I received a phone call today from the payroll department at work and was told that they had received a garnish summons on me for the amount of $938. I was not familiar with creditor so I called the superior court and was told that it was filed in court in 2006. They also stated that my mother signed for the order. I have never known about this order and it is now 12 years later. I have not lived at my mothers home for 12 years and received no notification of me being sued? Can they legally garnish my wages and in one lump sum?

I don't know the exact answer to this but I do know when I have a customer that's not paying for the work we did. I have up to 5 years to keep billing or take them to court to collect. I'am in Pa. Iam guessing your thing was already a court order from a long time ago which keept it atctive so to speak and they are excuteing it now

I received a phone call today from the payroll department at work and was told that they had received a garnish summons on me for the amount of $938. I was not familiar with creditor so I called the superior court and was told that it was filed in court in 2006. They also stated that my mother signed for the order. I have never known about this order and it is now 12 years later. I have not lived at my mothers home for 12 years and recieved no notification of me being sued? Can they legally garnish my wages and in one lump sum?


I see this as a Judgment from 2006. The Judgment is good, depending on the State, from 8 to 10 years and renewable at least once. Yes, the Judgment is good.

I have no idea what Order your mother may have signed for. Do you mean she was served with the Summons in your name, signed for it and never told you about it, never gave it to you?

Yes, if it's a valid Judgment the creditor can use any legal means to collect - garnishments against wages, bank accounts, whatever is legal in your State.

If you had no knowledge of this you could always attempt to get it set aside for bad/no service but that's a tricky, lengthy process. If you win that motion they'll simply serve you again and if they can prove their case, they will and they'll get another Judgment against you.

Most states have a limit on the percentage of pay a garnishment can take. Usually its 25%. So they may not be able to take this in one lump, but they certainly can take it.

As Judy noted, you could try get the judgement vacated on the grounds of improper service. But if your mother did sign for the summons, then I doubt if you will win. Even if you do, they will just serve you again as you walk out the court. Unless you think you can prove this wasn't your debt, I would just let the garnishment run its course.