How to Stop Pontiac Wage Garnishment

Creditors are allowed by law to collect on debts by means of a wage or other garnishment. Whether your debts are to companies in Lapeer or Pontiac or in another state, a bankruptcy law firm can help you wend your way through the system and possibly stop the wage garnishment.

For example, if you fail to pay on a past credit card debt—unsecured debts are most often the source of garnishments—the financial institution that is owed money will get a court order, usually a writ of garnishment, and then present it to your employer.

Most often, but not always, your employer is the garnishee (you are the defendant). Other garnishees can be the Department of Treasury, controlling your income tax refund, a tenant who owes you rental income, or a bank where you hold cash deposits. The court requires the garnishee to disclose to the court how much you earn or are due so that it can set a payment schedule (since 1991, Michigan law requires the garnishee to withhold and pay the amount due over time, and this can include salary, bonuses and commissions). Federal law prohibits collection of any amount greater than 25 percent of weekly income in a wage garnishment.

Meeting the conditions

A number of ways are available to stop a garnishment of wages if certain conditions are met. Your bankruptcy law firm can help determine if one or several of these conditions apply:

• If you are in bankruptcy proceedings, which would otherwise dispose of the debt represented by the garnishment
• When an installment payment order bars the garnishment
• When the maximum garnishment amount permitted by law is being withheld due to a higher priority garnishment or order
• When the judgment has been paid
• If the garnishment was not properly issued or is otherwise invalid

Regardless of where the debt was incurred or the judgment made, a bankruptcy law firm in Lapeer can stop your wage garnishment when one or several of these factors apply to you. Whether you wish to stop a wage garnishment in Pontiac or a garnishment of your federal income tax refund, you are more likely to be successful working with a legal professional.

When you see no way out, contact the Law Offices of David W. Brown, PLLC
Bankruptcy does not have to keep you in the dark. With thousands of cases successfully won, the consumer bankruptcy litigators at the Law Offices of David W. Brown, PLLC show you the light at the end of the tunnel. We serve clients in Pontiac and Lapeer. For a free consultation, contact us at (810) 356-0143 today.