How Wage Garnishment Works and How to Avoid It?

Wage garnishment is one of the last resorts in debt collection when a debtor is unwilling or unable to pay back his creditors as per the terms and agreements previously agreed upon. This hurts the debtors as a part of the wage is deducted by the employers and paid directly to the creditors. It not only hurts the debtor financially but also creates a bad impression in the eyes of the employer who is bound to deduct a portion of the wage by a court order. With the law prevents the employer from firing the employee whose wages are being garnished second or third wage garnishment order depending on the state takes away such protection.

How Does It Work?

Once the debtor defaults on the repayment and the creditor has decided that it cannot collect the outstanding amount it would usually sell the debt to a debt collection agency. If the agency is unsuccessful in recovering the debt it usually takes the legal course in the interest of its client. A lawsuit is then filed against the debtor in an attempt to recover the outstanding dues. The court then passes an order directing the employer to garnish wages from the creditor.

Wage garnishment will take into account all the basic requirements and allow only a portion of the pay to be garnished. This amount to be garnished varies from state to state, for instance in California the law allows less than 25% of the wage to be garnished from the pay. It also protects the deductions that a person is legally required to pay such as federal, state and local taxes, unemployment insurance, state employee retirement system payments and Social Security payments.

How To Avoid Wage Garnishment

• The best way to avoid wage garnishment is to negotiate with the person or the organization to which you owe money. You can explain your financial constraints and work out a payment plan that suits your current financial situation without your wage having to be garnished. Although creditors aren't any legal obligation to accept your request in most cases they do so to avoid hassles associated with wage garnishment.
• If this doesn't work out with your creditor and you are facing financial constrains as a result of wage garnishment you can file for a "Claim of Exemption" in the court to stop wage garnishment. Here you will need to show the court that you are unable to meet your basic living costs due to wage garnishment and get a stay on this.
• Filing for a bankruptcy should be your last resort in avoiding wage garnishment. Here you will need to approach the court and the bankruptcy judge will issue a stay on almost all wage garnishments (child support is usually exempted from this). However filing for a bankruptcy has its demerits to and you should take those into consideration.

Ideally you should approach a wage garnishment attorney who will take your situation into consideration and help you choose a path keeping all your interest in mind.

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How do Lawyers Stop Wage Garnishment in California?

If you are facing a wage garnishment in California you must immediately get in touch with a professional attorney who has expertise in wage garnishment laws. Under the wage garnishment laws in California a creditor can easily obtain a judgment to garnish your wages. The law allows the creditors to garnish as much as 25% of your net income. This amount can have adverse effects on how you meet the basic necessities in your daily life. Wage garnishment usually covers loan defaults arising out from pay day loans, credit cards, personal loan or medical bills. If you are facing a wage garnishment a lawyer can help you several ways under the laws in California. We shall discuss some of these here

Filing For an Exemption

The law in California allows you to stop the Wage Garnishment by filing an exemption. Here you will have to prove that the amount being garnished is needed to support you or your family. This is where a professional lawyer will guide you through the entire process of filing for an exemption. This requires you to file a claim for exemption form. Along with this form you will also need to present a financial statement where details of your income and expanses need to be stated.

You can propose to pay certain amount of money as a part of the Claim of Exemption. This amount takes into consideration all your basic needs. In case the creditor rejects your Claim of Exemption then a hearing shall decide on your claim for exemption. In such a case the financial statement the Claim for exemption form becomes vital for your case and needs the expertise of a lawyer. A half-baked financial statement can easily be rejected denying you the chance of being exempted from the wage garnishment.

Filing for Bankruptcy

This is the last resort that many debtors have to choose to stop wage garnishment. Like the previous case here a professional lawyer is indispensible. A lawyer will guide you through the various stage of filing for a bankruptcy and help you choose the correct Chapter. Once you have filed for bankruptcy there is an automatic stay put in place. The automatic stay prevents the garnishment from continuing. Though this might seem to be a good solution there are many disadvantages associated with filing for bankruptcy.

It is a myth that filing for bankruptcy saves you from all the woes of paying your creditors but the fact is you need to eventually pay all that is due to your creditor. Your assets can be liquidated to accommodate the claims of the creditors. Apart from this you also earn yourself a bad credit score which are likely to create problems in the future. This is where the experience and expertise of the attorney comes into play as they can easily seek many exemptions under the bankruptcy laws in California that doesn’t deny you the basic necessities of life.

This post is shared by Attorneyforbankruptcy.com, which a leading law firm of California. Here you can have detailed information on wage garnishment in california and debt consolidation in california.

What Is The Basic Information For Use Of Wage Garnishment In California?

When debtors fail to repay their dues, creditors resort to the last option available and that is, wage garnishment. According to the California federal laws, creditors can garnish or take payments directly from the debtor's wages for getting back their dues. Wage garnishment is used as the last resort when the creditor fails to get their money back from the debtor directly. Wage garnishment applies to debtors who are not self-employed but have a steady monthly income from an employer. In California, there are a few basic things, one needs to remember while using wage garnishment. The federal law of the state has put some restrictions on wage garnishment and the percentage amount, a creditor can withdraw directly from the debtor's wage.

What Does Wage Garnishment Mean?

A wage garnishment can be initiated when a debtor fails to repay a creditor even after court orders to do the same. In wage garnishment, the creditor contacts the debtor's employer and asks them to with-hold some amount from the paycheck as a percentage of the impending amount to be paid by the debtor. However, the creditor cannot do so without court's permission.

How Does A Creditor Use Wage Garnishment in California?

Though, it may seem by the above explanation that any creditor can go for wage garnishment, this is not the case. For wage garnishment to be executed, a creditor has to obtain a document from a California court known as the Writ of Execution. This is a certificate that states the amount owed by the debtor to the creditor and allows the creditor to send a levying officer to the debtor's employer, informing him about the issuance of the wage garnishment. In California, the Sheriff is the levying officer.

To finally use wage garnishment, the creditor also needs to get an Earnings Withholding Orders (EWO) from the court, using which the creditor can direct the debtor's employer to with-hold a percentage of the wage.

Amount That Can Be Withheld For Wage Garnishment in California

When a creditor issues for a wage garnishment, he has to keep in mind that a percentage of the wage has to be kept for the debtor to enable him to meet his daily expenses. As such, the California law puts a limit on the amount that can be garnished from the employer. For any work week, a creditor can garnish the lesser of 25% of the disposable earnings or any amount that exceeds the debtor's earning by 30 times the federal hourly minimum wage.

Under the Title III of Consumer Protection Act, even with a lot of debt on his head, a creditor can only ask for a small percentage from the weekly wage of a debtor. All taxes such as federal, state and local taxes, unemployment insurance, social security payments, state employee retirement system and unemployment insurance are however protected against garnishment.

When Creditors Use Wage Garnishment Without Court Orders

Though, it is compulsory for a creditor to get court orders to use wage garnishment, there are certain exceptions when he can directly ask an employer to withhold percentage of the wage for debt repayment. These exceptions include:

• For clearing unpaid income taxes,


• To fulfill court ordered child support,


• Child support arrears, if any,


• Any impending students' loan.

Threat of Employment Termination

A debtor is also protected from the threat of termination of employment, in case the employee gets a wage garnishment notification. An employer cannot discharge a debtor's duty if he has one impending wage garnishment on him. However, the state doesn't protect the debtor if he has more than one wage garnishment on him.

This post is shared by Attorneyforbankruptcy.com, which a leading law firm of California. Here you can have detailed information on wage garnishment in california and debt consolidation in california.