I moved out of my apartment a month and a half ago after going to court and my ex landlords were awarded 2800.00 in a claim that I was late on my rent. I have a case pending against them in small claims court. I am a single mom and work full time. What payments are required by me in order for them to not be able to garnish my wages? Can they do that? :confused:

If they have a judgement against you, then yes they can garnish your wages depending on where you live. However, if you have a counter suit pending, they can't take action until that suit is resolved.

As to what they will take to not garnish your wages, that's up to them.

IF your state allows garnishment of wages ( a few don't) they may do it anytime they want, only payment in full can stop them once they have a judgement against you

We agree with Father Chuck but would like to add the following:

1. An effective way to stop a garnishment after judgment is to work out a payment arrangement with the creditor.

2. If the creditor won't co-operate, you may be able to bring a motion asking the court to order such a payment arrangement or, in the alternative, limit the amount of your salary that may be garnished.

3. You may also try to bring a motion to suspend the creditor's collection efforts pending a final determination of your claim against him. ScottGem may be right in saying that there is an automatic stay in some jurisdictions but we don't know of any where such a rule applies (we're writing from Ontario, Canada). Generally, only the filing of an appeal will create an automatic stay of proceedings.

Since rules and procedures vary greatly from state-to-state (and province-to-province) you should check with your local small claims court for more information.