A garnishment is a legal process that allows a debt collector to use the court system to obtain your money through your employer, or your bank. The garnishment action is between the creditor and the employer, or bank which hold money that belong to the debtor.
A judgment, Writ of Fieri Facias, or Writ of Fi Fa is an order issued by the Magistrate Court for the purposes of recording a lien on the debtor’s property. For debt collectors, it is a legal license to hunt for the debtor’s money or assets through any legal means under the state code. It is also the legal basis for all garnishment actions.
The employer or bank which has been served with the garnishment has forty-five days to file an answer. If an answer is not filed within forty-five days, the employer or bank will be in default.
All funds of the debtor that are in possession of the employer, or bank at the time the entity is served with the summons of garnishment.
Creditors can take 25% of your paycheck after deductions that are required by law, such as social security and medicare, or the weekly disposable income amount (the amount you take home from a paycheck after taxes are withheld) minus 30 times the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour), whichever is less.
Yes. You may use the form provided in O.C.G.A. § 18-4-82 to explain why your funds are exempt from garnishment. However, at this stage, you are not allowed to attack the validity of the underlying judgment in a garnishment action.
The garnishment period in Georgia was recently extended from six months (179 days) to three years (1095 days). If the debt is not paid within three years, a new garnishment action must be filed for the remaining balance.
Information on what kinds of funds are exempt can be found at http://law.ga.gov/garnishment-exemption.
Yes, this is called a financial garnishment, which differs from a continuing garnishment that garnishes your wages.