Garnishment

Garnishments are legal proceeding whereby an individual or company has already obtained a judgment against a debtor and is now trying to collect the money granted under that judgment. If a garnishment proceeding has been brought against you, you may have defenses to that garnishment action. For example, was the judgment that was entered against you properly obtained? Was there adequate service of process? Is the person trying to garnish your assets, attempting to garnish exempt assets? Even if the judgment obtained against you was proper, often a court will consider reducing the amount of the garnishment if it is a garnishment against your wages due to hardship.

A defense that is often raised when a creditor attempts to garnish your bank account for a debt owed by your spouse for past child support or spousal maintenance or for any other premarital debt, is that the bank account contains some or all money earned or owned by the innocent spouse. Under such circumstances, you may have a defense and can prevent the garnishment of your bank account in whole or in part.

If you have a judgment against someone else and you want to collect on that judgment, garnishments can be used to attach bank accounts and certain investments accounts. A garnishment can also be utilized to garnish a portion of the debtor’s wages. If you have a garnishment matter, contact us.