I loaned a friend some money and he never paid me back, and doesn't seem like he intends to do so. Now, I'm forced to take his butt to small claims court. Luckily, I had him sign an agreement that he would pay me any fee's encountered if I had to take him to court, so I filed a claim for the money plus a days pay that I will lose in order to sue him,as well as the filing fees. How can I garnish his wages, or will the court system take of this?

If you win the judgment, he will have 30 days to appeal.

After the 30 days, you can then file the garnishment.

The court will add any fees to the judgment amount although, you will want to keep track and verify the correct totals with the court house before you enter the amount on the garnishment form. Be sure to add the cost of filing and service of the garnishment to the total as you can't increase it once it is filed.

The employer must answer the questions about his income within 10 days, this will let you know how much of his income is subject to garnishment. When you get the paperwork back from the employer, you need to file a continuing lien on the garnishment. Then, every 60 days, you have to re-file the continuing lien to keep the funds being garnished. Very important to keep track of this time limit. If you allow it to expire, you have to start all over again.

Good luck to you!

Make sure you keep any and all things regarding the loan. Also make sure you remember to take it all to court. Like progunr said, file for the cost of court. However, as far as I know, you can not sue for lost work! Some employers do cover people's wages due to court, but only when summoned, not suing. You might want to check into that, but a judge is not going to make the person you are suing pay you for missed work due to you deciding to sue.
You are doing the right thing just remember one thing for the future, before lending money to a friend, which is more important? The friend or the money? Unfortunately sometimes we do have to make these choices.

This is the Catch 22 of small claims court. Its not hard to win a judgement, but YOU have to do the collecting. You will have to find out where he works. The court might require him to fill in a statement of assets, but it has no enforcement powers to compel the defendant to do so.

Once you find out where he works or banks, you can then requrst a writ of attachment form the court that can then be served on his employer or bank.

This is the Catch 22 of small claims court. its not hard to win a judgement, but YOU have to do the collecting. You will have to find out where he works. The court might require him to fill in a statement of assets, but it has no enforcement powers to compel the defendant to do so.

Once you find out where he works or banks, you can then requrst a writ of attachment form the court that can then be served on his employer or bank.

Actually, there is a way to obtain information through the court system.
Once you have the judgment, you can subpoena the defendant to what is called a judgment debtors examination. He has to show up, be sworn in, and truthfully answer any question you ask in regard to his income, assets, bank information etc. If he does not show up, or if he refuses to answer the questions, he can be found in contempt of court and arrested for such.

This may be an option for you.

Yes, he can be found in contempt if he doesn't respond. But try getting the police to go an arrest him. They have other things to occupy their time.

Actually, there is a way to obtain information through the court system.
Once you have the judgment, you can subpoena the defendant to what is called a judgment debtors examination. He has to show up, be sworn in, and truthfully answer any question you ask in regard to his income, assets, bank information etc. If he does not show up, or if he refuses to answer the questions, he can be found in contempt of court and arrested for such.

This may be an option for you.


Not every Small Claims Court will do this - they don't have the staff. You also have to pay for a Court Steno and it gets quite expensive in the long run.

The common theme here is that the court is a tool for recovering money but one needs to know how to use it effectively.