Wage Garnishment Hearing

I have seen quite a few of these asset hearings. Most of the time they really are no big deal. Most of the time the judge calls the case and the defendant(s) end up out in the hall or in a conference room talking to the lawyer. You and DH need to go dressed like street bums. Don't take any money with you. Just parking change. Leave anything more than just change at home or locked up in your car. Might even have someone else take you. Don't wear any kind of jewelry and nothing of value whatever. Don't even wear your engagement or wedding rings. Don't wear any makeup. You want to look like you are too poor to even afford that. Make sure you have no money in any bank accounts whatever. No safety deposit boxes, nothing.

You say that garnishment would be a real hardship but why is that true? Two K isn't a lot of money these days. For many people that would not even be a month's worth of income. If you are only making 2k a month then the $500 they could take out each month would only be 4 months of having to live on $1500 a month.

I know there has to be much more to this story or you wouldn't be as concerned about it as you seem to be. If your income is below the 2K a month then it could easily become a matter of great importance. Are you possibly on a pension of some kind? Would the loss of that much money force you into a foreclosure on your home? Make it where you would be put out on the street because you could no longer pay rent or what? They can't take pension money. You need to tell us just a bit more about your income, source of your income and how much or at least something more to go on here.

 

So its Halloween, so put a pumpkin over your head and you won't need makeup. (LOL) Believe it or not, in Boulder, Colo. they have a Holloween Pumpkin run where everybody wears a hollowed out pumpkin and sneakers and nothing else. Yep! Totally nude. They do this late at night so the kids are all in bed. Just read an article where the cops intended to put an end to those runs this year. The article didn't say how successful the cops were. (LOL).

Is he on disability? If so do you keep his ssi money in a separate account? If not you had best get it in a separate account at another bank ASAP. Then you can sit back and hope they get stupid and garnish that. Be sure and tell them you have that account at the hearing and hope they garnish that. It is illegal to garnish SSI money and you could sue the pants off of them if they did grab it.

Especially with more than half your income going out on that mortgage.

You need to check your state garnishment laws as well as federal to see what they can or cannot do. It can get a bit nasty.

If your checks are sent to your bank you need to stop that and get paper checks instead because they could grab both places. Don't cash your checks at your local banks either. Garnishment can be stopped but it isn't cheap so the amount you owe wouldn't be worth the expense of getting the protection in place. That's only going to help those who are deep, deep in debt and have an excellent income.

 

Yes! Out of the bank and into a home safe. Maybe get one of those round ones you sink into a concrete floor and put it under the clothes dryer or somewhere it can't be found easily. Those aren't expensive.

You just might have to pay that judgment off before they will give you the loan mod. On the other hand it might be to your great advantage to let the mortgage go and move out, especially if you are heavily underwater on the loan. It depends on where you live to a large extent. For instance if you bought a 1300 Sq. Ft. home in California for $550,000 and due to the market conditions the home is now worth maybe $150,000 at best and you could rent a similar home for maybe $1,000 a month you would be much better off just defaulting than getting into more debt. This housing bubble isn't all done bursting by a long way yet. The next couple of months or so promises to start a new wave of foreclosures that will make the last one which isn't even over yet look like a quilting party in comparison. Although most folks thing the worst of the recession is over it isn't any where near even getting a good start yet. People are cutting back and saving as much as they possibly can instead of buying and taking out new loans. That's what I'm doing too. Building up as much in savings as possible, buying as little as possible. I bought a new fax machine and 2 new hard drives this month but got all 3 brand new in the box at a pawn shop for less than $100 including tax. Pawn shops can be a great way to save big bucks if you know what you are getting and what the current store or ebay price is. With the economy and unemployment what it is, pawn shops often have great bargains on new or nearly new stuff.

 

Great advice! But did you get a copy of that agreement? If so what exactly did it say?