Wasge garnishment question. I moved many times, I never was supeonaed to court. My income was garneshed.Why?

Question

I was told by a lawyer, even if you can not be reached because you move, that your wages con NOT be garnished without "in person" notification. I got a letter from my late mom, about a year after there was supoosed to be some court ruling on a credit card debt. The debt was on a $200 maximum balence card. I think when I started seeing on my pay check $73 taken out that it was il-legal, because I personally was never notified of such a court ruling, such a proceedure to garnish my wages. I know I more than paid back what I owed on this $200 maximum credit card. When it first came up on my credit card balence, the company investigated and concluded, it was no identy theft, no credit card fraud. It wasn't me, and I still say I should've never owed any garnishment at all. Was I a victum of garnishment fraude and is this a common practice?

Answer 1

They have to make an effort to serve you personally. If they didn't have your current address there would be no way for them to do that.

If personal service isn't successful, they will attempt notice by summons by publication. They must post notice of the case in one or more newspapers in general circulation in the area of your last know address according to their records. State law defines how many times this must be posted and at what intervals.

Frequently these notices are not published in major newspapers but in smaller publications like Thrifty Nickel, etc. The only requirement is that the newspaper be in "general circulation" in the area.

If you fail to respond to the service (personal or by publication) the case will proceed aginst you and if you fail to show the creditor WILL get a default judgment against you.

One more good reason to make sure that all creditors have your current address.

You might have a shot on appeal if they didn't proceed properly with the notice requirements or if you can prove that they did have your proper address and failed to make attempts at service using the correct address.

Answer 2

Your statements above confuse the matter. DID YOU HAVE A CREDIT CARD? DID YOU CHECK WITH YOUR EMPLOYER, AND HAVE THE GARNISHMENT STOP IF IT WAS UN-WARANTED? DID YOU GET IN WRITING THE TERMS OF THE GARNISHMENT WHEN IT STARTED?

You seem to say that because it was not you that YOU should not have to pay. The way our system work is: IF A CLAIM IS MADE; You have to defend yourself from it in a court of law. FAILURE TO APPEAR WILL RESULT IN A JUDGEMENT AGAINST YOU. If this judgement is an errorl, you can file to have it lifted: BUT you MUST file.

If you don't want to do right, CRY THAT YOU ARE DONE WRONG.