Florida Law Advisers, P.A.
Florida Wage Garnishment Attorneys
Florida Wage Garnishments occur when a creditor takes legal action to seize a portion of your wages, bank account, or other assets. In Florida wage garnishment cases, the creditor will contact your employer and have your employer deduct a specified amount of money from your check each week, which now gets forwarded to the creditor. Wage garnishment is not permitted in all 50 states. However, in the state of Florida, it is a legal method of debt collection. Fortunately, you have many legal options to prevent or stop wage garnishments from occurring.
If you are threatened with a wage garnishment or your wages are already being garnished, contact Florida Law Advisers for help. Our team of attorneys will aggressively defend your rights to end the wage garnishment. Before a creditor can obtain a garnishment, the creditor must receive a court order to collect the debt. The court order will allow the garnishment to continue until the amount owed is paid in full or until you take legal action to stop the garnishment. Many types of debt are eligible for wage garnishment, with the most common being: unpaid child support, judgments from private lawsuits, taxes, and medical bills.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to file for head of household?
File a claim for exemptions and request for a court hearing. The Claim must be filed with the court and sent to the bank’s attorney as well. Usually, 4-10 weeks later there will be a court hearing to determine if the claim of exemptions will be granted. The garnishment will continue while you wait for the court hearing.
Will bankruptcy stop a garnishment?
Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy will put an immediate stop to a wage or bank account garnishment. You will not have to wait for a court hearing, the garnishment will be stopped instantly when the bankruptcy is filed.
How do you stop wage garnishment in Florida?
A Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 case will put an immediate stop to a wage or bank account garnishment. In some cases, a head of household exemption may also stop a garnishment. However, the exemption will typically require a few weeks to take effect and the creditor will still be able to pursue other forms of collection, including future garnishments.
Can they garnish wages without notice?
Florida law only requires the lender to mail notice, it does not require they prove you received it. Therefore, most borrowers will not receive any notice until they see the money missing from their pay check.
Protection for Head of Households
Under Florida law, if you qualify as a head of the household you may be legally entitled to stop the wage garnishment. The head of the household is someone who pays at least 50% of the living expenses for a dependent. If you are the head of a household and your net income (after deductions) is less than $750 per week, your wages may not be legally garnished. On the other hand, if you are the head of a household and your net income after deductions exceeds $750, the income exceeding $750 may be garnished if you have signed a waiver permitting the creditor to seize the funds.
Stopping Florida Wage Garnishment by Filing for Bankruptcy
As soon as a bankruptcy petition is filed with the court, an automatic stay will be implemented. The automatic stay prevents a creditor from taking any form of collection action against you, including garnishing your wages. The automatic stay will even stop a Florida wage garnishment that began prior to your bankruptcy filing. Furthermore, the bankruptcy may discharge the judgment lien that is responsible for the garnishment, thereby releasing you from all personal liability on the debt. However, not all types of debt will be discharged in a bankruptcy or affected by the automatic stay. To see if bankruptcy can help stop your wage garnishment, contact us to speak with a bankruptcy attorney in the Tampa Bay area today.
Consult a Florida Wage Garnishment Attorney Today
Florida Law Advisers, P.A. is an experienced law firm that takes an aggressive approach to ending wage garnishments in Florida. We understand how devastating wage garnishments can be to a family, and we vigorously fight to defend our clients rights. If you are threatened with a wage garnishment or your wages are already being garnished, call us to schedule a free consultation with a skilled Florida wage garnishment attorney today.