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Bankruptcy Law/garnished wages

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Expert: - 1/22/2009


Question
Hi. I'm not sure if you can answer this or not, but I have a question about garnishing wages. When a law firm says that they will garnish non-exempt wages because of an unpaid credit card debt, what does that mean? Do they leave the person with any money to live on and pay bills with? Thanks

Answer

Leon Bayer
Most states, if not all of them, have laws to determine how much of a person's wages are subject to a wage garnishment. For example, California allows, in most cases, a judgment creditor to garnish and take away 25% of a paycheck. The other 75% of the wages are "exempt."

There sometimes are other rules and exceptions, and some states, like California, will not allow any garnishment at all on wages that fall below a certain threshhold, since someone earning just minimum wage and working part time probably can't afford to pay anything.

When a debt problem has reached the stage where someone is being threatened with garnishment, it's time to talk to a bankruptcy attorney and see if bankruptcy is a good option. If you want to do some general reading on bankruptcy, you can see my Guide at:
http://www.debt-relief-bankruptcy.com/guide-new.asp

Los Angeles Bankruptcy Lawyer Leon D. Bayer

Expertise

Leon Bayer has successfully represented clients in bankruptcy for over 30 years. He is frequently called upon by the media, the California Bar and other associations to provide insight and help educate attorneys on bankruptcy issues. If you or other readers want to keep up with my blog postings about life in and out of bankruptcy, you can follow my blog at http://www.bankruptcyblogger.org/ and my personal web site at http://www.debt-relief-bankruptcy.com and A Human Guide to Bankruptcy at http://www.thebankruptcyguide.net/ Leon also writes about bankruptcy law for Nolo, see http://www.nolo.com/law-authors/leon-bayer.html and his "Ask Leon" bankruptcy law blog column at http://blog.nolo.com/bankruptcy/

Experience

Leon is a Certified Specialist in Bankruptcy Law by the State Bar of California, and has been a practicing bankruptcy lawyer in Los Angeles, California for 33 years.

Organizations
National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers, California Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Publications
Author, ?The Essentials Of Chapter 13,? Daily Journal Report, December 18, 1987.
Contributing Editor, Basic Bankruptcy, California Practice Handbook, Matthew Bender 1992, 1993.
CEB Consultant, CEB-Personal and Small Business Bankruptcy Practice in California, 2003.


Education/Credentials
B.A., J.D.

Awards and Honors
President, 1995-1996-Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum; Member - Los Angeles County Bar Association Committee on Commercial Law & Bankruptcy, 1988. Law Advisory
Commission-Personal & Small Business Bankruptcy Law of the State Bar of California, 1996-2000

MR. BAYER SAYS: The big banks and credit card companys have been working overtime for many years to undermine the Consitutional right of the American people to be able to claim bankruptcy protection. In 2005 the banking lobby successfully convinced Congress and the President to make the laws and proceedures more complicated, hopeing that it will stymie legitimate people from filing bankruptcy. They succeeded in gaining these complex new legal proceedures by greasing the legislative system with hundreds of millions of dollars in "campaign contributions." The good news for the American people is that while the new laws have made the proceedures needlessly complex to the point where inexperienced people can't help but trip over the maze of new rules and regulations, the process is still doable, especially with a lawyer who is well trained and experienced in this specialty.

Past/Present Clients
I have probably handled something on the order of about 15,000 bankruptcy cases thropughout my career.

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