Here in California, a judgement creditor can garnish your wages. A creditor can take up to 25% of your gross paycheck each pay period. For many of my clients, this is a disaster waiting to happen. Let me tell you how garnishments start, and how to stop it.
Before a creditor can take money from your bank account your garnish your wages, they must first sue you. Sometimes you might not even be aware that you are being sued. For instance, you might have moved recently, or the creditor failed to serve you properly.
The end result of many of these lawsuits is a “judgement.” When the court issues a judgement against you, it means that you have lost the lawsuit and the court has determined that you legally owe someone else money.
Only after a judgement may a creditor be able to garnish your wages.
After a creditor has its judgement, they can seek a “writ of execution.” This is an order from the judge that tells your employer that they must withhold money from your paycheck. Once your employer is served with the writ of execution and levy instructions, they are required by law to start turning over money to the levying officer.
The levying officer is the Sheriff’s office in the county of your employment. The levying officer is tasked with collecting funds from your employer. Once the levying officer has your funds, they turn over the funds to the judgement creditor to satisfy your debt. This will continue each paycheck until the debt is payed off, or you take action to stop the garnishment.
The most effective way to immediately stop your garnishment is to file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy will not only stop the garnishment in its tracks, but bankruptcy also eliminates your obligation to ever pay the debt again. For these reasons, a good percentage of my clients file bankruptcy just to stop a garnishment.
Once you file bankruptcy, I request that the Bankruptcy Court notify everyone involved in the garnishment process. This means your employer, the judgement creditor, the levying officer, and the court that originally issued the judgement. Once everyone is notified, your garnishment will stop!
Because of the devastating effect that a garnishment may have on your personal finances, I can quickly file your bankruptcy case to stop a wage garnishment. Please call my office if you need help stopping a garnishment. My phone number is (916) 333-2222.