Almost anyone that you owe money to can legally apply for a court order to garnish your wages. However, they cannot do it without going to court, presenting legal proof of the debt and proving that you legally owe the debt.
The creditor, your ex if you failed to pay child support or someone who has received a judgment against you may have you garnished when you fail to pay.
A garnishment notice must be sent before the creditor can have you garnished. It must contain the following information:
A statement that garnishment has been authorized
A notice of any potential exemptions from the garnishment
Procedures you can go through to protest the garnishment
Most creditors don’t bother to avail of the garnishment, if there is no available pay check or bank account to garnish. In many states, creditors cannot take vehicles and sell them to pay up debts but in a few states they can.
When they have received a judgment against you, it is important to set up a payment plan with the individual or company that you owe money to. The creditor is much more likely to seek a garnishment order against you once you ignore your debt. If you are in a payment plan and you miss a payment, talk to the other party and make arrangements for a late payment. But if you wait until garnishment has already been ordered, stopping it is futile. Payments will be taken from your wages or bank account before you have a chance to do anything about it. You cannot do anything about the matter except to file a petition to the court to potentially stop garnishment or lower the amount.
Try to work it out with anyone that you owe money which can be legally proven. Almost anyone can legally get a garnishment if they can prove that you owe them a debt.