Wage Garnishment Lawyer Tampa, FL

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What You Must Know About Wage Garnishment

A wage garnishment lawyer Tampa, FL office knows that wage garnishment has the capacity to greatly hinder the livelihood of a working person. If you have recently had money forcefully removed from your paycheck, consider consulting with the wage garnishment lawyer Tampa, Florida calls on for assistance. Ziegler Diamond Law: Debt Fighters is committed to helping workers in a financial time of need. We understand how much of a negative impact wage garnishment may have on your life.

Here, we have gone over what you must know about wage garnishment. It is important to us that our clients feel confident and knowledgeable about their rights. A wage garnishment lawyer from our Tampa, FL office can help answer any further questions you may have about your rights as a worker.

What Exactly is Wage Garnishment?

Wage garnishment happens most often when the government issues a notice to your employer that he or she is legally required to remove a portion of your wages in order to satisfy paying off a debt. The other circumstance wage garnishment may happen is when a person owes child or spousal support and is delinquent in payments. Read more here.

Can Wages Be Garnished for Support & Debt Dues?

If a paycheck has been garnished due to spousal or child support, it is still possible to have more funds garnishment for another kind of debt. However, the total garnished cannot exceed over 25% of your disposable income.

Can Benefits Be Garnished in Order to Pay a Debt?

Social security and other kinds of benefits are exempt from garnishment and collection of debt.

How Do I Respond to a Wage Garnishment Notice?

If you receive a letter regarding wage garnishment, this means a creditor has a judgment against you. In order to lift this judgment, you have to go to court in an attempt to have it vacated. If the judgment is in your favor, wages will not be garnished and the creditor judgment will not reflect on your credit report. A wage garnishment lawyer from our Tampa location can help you file the necessary documents to fight this judgment in court.

What if I Did Not Get a Notice Prior to Wage Garnishment?

A creditor is required to send you papers to notify you of the lawsuit. If you did not get served, you may be able to get the judgment vacated, even over a small detail such as an incorrect or change in address.

Wage garnishment can be a stressful, embarrassing situation. Seeing your paycheck be less than what it should be leaves you wondering how you’ll pay your bills. It also means your employer now knows about some challenges in your past and present. While you can’t lose your job, your employer is now facing a difficult process with strict deadlines.

How Wage Garnishment Works

Court orders for wage garnishment instruct your employer to take a percentage of your income and divert it to resolve a debt.

Some common debts that may be resolved with wage garnishment are:

• Student loans
• Child support
• Credit card debt
• Medical bills
• Back taxes
• Spousal support

As noted above, creditors may be able to secure up to 25% of your earnings. There are usually warning signs before it gets to the point of court-ordered wage garnishment. The creditor will often send a ‘demand letter’ first. If ignored, the creditor may take the case to court. However, this could be your opportunity to negotiate with them. Our wage garnishment lawyer in Tampa is skilled at finding repayment terms that benefit you. We can help before it ever escalates to wage garnishment.

Contesting Wage Garnishment

If you want to contest your wage garnishment order, time is of the essence. You may have only a few weeks or even days to appeal.

Our attorneys will consider many factors when assessing your case. First, it may be possible to negotiate new repayment terms with the creditor. As long as you continue to make payments, there will be no negative effects.

If this can’t be negotiated, your attorney may recommend a bankruptcy filing. Doing so completely discharges your debt (Chapter 7) or forces the creditor to accept a payment plan (Chapter 13).

Your attorney from Ziegler Diamond Law: Debt Fighters will also examine your case for any signs that the creditor broke the law. For example, does your garnishment order exceed the legal limit of 25%? Did the creditor follow proper procedures? Failure to give you proper notice of garnishment could prove it illegitimate.

Wage Garnishment and Child Support

We understand that when you owe child support, you likely want to learn more about wage garnishment and what is and is not legal. Our Tampa, Florida wage garnishment lawyer can help you with this. There are laws that have been put in place to protect the parent who must pay child support and this usually only happens when you are very behind in paying your child support. Because this is typically the scenario, we know that you may be extremely stressed and trying to figure out your finances while taking care of your children. If you would like to learn more about how child support affects wage garnishment, contact our office now.

When it comes to child support, how much of my wages can be garnished?

This is a good question and you are probably wondering how much money you could possibly lose each month with wage garnishment. Your employer can garnish up to 50% of your disposable income in order to pay for child support that you have been unable to make payments on. In other, more serious circumstances, an employer may take more money out of your paycheck for disposable income. Circumstances that may call for this are:

• You do not have to support another family
• You are more than 12 weeks late for your child support payments

Is there any good way of challenging a wage garnishment regarding child support?

There are ways you can challenge a wage garnishment. Some of these are:

• There was some kind of calculation error. This can happen if you have made payments that were not yet taken into account.
• If the full garnishment account is taken out, you will have no way of paying your monthly bills. This does not include extra spending for a lavish lifestyle.
• You did not pay child support because you had custody of your child.

These are just a few of the options we would look into if you believe there is some kind of error regarding your wage garnishment.

I’m worried my employer will fire me or discriminate against me because of this situation. Can this happen?

Your employer is legally not allowed to discriminate against you or fire you because of your wage garnishment situation and child support. If you believe that this is the case, please call your attorney as soon as possible. Additionally, if you believe that your employer is withholding more than they should be, this can pose a serious problem.

Working with Our Firm

Disputing wage garnishment can be a challenging process, but it is possible to get it stopped.

The attorneys at Ziegler Diamond Law: Debt Fighters will fight for your rights, regardless of what got you into this circumstance. We understand you may have been treated unfairly, or you may have made a mistake. Regardless of how you ended up with wage garnishment, we are here to protect you.

We understand the impact this judgment is having on your life. Especially how much time it’s eating up. Time that you don’t have. You may already be taking time off from work to manage court appointments and creditor phone calls. This precious time should be spent earning the money to repay your debt.

You have no time to waste and nothing to lose. Call Ziegler Diamond Law: Debt Fighters today. Our trusted Tampa, Florida wage garnishment lawyer will take a look at your case.

Can a paycheck be garnished for two personal debts at the same time?

A Tampa, FL wage garnishment lawyer will explain that yes this can happen, but the total garnished from the paycheck cannot exceed the maximum amount permitted by law. Most often, the first creditor that gets a judgment takes the most possible until it is paid off. Then, the second creditor can start garnishing on the next debt to be collected.

Every new client that is in need of our help receives a free initial consultation with a wage garnishment attorney at Ziegler Diamond Law: Debt Fighters There may be an error in how your wage garnishment was processed, resulting in unnecessary forced payments. Contact the wage garnishment lawyer Tampa, FL calls first to schedule your appointment.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Who is Wage Garnishment Lawyer?

A wage garnishment lawyer is a legal professional who specializes in helping individuals who have had their wages garnished. Wage garnishment is a legal process whereby a portion of an individual’s wages are withheld by their employer and paid to another party, typically a creditor.

How to Confront a Wage Garnishment Lawyer

If you’re facing wage garnishment, you may be feeling panicked and alone. But you’re not alone, and there are steps you can take to confront your wage garnishment lawyer. First, arm yourself with knowledge. Learn everything you can about wage garnishment law and your rights. Then, reach out to your network of family and friends for support. Finally, make an appointment to meet with your wage garnishment lawyer. Be prepared to discuss your situation and ask tough questions.