Can garnish your wage if you owe student loans, back taxes, child support, or a court judgment has entered against you.
If you lose a lawsuit or receive monetary judgment, the entity or person who won the case can garnish your wages.
Apart from the mentioned instances, which can garnish your wage, most creditors need to move a court order and get a permit to garnish your wages.
The Process of Wage Garnishment
A copy of the court order provides to the local marshal or sheriff, who sends it to your employer.
The employer holds back a certain amount of your paycheck and sends it directly to the institution or person you owe money to, up to paying a debt in full.
The wage garnished is mainly limited to the amount by which weekly wages exceed 30 times your minimum wage or 25 percent of disposable earnings, whichever is lower.
However, some states have a lower percentage limit set for wage garnishment.
How to Protest a Wage Garnishment?
You have to file papers with the court and receive a hearing date. Your attorney can present evidence favoring that you need an exemption on the percentage amount of wage garnished or require more of your paycheck to fulfill expenses.
What are the 3 Types of Wage Garnishments?
1. Wage Garnishments for Child Support and Alimony:
If you have to pay for child support, then the other parent of the child or the court sends a copy of the wage garnishment order to your employer. Will send the garnished amount to the other parent.
The amount taken can be as much as 50% of your disposable income, especially if you support a child or a spouse who is not the subject of the order.
If you maintain health insurance coverage for your child, your wage will find a deduction for that asked amount.
If you do not support a child or spouse, up to 60% of your wage can be taken, and a 5% additional is garnish if you are more than 12 weeks in arrears.
If the alimony and child support are combined into support payments by one family, the wage withholding applies to the whole amount owed.
2. Wage Garnishments for Student Loans:
You can garnish wages up to 15% if you default on paying back a student loan.
The compensation garnished can claim by the U.S. Department of Education or the agency trying to collect the outstanding dues on its behalf.
At least 30 days before your wage garnishment, you must be notified in writing of the amount you owe, a copy of loan-related records, the procedure of entering into a voluntary repayment routine, and ways to request a hearing on the garnishment.
3. Wage Garnishments for Back Taxes:
IRS will send the wage levy notice to your employer. The amount taken depends on the standard deduction amount and the number of dependents you have.
Your employer will transmit the maximum amount to IRS and a minimum amount to you every week.
Local and state tax agencies can also take a chunk of your wages. In some states, the law limits how much payment can garnish when you default on paying taxes.
Consulting an attorney can help you understand the term, its types, and how to protest for it more effectively.
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