Recently, I’ve had several calls to my office about Garnishment of Wages, so perhaps a short article is in order. Wage Garnishment is a legal procedure in which a person’s earnings are required by court order to be withheld by an employer for the payment of a debt. The key to the preceding statement is the term “court order”. A garnishment of wages cannot occur without a judge agreeing to the garnishment. This means that some type of court action must occur. The creditor cannot merely attach or garnish your account without due process of law. In Pennsylvania, where I practice law, a Garnishment of Wages can occur only under limited circumstances. The most prevalent circumstance is for an obligation of child or spousal support. Garnishment is usually very easy to procure under those types of matters. Other circumstances where garnishment of wages can occur include repayment of PHEAA student loans, room and board for four weeks or less and obligations relating to a final divorce distribution. In PA, these are just about the only instances when your wages can be garnished while they are in the hands of your employer.
Many of the inquiries that I receive at my office are regarding credit card collections and garnishment of wages. Except under very limited or special circumstances, in Pennsylvania, an ordinary creditor cannot garnish your wages on a Pennsylvania case. This does not mean that the money that you earn cannot ever be garnished. There is a distinction here that must be made. Once the money is earned and deposited into your bank account, the monies are no longer wages. Those funds become part of the corpus of your bank account and are subject to garnishment. If a creditor is privy to your banking information AND if they have obtained a judgment against you, they will be able to garnish the funds in your bank account, even if those funds were at one time wages. This type of “regular” garnishment does not require a court order, but instead requires the creditor to obtain a judgment against you in a court of law. After a judgment is obtained, a creditor can commence garnishment proceedings by applying for a Writ of Execution. The Writ of Execution is delivered to your bank and your accounts are then frozen.
Greg Artim is an Attorney with offices located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more answers to your legal questions, please visit his website at www.gregartim.com
Filed under: Debtors & Creditors | Tagged: Garnish Wages
I found this information to be very helpful and educational. Thank you for taking the time to write this. I look forward to you writing in the future.
Must one be notified before a garnishment is made?
Typically a letter is sent out prior to garnishment.
No, that is incorrect. A letter is sent out after the garnishment is made, not prior.
My husband had his wages garnished due to school loans. Before they garnished wages they must have left about 50 phone messages that he never responded to. I also never recalling a letter at all.
Greg is correct a letter is typically sent out after the garnishment is made.
My wages just got garnished and it sucks. Couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
My boyfriend’s wages were garnished and he still hasn’t gotten a letter. I can’t see how this can be legal.
Hi! Did your boyfriend receive calls from these scumbags (collectors)? Did he not answer them or make some sort of payment arrangements?thanks
Can a Joint Bank Account (husband and Wife) or a Business Account be garnished?
Thanks!
Dave- they will need a judgment order before they can garnish from your joint account and the other person whom is not in debt will have to show evidence or show proof of their money. My wife and I are going through a similar circumstance and we have recently just taken our names of each others accounts. To be on the safe side, if you are in deep debt, take your name off the joint account.
BTW- here is something that I just found
http://courts.co.calhoun.mi.us/quest475.htm
Thanks Aaron.
I also have a business account which my name is on. Is that at risk?
I’m in the process of removing my name from the account. the court date is for 4/17/08 so the judgement is just around the corner…
OH BTW..I’m in PA
I’m not 100& sure. I did a little research on your behalf and this is what I found out the IRS can freeze your business account however I’m not sure if a regular creditor can get to your business. If you owe a lot of money and you have a big business account I would suggest you contact a lawyer. You could also call your local bar association if you didn’t want to talk to an attorney. I’m sure they would know the question regarding garnishing business accounts. My first thought would be they couldn’t go after the business account however they could go after the wages you pull from the account.
I’m not a debtor or creditor attorney so I’m uncertain about that question.
thanks again Aaron. I did contact a Lawyer here in PA and I’m going to the hearing to defend the suit. It turns out that they HAVE to proove alot to actually win. and I also found out that here in PA they cant touch a joint account unless a judgement is against both of us. The business account is still in question, however.
Dave (from April 16th),
Did this lawyer provide you with a copy of the law that says a joint account can’t be touched in the state of PA? Let me know if he/she did. How are things working out for you?
A growing number of people are “working poor”. That means they work full time but live in relative poverty because of low pay and high costs of living. If someone like this is victimized by an IRS wage levy the effects can be devastating. Unfortunately the IRS won’t go away.
Can someone help me. I had a credit card debt. they have already filed judgemnent and won. Now I get a letter saying they are garnishing my husbands bank account. My name is not on this account and never has been.
His name was never on the credit card either..
Letter say I have 5 days to contest this. Can they take his money since my name is not on the account nor his on debt?
My employer recieved a notice from the sheriff that my pay is going to be garnished for a debt from 10 years ago that I did not know I owned. I was NEVER EVER notified and moved from the address they were serving paper to 10yrs ago. I cannot get anyone to help me. How can they do this if I was never giving the opportunity to pay what was owned. I was married then and was covered under my ex husband insurance when I had my daughter. I got an order of protection in the year 2000 and then had help moving me and my 4 children. I have never hidden, I have worked at the same employer and have bills under my name that they could of found me. I can’t have this happen. The original amount was $2400 and now it is almost 3x that amount and the lawyer will not even get on the phone. I will pay the $2400 if the insurance never paid. I don’t want this I am trying to repair my credit but I don’t have that kind of money. No one will help me. What can I do. Is it legal to do this if I was never notified? The secretary told me they served me last year at the address I have not lived at for 10yr and it was returned to them saying i did not live there. Please someone tell me what I can do.
how long can a garishment be taking out . My husband wages have been garished for atleast 10 months this year.
Can they obtain a judment to freeze your account if you are required to have direct deposit by your employer? If this is the case they will be able to stop me from gaining access to get money to fed not only my wife and I, but also my children…that doesnt seem right.
I have a garnishment on my wages. The order says no more than 10% of gross salary when over 196.50, 25% of your disposable for that week, or the amount by which your disposable WEEKLY earnings exceed 196.50, whichever is least. Disposable earnings are defined as that portion of the earnings remaining after the deduction from the gross earnings of any amounts required by law to be withheld. In the event the disposable earnings are 196.50 or less, no amount shall be withheld.
My paycheck comes twice a month…every two weeks. my last check grossed 286.00 and netted 260.00 before they garnished my pay for an additional 26.00.
Being that I made 286 in two weeks, I only made 143 a week. Shouldn’t they NOT be garnishing anything? Is this legal? Should I file a complaint against them or something? Why SHOULD I do?? Or am I wrong somehow?
I know how you guys feel .I just got a ganishment but i also i got a lawyer and did the counseling class for 50 bucks , remember with out that class your lawyer cant file for you to stop this mess.
I didnt have the amount in my account for them to take anyways and right now there is a hold on both amounts .I wish i could give more insite but the best thing you all can do is GET A LAWYER!! PAY THE FILING FEE AND EXSPENSES.
In Virginia i paid 874 bucks to get this mess stopped whick is taking place this week , that way by the time they get to my wages and have the hold on it 2 take the cash they wont touch any more because i wont put any more init, hopefully they wont take out any thing else after this way ,so far they got $32. 12 cents ,thats a whole better than 494 bucks that i owe, plus another one for 562 bucks and some change .
good luck to all here and those out in the world .
I wil pray 4 you all as i do anyways… only you and your lawyers can stand by and take the crap but god is great he wil see a way for us.
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p.s. You have a very good template for your blog. Where did you find it?
If I am being garnished for child support, can I be garnished as well for student loans at the same time???
Help!
You should check the law on limit of time,10 years is a long time back.
can my wages be garnished by a creditor . even though i pay 58% of my check before taxes in child support. i live in ohio.
if u had a seatlment garnishment already go threw can they come back and do anyother garnishment because there not happy with the first one
My husband got over his head in credit cards, he is now about to be garnished on one card. I most likely will be garnished on the 2nd card. My questions is what can I do to petition not to be garnished as I will probably loose my job if this happens. He is already paying money to the court on the first credit card. The same company is representing both credit cards
the craziest wage with holdings ive ever had happen to me was at a job where one state was with holding child support for current and arrearages at 65 percent and i really was ok with that but shortly after that another state came and garnished almost the remaining of everything else which was also child support to give you an example i would make 300.00 dollars and the first state would leave me like 56.00 dollars but like two months later when the other state came along they took everything but 6.00 dollars so what happened is i worked for this employer for about 6 more months than was eventually fired, but think about it just when you think you can live on 55 dollars a wk along comes big brother and says try 6.00 bucks a week, i beleive the child support system commited a serious error but could less give a crap. needless to say i ended up getting a different job and right now they garnish 53 percent or so the other state for some reason tried to do the same thing again but never succeeded and i figured it out , some employers follow the federal guidelines for garnishments and will inform the gov or who ever it is that their are laws under certain curcumstanes for how much you are already being garnished and will not break those laws under no circumstances. so im happy all is well now but to better answer your question personally i have creditor judgements against me and have had for quite some time being that i pay so much in support as i see you do to the creditors have sent me letters indicating that they were going to be garnishing my wages on the following ck, and have never been able to personally this is been going on for such a while i really dont think its possibe i do feel bad i cant pay but what can you do when your paying so much as is hell i even owe financial aid money im not sure if ill be able to pay that before i drop dead if this out of control of child support doesnt stop any time soon with the interest that they impose on you,i hope this gives you some insight,
take care
I was never served any papers on a garnishment I received last friday in the mail from my job,I have looked up the procedures and so forth.My question is if you(I) don’t meet the requirements are they allowed to garnish me.If they take what the paper shows it leaves me with nothing to live on.Also this is a garnishment for a credit card,that I sent 3 payments for and they refused them because it was not what they wanted,but what I could afford to give them.So now they sent the papers to my job and they can not tell me how much this will be.I only work 26 hrs. a week.Which is 52 hrs. every 2 weeks and after the taxes leaves me just enough to pay rent and utilities,groceries which are not much.
roxibaby48 “god is great?” are you christian? Christians don’t screw married men nor do they try to get out of what they owe to a company. You use god as a tool for your convenience. If you agreed to pay the money then DO THE RIGHT THING AND PAY IT simple as that. I find it appauling that people like you are allow to exist on this earth. Can you say …”.Dumb as a box of Rox?”
You call yourself a christian you stupid human, you sound like the devil himself.
Your going to burn 10 times over, A person teaching the word and casting hate will suffer thrice the pain.