When your creditors start chasing your wages, it’s time to stand up for yourself and assert your rights. Florida When a creditor initiates legal action to confiscate a portion of your wages, bank account, or other assets, this is known as wage garnishment. In a wage garnishment case in Florida, the creditor will contact your employer and request that a certain amount of money is deducted from your check each week, which will then be transferred to the creditor.
Wage garnishment is prohibited in most States. It is, however, a legal debt collecting tactic in the state of Florida. Fortunately, you have several legal remedies for preventing or stopping wage garnishments.
Wage Garnishment
Wage garnishment is a legal way in which an employer is allowed by court order to take a portion of a person’s wages in order to pay the debt. Your paycheck cannot be taken in full by a creditor. Since Florida understands that even those who owe money to others need to sustain themselves, the amount of wages that can be garnished is limited. Debtors in Florida, fortunately, have a variety of legal remedies for preventing or halting wage garnishment. We further discuss how wage garnishment can be stopped.
Stopping Wage Garnishment
You must act immediately if you have been told that your wages may be garnished. There are exemptions to protect your wages. The head of household exemption is a popular exemption. Wage garnishment against a debtor who serves as the head of household is not allowed in Florida.
The exemption for the head of household is not the only one that may be invoked to stop a garnishment. Social security payments, welfare, workers’ compensation, veterans’ benefits, pensions, life insurance benefits, and disability income benefits, for example, may be protected from garnishment. If you believe you have legal grounds to overturn a judgment, get legal advice from a Florida wage garnishment attorney.
Federal Protection
Garnishments are limited to 25% of a debtor’s disposable income under federal law (15 U.S.C. 1673). This protection is available to all debtors, not only those who meet your criteria for being the head of a household. This restriction applies to the entire amount of garnishments; as a result, even if a debtor is facing numerous garnishments, the total garnishment cannot exceed 25%.
Stopping a Wage Garnishment in Florida
When a creditor seeks a garnishment, the clerk of the court is required to notify the debtor about the garnishment. The garnishment must be included in the notice, as well as the debtor’s opportunity to file an exemption. Within 20 days of receiving the notification, the debtor must submit any exemptions to the garnishment. Furthermore, the creditor must notify the debtor of the garnishment. Within five business days of the writ of garnishment being issued, the notice must be delivered first-class mail.
How can filing a Bankruptcy Help?
An automatic stay is imposed immediately after a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy case is filed. All collection attempts, including garnishments, must ground to a stop as soon as the automatic stay is granted. Stopping a wage garnishment with an automatic stay is generally the easiest method to do it. You won’t have to wait weeks and months for a court hearing to stop the garnishment, unlike if you filed for the head of household exemption. Instead, as soon as the bankruptcy case is filed, the garnishment must be halted. You may also be eligible to have the judgment in your bankruptcy case discharged.
Consult with a Florida Wage Garnishment Attorney
Dealing with wage garnishment is not just difficult; it can also be stressful. Consult a wage garnishment attorney at Serrano, Farah Law, LP in Florida to assist you to explore your legal options.