, he should only pay an additional $42/mo with the second garnishment. It seems as if the employer has interpreted the law as if your husband is supporting a spouse and child AT HOME...not a child that lives outside of the residence. Look here: (2) The maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subject to garnishment to enforce any order for the support of any person shall not exceed - (A) where such individual is supporting his spouse or dependent child (other than a spouse or child with respect to whose support such order is used), 50 per centum of such individual's disposable earnings for that week; and The 25% maximun should apply to your husband.
The intent of most of these laws is to prevent just the situation you have described. In most states there is a garnishee limit of 10% of disposable income, if court-ordered support is involved that can bump-up the limit to somewhere around 25%. Anything over that and the debtor really has no reason to work on the books anywhere and is more likely to "skip" . That is why the law limits total garnishee to around 25%
help me! Well, I called her (the payroll person) JUST to ask where she was getting 50% - I was very friendly and was just asked so that I could get the information on my own. She said "thats the law" and hung up on me!!!! <snort> Anyway... I am waiting for a call back from an attorney. If we can't get it worked out, my husband will go back to his previous employer (who he didn't like as much) and we WILL take it as far as we need to -- if he chooses to no longer work there. <sigh> Still looking for any information that will lead us to an absolute truth and an easy to understand version of the law. Thanks.
help me! I think that "easy to understand version of the law" is an oxymoron. And that's unfortunate, that the ordinary person can no longer understand the law of our land.
help me! AHA!!!!!!!! Not that it matters to anyone --- but maybe it will help in the future. http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/printpage.asp?REF=whdfs30.htm If you don't want to bother with the link -- it gives many examples. ours being covered by this... -------------------------------------------------------- Pursuant to a garnishment order (with priority) for child support an employer withholds $90.00 a week from the wages of an employee who has disposable earnings of $240.00 a week. A garnishment order for the collection of a defaulted student loan is also served. The limit for normal garnishments of 25% applies to the debt for the outstanding student loan. Under the formula for normal garnishments, a maximum of $60.00 (25% of $240.00) is garnishable. The $90.00 support payments may be withheld, because the normal restrictions do not apply to court orders for support. No withholding for the defaulted student loan may be made, because the amount already withheld is more than the amount that may be withheld for normal garnishments. Additional withholdings could be made to collect support, delinquent federal or state taxes and certain bankruptcy court ordered payments. ------------------------------------------------------ So, now I will be printing this out - and giving to my husband to hand over to this nice woman (and her boss) There are a few things that scared me in there -like there being no protection from discharge for more than one garnishment -- but in his union agreement Child support is not considered a "debt" and cannot be used as a reason for any disciplinary actions. So he is safe.
