NEVER notified of a wage garnishment and now they take 25% of my check.. What can I do?
Aside from the obvious of contacting my employer in the morning what else can I do? I am the only income and 25% of my check is a huge loss. I assume my employer can tell me the details of what it's for.?
Answer:
I had a garnishment and 25% is normal. Yes, they should of gave you something in writting. Yes, You can appeal the garnishment. Mine was 25%, but because it wasn't for child support it was reduced to 10%. 25% is the minimum on child support. Find out what the ganishment is for and by what court. And work from there. There is always an appeal process if you believe it is wrong. Must garnishments are served by the county sherrifs office, you can check with them.
If you truly have no idea, it could be a mistake and I think you are entitled to an explanation. But be careful not to get angry; your employer wants you happy, not angry, but is forced to comply with government orders such as wage garnishments.
If you owe someone money, you might start there. Also the garnishment has to go to a person or office, they will know why they are getting the money. It may be because someone has an incorrect address for you (their fault) and mailed all of the notices off to somewhere else, lost.
I hope for your sake it is a horrible mistake.
You can't do anything about it, except pay the garnishment or whatever it is you owe to whoever it is you owe. You should have paid it in the first place and they wouldn't have garnisheed your paycheck.'
Be thankful they do not take 50% of your pay check because they can
I had an employee who's wife had a gambling problem. He let her handle the finances which was a BIG mistake - she got the mail so he never saw the notices. This was the only time that a garnishment came as a surprise. People should be aware of bills they ignored - that would be your warning - then the court order forces the employer to comply.
All your employer can tell you is where the order came from. A court order or IRS.
Other than IRS, he will not know the reason.
He has to comply
and will have no idea
what or why.
But you can cry.
Back taxes?
Were you ever served a summons?
If not, I would suggest going to your county court clerk and ask if there was a lawsuit and judgment filed in your name. If so, request a "full" copy of your file. Be sure it includes the process servers papers.
I would suggest speaking with an attorney. Take the full case file and your credit reports with you.
I have read other answer submitted. If you been sued, garnishment is one method of recovery, child support can be garnished from your wages, IRS. Whom ever is garnishing your wages sent a letter to your employer which was sent to payroll. Of course, it will state who is garnishing your wages, but may not give the reason why, but chances are, it is by a court or government order. And no, you don't have to be served any kind of court papers for a garnishment to happen. If this is a bad check, they will garnish your wages to recover. If this is an outstanding debt from many years ago, find out if your state has a statue of limitations on debt, better known as time-barred debt.
Ask your employer if it's from IRS or the county. Then you know how to find out what's it's for. Contact whomever it is and find out why you weren't served notice. That's hard to believe unless someone is getting your mail. If it's the county go to the courthouse and find out when the judgment was issued, and when the garnishment was approved. You should have gotten an notice to appear in court, when you didn't they automatically won, then you should have received something saying if you don't pay by whenever we're going to garnish. Then they have to send that paperwork to your job. Even if it was sent to the wrong address, if the current resident didn't send it back "return to sender, addressee unknown" the courts assume you've gotten it, and ignored it. If they have the right address, I'd ask for a court date where the company has to show up and show proof they sent you the garnishment paperwork. I forget what it's called but it's at the post office, not certified or signature required. It's a white piece of paper with your address and whatever companies address, the mail clerk date stamps it, basically saying yes, this company or person sent a letter to this address on this day. It still comes as regular mail to your home it's just a receipt for them, so they can prove they sent it to you.
I'd check it out at work first thing in the a.m.
It will depend a lot on what state you live in.
For example, here in Michigan they can not garnish your wages without a court order, and then there is a lot of notifications sent.
1) Court summons
2) Notice of judgement
3) Notice from your employer of receipt of a garnishment order.
At each of these points you have the opportunity to file a dispute with the court. So if you never recieve any of these, someone goofed up.
Your first stop is to the courthouse to examine the court papers.
take it up with them
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