Wage Garnishment Lawyer In Denver, Colorado
Looking for a wage garnishment attorney in Colorado? Wondering how to stop a garnishment in Colorado? Denver, Colorado wage garnishment lawyer Peter Mullison has helped over a thousand clients with overwhelming debt, including stopping wage garnishments.
If your paycheck is smaller than it normally is, and you’re wondering how you’re going to pay your rent, car payment, child care, or utilities, we can help!
What Is Wage Garnishment?
A wage garnishment happens when a creditor (someone you owe money to) either gets a judgment order from a court or has the authority to garnish without a judgment order (such as the Internal Revenue Service or child support).
How Does A Creditor Garnish Me?
Other than for taxes, child support, or federal student loans, before a creditor can garnish you, it has to file a lawsuit. In Colorado, the lawsuit has to be delivered (served) to you (or an adult you live with) in person.
Once the lawsuit is served, you have a certain amount of time to respond to the lawsuit. The deadline for responding will be on the paperwork you’re served.
If you fail to respond to the lawsuit by the deadline, the court will enter a judgment order. The judgment order allows the creditor to garnish your paycheck, garnish your bank account, and put a lien against any real estate you own.
If a creditor serves a lawsuit, you should take action.
You can contact them to set up a payment arrangement. You can also respond to the lawsuit if it isn’t valid (i.e. you don’t owe what they say you owe). You can force them to prove that you owe what they claim you owe in court. Finally, if appropriate, you can also file bankruptcy.
How Much Of My Paycheck Can A Creditor Garnish?
In Colorado, judgment creditors can currently force the employer to turn over 20% of your take home wages. Judgment creditors are typically for consumer or business debts such as credit cards, car loan deficiencies, medical bills (yes, you can be garnished for medical debt), and unsecured loans (like payday loans). Only one judgment creditor at a time can garnish you. If there are any others, they have to wait until the current garnishment finishes.
For federal taxes, how much the Internal Revenue Service can garnish is based on your total allowable personal exemption deductions. The IRS does not need a court order to garnish your wages.
Federal student loans can garnish 15% of your take home pay. Federal student loan lenders do not need a court order to garnish your wages. Private student loan lenders need a court order to garnish your wages and can only garnish 20% of your wages.
Child support obligations can be garnished for up to 60% of your take home wages.
How Long Will Wage Garnishment Last?
The garnishment will last until the entire amount owed is paid. While a creditor has to apply for a new wage garnishment order every six months, the garnishment may only stop until it serves the new garnishment order on your employer.
However, there are a couple of ways you can stop the garnishment. You can contact the creditor to see if they’ll accept regular payments instead of the garnishment to see if they’ll allow you to pay a more manageable amount. Keep in mind, creditors seem to rarely accept such an arrangement, since they will likely get paid sooner with the garnishment.
Of course, the other way to stop a garnishment is by filing bankruptcy. Creditors are legally required to stop all garnishments the moment a person files bankruptcy. Any money that they garnish after someone files bankruptcy should be returned to the filer.
How Do I Stop A Wage Garnishment From Happening?
A garnishment will only happen if you aren’t paying a debt the way you’re supposed to.
So, the first way to avoid a garnishment is to take action.
Don’t ignore those collection letters. Call them and explain your financial situation and ask if they will accept alternative payment arrangements.
Don’t ignore the IRS. You’ll be surprised how willing to work with you they are, as long as you communicate with them. If you ignore their letters, eventually one day your paycheck will be significantly smaller than you’re used to. Likewise, don’t ignore child support orders.
Of course, if you simply don’t have the ability to pay the debt, you need other solutions.
Bankruptcy is the most powerful tool there is to eliminate overwhelming debt. While it may not be able to eliminate debts like taxes, child support, or student loans, bankruptcy can pause garnishments for those debts and allow you to eliminate other debt. Getting rid of other kinds of debt will allow you to meet your obligations for debt that bankruptcy can’t eliminate.
Either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy can stop a garnishment immediately after your bankruptcy case is filed with the bankruptcy court. Since Chapter 7 bankruptcy won’t eliminate certain past taxes or child support arrears, Chapter 13 bankruptcy might be useful. Chapter 13 bankruptcy can give you up to five years to get caught up on those debts and prevent garnishment in the meantime.
Can I Be Fired Because Of A Garnishment?
Unfortunately, some employers consider having to garnish an employee’s paycheck a burden. While they might get irritated, they cannot fire you because they have to garnish your wages.
Why You Need A Wage Garnishment Attorney
An experienced wage garnishment attorney can advise you on all of your options to avoid and stop a garnishment. We can outline steps you can take to make affordable payment arrangements instead of being garnished, and we can let you know if bankruptcy might be the better option. Bankruptcy can be a good option especially if a person is expecting multiple creditors to garnish their wages.
Talk To A Top-Rated Wage Garnishment Attorney Today!
If your wages are being garnished in Colorado, we can help. We offer free consultations with an experienced wage garnishment attorney to individuals who are looking for solutions to stop garnishment. The easiest way to schedule an appointment at a time that is convenient for you is by clicking here.
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