I have a rather unique two part issue. In 2004 a judgement was levied against me. I have never paid this judgement. Now 7 years later, I have been awarded a settlement from a lawsuit I was in against the city in which I worked. I left my city job in 2005, yet the attorney from the 2004 judgement has tried to place a wage garnishment on my current settlement. Complicated I know! The city returned service stating the obvious, I no longer worked there! My question is, can that attorney garnish my settlement?
Hi Cowboysfan Did payment from your settlement include back wages? Is the settlement paid out of the cityâ??s payroll department in the form of a pension? Or was it paid out a general fund in a lump sum? Per the US Department of Labor the following wage types are garnishable: personal earnings, i.e., wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, or other incomeâ??including earnings from a pension or retirement program. Tips are generally not considered earnings for the purposes of the wage garnishment law. To answer your question: yes the attorney can garnish your settlement, if the settlement was paid in a lump sum the creditor can request a lien on the bank account they will frozen the account and have the full amount of the debt garnished â?? in my state all funds held in the account can be frozen up to 21 days. If you take settlement funds and purchase a house or vehicle they can (if state law allows it) place liens on the property. I would review your states laws on exemptions and garnishment law and get the funds out of your bank ASAP because IMHO the creditor knows about it and could garnish the account.
The answer is that without knowing what state you live in, there is no way that anyone could give you any idea whether or not they could garnish anything, because that varies depending on the state law. Secondly, any information here is based on the best information that laypersons can provide each other. If by your own admission, it's complicated, it may be a question which you obtain a qualified legal opinion on by a lawyer who is licensed to practice in your state.
