Wage Garnishments

Dealing with wage garnishments doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Losing up to 25% of every paycheck can be devastating when you need that money to support your family or make ends meet.

For many people, having their wages garnished means being unable to pay their mortgage or their electricity bill. Let our team of experienced attorneys handle your case for you, and stop unfair collection practices before you are facing foreclosure or worse as a result.

Call now for a wage garnishment lawyer at 303-623-4357
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Who Can Garnish Wages?

Creditors to who you owe money can garnish your wages, including credit card companies, unpaid medical bills, child support (payments or arrears), student loans, and tax agencies.

How Long Before a Creditor Can Garnish Wages?

There are several categories of who can garnish wages without special permission from the court, including: child support, student loans that have defaulted, and any unpaid income tax (state or federal).

Other creditors, such as credit card companies, or medical bills, need to actually sue you and get a judgment on you in order to garnish your wages.

How Much Money Can Be Garnished From Your Paycheck?

Great question! In Colorado, the federal laws apply, as the state has not imposed any further limits beyond the federal restrictions on wage garnishment amounts.

That means that creditors are allowed to take either the amount of your “disposable earnings” that is ABOVE 30 times the federal minimum wage, OR 25% of your disposable earnings, whichever is less. (By disposable earnings is meant the wages you receive after the legally required deductions have been made - such as taxes, federal withholdings, and any child support that may be garnished.)

To illustrate, the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour. Multiply that by 30 and you get $217.50. If your disposable earnings are less than that, your wages cannot be garnished by a creditor.

If your disposable earnings are $800 a week, the disposable earnings above 30 times minimum wage would be $800 - $217.50 = $582.50. But 25% of your disposable earnings is $200. They would only be allowed to take the lesser amount, or $200.

There are some exceptions to each of the above, and one of our bankruptcy attorneys can help you determine what can and can’t be done to you by a creditor, and help you come up with a plan to get out of debt as quickly as possible.

You shouldn’t have to be haunted by creditors. Let us help you keep them at bay while you get out of debt once and for all.

When you meet with us for your free consultation, we will go over all of your available options with you, so that you can make an informed decision about your financial future.

How to Stop Wage Garnishments

It’s hard to defend against unfair garnishments on your own. You need a knowledgeable and aggressive attorney in your corner who will fight to stop wage garnishments for you.

At Berken Cloye, that is exactly what we do. We will take over discussions and negotiations with your creditors and determine if they are in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

We stop unfair collection practices, such as wage garnishment, harassment, foreclosure attempts, and more. Contact our law firm today for your free consultation and let’s get a plan of action in place.

If you are suffering with wage garnishments in Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Boulder, Loveland or any nearby area, call our legal team today at (303) 623-4357 to schedule an appointment.