Collect Your Court Judgment With a Wage Garnishment
If the debtor has a job, you may be able to grab up to 25% of his or her wages.
If you have won a court judgment against someone with a decent job, you may be able to intercept up to 25% of his or her wages to satisfy your judgment. This process, permitted in nearly every state, is called a wage garnishment.
When You Can Garnish Wages
You can garnish wages relatively quickly and cheaply if:
- the debtor receives a regular wage (he or she isn't self-employed)
- the debtor's pay is above the poverty line
- other wage garnishments aren't already in effect (unless your wage garnishment is for child or spousal support), and
- the debtor does not quit the job, contest the garnishment, or file for bankruptcy.
Whether You Should Garnish Wages
The threat of a wage garnishment is often a strong impetus for a debtor to make arrangements to pay off a judgment because many people want to avoid the embarrassment and inconvenience of having their salary reduced.
Also, even though a federal law bars an employer from firing an employee whose wages are garnished due to a single judgment, most employees believe that a garnishment won't win them brownie points with their bosses. And the law does not bar an employer from firing an employee for multiple wage garnishments from different judgments.
However, a wage garnishment could produce the opposite effect of what you want -- pushing a debtor to quit the job or, worse, file for bankruptcy. If you choose to garnish wages, remember that you walk a fine line between making great progress on collecting your judgment and closing off the possibility of collecting.
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