When a judgement has been served for garnishment of a bank account, or an employer- are the funds frozen BEFORE they go to the bank? In other words, if I have a paycheck and do NOT deposit it into a bank is it free from creditor? Will the creditor actually take the funds BEFORE they are deposited to a bank?
If I have an employer give me live checks, and not deposit into an account, will I be able to retain my money? No scam here just trying to live until I get help.
Trying to keep little money I have until I can find representation to fight this. I can't have a frozen account or I and my kids will be homeless.

Thank you

My spouse and I are divorced 4 yrs ago. In 2006 we rented a home from an agency who were criminals to say the least. Just one month ago I got a notice of garnishment for a judgement they filed (without our knowledge)! I live in another state now, my ex lives in middle east. So its me they are after. In our divorce settlement my spouse agreed to pay all our debts prior to the divorce. Does this mean he would be the one who needed to deal with these people? Am I free of this corrupt creditor due to my divorce orders? I'm not wanting to put all this on my ex, as we both need to figure out what this company is doing 8 yrs after the fact? In mean time I am with our daughter, unemployed with no assets except child support payments. I cannot let them freeze my account as we will be living on the streets asap. So I need to know if I am legally exempt for debts due to my divorce orders stating he would take on ALL debts accumulated during the marriage. I need advice for short term protection until I find out what in the hell is going on...

Thanks

Creditors may legally go after either of you even with the decree in place. Once you open credit with someone, you are responsible until it is paid off. You can go back to family court to hold your ex responsible for paying it, reimbursing you or to otherwise resolve this debt . If he has left the country, that will be difficult unless he has assets that can be garnished here.

If you are on good terms with your ex, contact him and let him know you are willing to help resolve the legal issue in Cooperation with him but that he is financially responsible per the order. Or better, have your divorce attorney write to him.

As for the current garnishment, it sounds like you either were not noticed properly, or they didn't know where to find you, in which case they can get an order permitting them to publish a notice and then get a default order against you. Notice is often done wrong and without it they likely cannot garnish. You should see an attorney who practices in unfair collection to stop the garnishment and look into whether you even owe anything. It's too hard from your post to know whether there is a legitimate debt that you owe. Please provide more details, including where you live as every jurisdiction is a little different.

If the writ of garnishment is served on your employer, no, that does not stop payment checks already written to you. And, of course, a writ of garnishment served on your bank will not freeze your checks which you have not yet deposited.

So, if I were you, I would cash the payroll check, at the bank upon which the check was drawn, instead of depositing it.

Agree, two different issues, they freeze your bank account, that is one order.
Then your work place is served, that is a second order.

If the work place is served, then they will old out the legal amount, before you get it.

Quote:

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In our divorce settlement my spouse agreed to pay all our debts prior to the divorce. Does this mean he would be the one who needed to deal with these people?

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No.

The judgment creditor was not a party to the divorce. Therefore, without regard to whatever the divorce decree says about your ex's obligation to look to your ex for payment, they can go after you.

You should go to the courthouse, look at the court file, and see how you were supposedly served. If, for example, they served a summons addressed to you by serving your ex, at a time when you were no longer living together, you might be able to have the judgment (as to you) set aside.

mikey, your threads have been merged because they both deal with the same issue, garnishment.

Please keep all questions and information on this subject in this thread.

Get the funds you have in the bank out, and make no more deposits while you work to clear this up. Unclear if these are unemployment checks, or payroll checks. Be aware they can attach wages through your employer.

If a wage garnishment is filed against your employer, a percentage is taken from your net pay and sent to the judgement holder. If your bank is served with a writ attaching your bank account, then all funds in the account at the time are frozen for a period either specified in the writ or by local law. Once that period has passed, if nothing is done to negate the writ, the money is then sent to the judgment holder.

The writ may be written to only attach the current balance leaving alone future deposits, or it may take future deposits as well. Depends on what was asked for and what the court granted.

As noted, the terms of the divorce are not binding on your creditors. So they don't care whether he agreed to take on all debt or not. But that does mean you can sue him for reimbursement of debt he didn't take care of.

As also noted, if you were never informed of this judgment you may be able to have it vacated. But that is only a delaying tactic.

Your bank can tell you what exactly you can expect from them. So can your employer. Have you talked to the ones who are freezing your funds? Getting FACTS from the horses mouth is often the best way to make a decision on whatever future actions you need to take, and NEVER volunteer added information. This is an attempt to collect a debt, and they use whatever it takes to make that happen.

But you have to have the facts to know what rights you need to exercise.