If you have received a letter from the Sheriff or Marshall’s office saying your wages are going to be garnished, please contact me immediately. You received this letter because a creditor has obtained a judgment against you. If you do not respond to the letter within twenty days, it will be sent to the employer listed on the letter, and your wages will be garnished.
In New York State, a judgment creditor can garnish 10% of your gross pay. Your gross pay is the amount that you make before taxes and other deductions occur. So, if you make $750 a week, the garnishment will be $75 a week, in addition to all the regular deductions from your paycheck.
Additionally, interest will continue to accrue on the Judgment and the Sheriff will charge you a fee, called poundage, for collecting the debt. These fees and interest will be between 7% and 14% of the debt depending on when the judgment was entered.
Filing a bankruptcy prevents a garnishment from starting and can stop a garnishment that has already begun. Please contact me so that we can stop the garnishment and make sure that you bring home everything that you earn.