Wage Garnishing. HELP!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-01-2006
Wage Garnishing. HELP!!
6
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 3:11pm
A debt collector wants to garnish my wages, thing is I don't work? what happens then? Can they garnish my finace's wages when he becomes my husband???
Avatar for endomagazine
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 4:03pm

Hello,

I'm not a legal advisor, but I believe if your debt does not have your fiance's name on it anywhere (cosigning, etc) then your fiance's wages cannot be garnished. Just like if you file for bankruptcy, any debt your fiance owes would not be released. However, you definitely want to take care of this debt *before* you get married, so that your marriage will start out with a financially clean slate. My DH and I combined our debt when we married, and both our credit scores dropped, making it difficult to get a mortgage or car loan. Our credit score has since recovered due to lots of on-time payments and steady snowballing.

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-01-2006
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 4:08pm
thanks.. infortunatly i cannot pay off the debt teil after we are married, which is in a month. I just wanna make sure that once we are married they cannot garnish his wages..
Avatar for endomagazine
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 6:34pm

Hello,

Since I am not an expert on this, I would suggest that you contact a lawyer to get the answer to this. There are several free services that would offer legal advice at no cost. I'm sure a simple question like this could be answered quickly.

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-20-2004
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 6:40pm
I'm not sure, either, but you might want to make sure you are not in a community property state, as this may affect how your debt is treated.
Heather
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-17-2003
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 7:30pm

A debt collector can not garnish your wages without a court order. If you have not been served papers over an unpaid debt and there has not been a court hearing on the matter, what you are dealing with is a predatory bill collector who has no proof you owe him anything. The hope is to scare you out of your money.

First find out when the debt went into default. There is a statute of limitations (varies from state-to-state and I'm assuming you are in the USA), and if the debt is older than the statute, you can not be sued over the debt. If you have not been sued, or CAN NOT be sued, there will be no wage garnishment. There is a current scam about this very practice: calling to collect debts that are too old to litigate.

It is my humble opinion the caller is a ruthless bill collector who bought your old debt from your creditor. Your original creditor charged off your debt and then sold it to a collection agency. The collection agency paid pennies on the dollar for your debt and hope they scare you out of your mind to pay them 100%. One day you pick up the phone and some stranger is threatening you with wage garnishment (and since you are unemployed that's not going to happen) and totally catches you off guard. Did the caller give you proof you owe HIM money? Owing money does not mean you owe the CALLER money. See the difference? Believe me, the caller was hoping you didn't. Do not discuss your debt, even acknowledge the debt is yours over the phone. Insist all contact be in writing. Do Not Talk About Anything. You may inadvertently chit-chat away your rights. That's their goal.

You also need to become familiar with your rights in this matter. You have many, many rights. Until you read up and get informed don't get in a dialogue.

Now to answer your question, your soon-to-be-husband can not have his wages garnished over your debt - a debt that was incurred prior to marriage. However, should you file a joint income tax return and there is a court order floating out there, it is possible a joint income tax refund could be intercepted. There are limits and restrictions, but this is a possibility to be aware of.

Again, in answer to your question: NO, your soon-to-be-husband's wages cannot be garnished to satisfy the repayment of your separate property delinquent debt incurred prior to marriage.

A lot of what I outlined above you can do on the internet. You can look up your state's statute of limitations and see if this is a debt that is too old to sue to collect. Some states statute is only 2 years. Your rights under the law for collection of debts and debt reporting is also online. Free to read.

Save your money for an attorney should you be sued. In the meantime all you have is a caller telling you about an old debt. No proof you owe him. Until you have something in writing I would chalk it off as another predatory caller hoping to scare you out of your money.

Hope this helps.

Carolyn

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-01-2006
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 7:42pm
That really helps, thank you. and unfortunayly there is a court order for the wage garnishment, but since i am not working i dont want them to go garnish my fiance's wages once we are married!!