Wage Garnishment Temecula can occur following a number of debts including unpaid bills, unpaid taxes, overdue credit cards, medical expenses, failure to pay child support, lawsuits, or any other number of reasons. Often, the person being targeted for wage garnishment is in that position because they are already not making enough money to cover their expenses. A wage garnishment could take up to 25% of their remaining income. Now, in addition to the debts they are already behind on, they are left to choose which other debts or expenses not to pay. This will lead to increased debt, late fees, collection action, and possibly the loss of utilities or even eviction. This will pose the risk of a cycle that can only end with bankruptcy.
Luckily, Wage Garnishment Temecula can only happen following a very specific process. While creditors may threaten to garnish wages during debt collection phone calls, they cannot do it themselves. Only the Internal Revenue Service can directly garnish someone’s wages for failure to pay taxes. For all other debts, the debtor must go through the court system.
The court process consists of several steps. First, the creditor must file with the court and give notice to the debtor. Next, the creditor must provide a statement outlining the debt that is owed. If the debtor challenges this statement, the creditor will be required to prove the debt in court. If the debt is proven, the debtor will then have to pay. However, this does not necessarily mean wage garnishment, as the debtor will be given an opportunity to pay the amount awarded by the court prior to a judgment being entered against them.
A lawyer plays a couple important roles in this process. First, the creditors do not often have adequate legal proof of the debt. They will often file an action without supporting evidence hoping that the debtor feels overwhelmed or otherwise concedes the debt and pays what they demand. This is often the case. Second, creditors will often try to circumvent the court process by not giving proper notice to a debtor, such as by mailing notice to an old address. If this is the case, the court may enter a default judgment against the creditor and the creditor will not know about it until they receive a notice of impending garnishment. It will take swift action by an attorney to reverse this.
