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I am a judgment referral expert, and not an attorney. This article is my opinion, and not legal advice. If you ever want legal advice or a strategy to use, please contact an attorney. When your judgment debtor has a conventional job, income levies (named income garnishments in certain states) can be used to recover judgments. As with many other judgment recovery methods, wage levies cost money and don't always work. Wage levies are one of the top 4 judgment recovery methods. Bank levies, liens, and Sheriff auction sales of the debtor's property, are three other popular judgment recovery tools. In theory, wage levies would always pay off, but in the real world, they sometimes do not pay off. The first hurdle to check is, are wage garnishments permitted where the debtor lives? Most states allow wage levies. The beginning step in your wage levy, is finding out where the judgment debtor is employed. What if your debtor resides (and is paid) in your state, however their employer resides in another state? Most often, you will have to domesticate the judgment to the state where the employer is based. Another potential remedy could be the long-arm statues laws in the employer's state, which may allow a creditor to reach a judgment debtor's income in another jurisdiction. The next challenge can be, is your judgment debtor self-employed? If so, the wage levy most likely won't work when they pay themselves using loans, bonuses, a 1099 contractor, or by some other shenanigans. One may have to perform debtor exams, to discover where their income comes and goes. You might have to also ask the court to approve an assignment order. Another problem can be, is there already a previous income garnishment in effect? Usually, just one income garnishment is permitted for a worker at a time. When you discover that a levy is already ongoing, you have to wait (sometimes a long time) for your turn, until the other levies are done. Sometimes other (VIP) creditors, for example child support or government debt levies, outrank regular judgment creditors; and have the first rights to attach a judgment debtor's wages. Another consideration is usually, only 25% or less (especially when the debtor doesn't earns very little) of an employee's income can be levied. Sometimes a debtor quits their job after your income garnishment is put into place. That means one needs to again find out where they work, and begin again, paying the court and the Sheriff for every garnishment attempt. To begin a wage levy, you buy a writ of execution (or some other appropriate) form from your court. Then you write a check to your Sheriff, and complete their paperwork. Depending on where you live, you might also need to hire a process server, to serve your income levy on the debtor's employer. The Sheriff or a process server, serves the legal levy papers on the employer, and the employer withholds wages from their debtor employee; and after a delay you will probably be paid. If you ever get a letter from a bankruptcy court, that your debtor has filed for bankruptcy, be certain you quickly notify the Sheriff to immediately stop your levy, and end all your recovery actions. After the levy gets served, many debtors will get mad. Some debtors might be flustered, some may file for bankruptcy, and some will want to settle or pay you, to get you to call off your garnishment. Of course, some will simply let the wage garnishment continue until you get repaid completely, and that would be a good outcome. http://www.JudgmentBuy.com - Judgment Recovery. The easiest, free, fastest, and best chance to recover your judgment money. Mark D. Shapiro, the judgment broker. JudgmentBuy has the best free judgment leads for judgment buyers, judgment enforcers, and contingency collection attorneys.
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