Ask Me Help Desk - Income garnishment

Hi, I am having my income garnished at work. Is there a way I can stop this and take the responsibility on myself?

Thank you in advance.

David Paul

Garnisheements are legal notices made through a court. If you wish to stop such removal of funds from your income, then you will have to prove to the court that issued it that you can and will assume the debt in some other fashion.

If the debt was not originally yours but you are on the hook for it anyway... perhaps you co-signed for something and the other person refuses or is unable to pay, you may be able to show the court you have other income that can satisfy the debtor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diane Carol

Garnisheements are legal notices made through a court. If you wish to stop such removal of funds from your income, then you will have to prove to the court that issued it that you can and will assume the debt in some other fashion.

If the debt was not originally yours but you are on the hook for it anyway....perhaps you co-signed for something and the other person refuses or is unable to pay, you may be able to show the court you have other income that can satisfy the debtor.

Diane, I am actually more interested in learning more about a child support order. I want to know what my rights are as an employee when it comes to income garnishment. I need to be able to earn enough money to live on and be sure to pay child support. But the State is a horrible record keeper and my employer does not want to do anything but what the state has told them to do.

David

Your employer must follow any instructions that come from the State, especially if it is a child support order.

Since they have had to garnish your wages, to be able to collect your child support now, I don't see them stopping it, based entirely on your promise to pay as ordered.

Is there a way to check any case presidence for this type of issue?

Do you have an attorney representing you on this issue?

If so, you should ask them.

If not, perhaps you should look into retaining one.

Yes, when I further thought about your question I came to the conclusion this was a child support thing since you made mention about 'responsibility'.
Since the State had to go to the trouble of garnishing your wages, it does appear you had to be chased... and you were not taking responsibility at that time.
I doubt the State would accept your promise to own up... and further... pay up... at this time. You might ask a court to lower the payments according to your ability to pay while at the same time have a reasonable life of your own with some financial stability.
You would have to provide all financial records to the court and prove the payments at this time is putting a burden on you.

I think the court is more wishing to make sure some support is given the child... without causing you such anxiety that you might up and leave the jurisdiction thus avoiding once again responsibility.
Sometimes support payments are arbitrarily put on a spouse for support without due regard for the mental state of the person who is ordered to pay.
But this usually happens when a person does things that shows the court that the person is not being responsive to requests to pay and have to pursue other ways to force support.
It does seem to point that your circumstances were in that vein and you, therefore, are facing the legal requirements that you are presently having.

Quote:

Originally Posted by curveballstrike

Diane, I am actually more interested in learning more about a child support order. I want to know what my rights are as an employee when it comes to income garnishment. I need to be able to earn enough money to live on and be sure to pay child support. But the State is a horrible record keeper and my employer does not want to do anything but what the state has told them to do.

David

Basically, if it's come to the point where there is income garnishment the Court is not going to remove that order and trust you to pay. Not saying this is your history but that Order is "usually" not given unless other efforts to collect have failed and you have a history of non-payment.

If you are asking about having enough money to live on and pay support, saying that the child support is too high, the only way to reduce it is to go back to Court, argue significantly changed circumstances, and ask that it be reduced.

I don't understand your statement that the State is a horrible record keeper (are you repaying the State for benefits the child received? Otherwise, I don't see the State's involvement here) but, yes, your employer has received a Court Order and must do what has been ordered.

As far as precedence - what type of case law are you specifically seeking and for what State? Each State has its own formula for calculating child support - some are by a straight percentage, some are reduced by the income of the custodial parent. It's hard to say without knowing what State you are in.

Are you saying the amount is high because you are paying current AND back support?

Child support is actually a different matter. Very often the state takes over collection of child support even when there is no arrears and the parent has been paying voluntarily. This is especially true where the custodial parent has sought public assistance. In some cases, wage garnishment is mandated.

So your best bet is to see a lawyer who can advise if you have any chance of taking over payments yourself.

Otherwise, make sure you keep all your paystubs and your own records.