Sometimes a creditor obtains a judgment against a debtor and the seeks ways to collect on that judgment. Usually the first place they look to collect on their judgment is the debtors wages. If a debtor is employed it can be easy for the creditor to look at garnishing wages. Wage garnishments are when the court sends an order to your employer to take out a certain amount of your paycheck to pay other creditors until the debts are paid off. Most creditors need a court order to garnish your wages and they can’t simply do it because they want to. Unless you owe child support or student loans, then they can’t garnish your wages without a court order. There is a limit on how much can be taken off of your paycheck each time, with a limit of 25% of disposable earnings, or the amount of weekly wages exceeded by 30 times the minimum wage, whichever is lower is how your wages will be garnished at least in Utah. There are some states with different percentage levels of how much your wages can or can’t be garnished.
So what are your options if your wages are going to be garnished? First, you can do nothing and let the creditor take the 25% of your wages – but this gets painful real fast especially if you are already having a hard time getting by each month and living pay check to pay check. Second you can contact the creditor and just pay them the money you owe them – but I would assume you would have already done that before you got to the judgment stage of the lawsuit. Finally, I suggest you consider filing for bankruptcy protection if the numbers work in your favor. By that I mean I suggest you speak with an experienced bankruptcy lawyer to see if its worth the cost to file and eliminate what you to your creditors. With multiple types of bankruptcy there is usually a kind of bankruptcy that may be helpful in your particular situation.