Wage Garnishment And Earnings Withholding Order Services
In many instances, specifically those involving child support, you may be owed money and need a way to collect. If the defendant is behind in payments or not making them completely, your best bet is to declare an earnings withholding order.
If the debtor has not paid the judgment debt when it is due, or made plans to pay it over time, California legislation gives the judgment financial institution the right to collect the money from the debtor’s income. This is called wage garnishment.
The federal government restricts the amount you may garnish from a debtor’s income to either 25% or 30 times the minimum wage for the work week, whichever is less. The general process for collecting a judgment from a debtor’s income is similar throughout California, yet there might be some differences from one county to another.
As an example, in numerous counties, the Sheriff is the most commonly-used levying official, while in others, a registered process server performs that task. Contact the Small Claims Advisor to find out which one you’ll need.
To begin collecting from the debtor’s earnings, you will need to take the following actions:.
Step 1. Acquire a Writ of Execution issued by the court clerk. Observe the California rules for giving out a writ, then fill out, file and pay the fees for filing both of these documents:
- Application for Earnings Withholding Order
- Earnings Withholding Order Form
The court clerk will stamp and copy each, then give the originals back to you.
Step 2. Make a minimum of 3 copies of each form and keep one set for your personal file.
Step 3. Find a Registered Process Server and supply them with:
- 2 sets of the kinds that have the court stamp on them, as well as.
- a check to cover the fee for garnishing the debtor’s incomes that the levying company in your county will certainly charge. (You will definitely need to talk to the proper levying company to discover the quantity of money it needs.).
If you can’t afford the fees, you could ask the court for a fee waiver. In this circumstance, instead of hiring a Registered Process Server, go to the office of the levying agency with all of your paperwork and your fee waiver.
The Registered Process Server will then open a file with the Sheriff’s Office or the appropriate levying official, which will include both the Writ of Execution and the Earnings Withholding Order. Contact the levying official ahead of time to find out exactly what other paperwork is required.
As soon as the process server files the documents with the levying official, they’ll serve the Earnings Withholding Order on the debtor’s employer. The process server then has 5 days to file the original Writ of Execution and Proof of Service with the levying workplace.
The levying office will secure the funds from the employer, and send the money to you. The garnishment remains in effect until you are completely paid or the debtor changes employers. In the event the employer doesn’t comply with the order, the employer is breaching the court order and you should ask the court to hold them in contempt.
As soon as the debt has actually been completely paid, you need to get stop the Wage Garnishment and finish the Writ of Execution. To do so, send a letter to the Sheriff asking them to stop the garnishment. Your letter should include:
- Case number
- Sheriff’s file number
- Name of the judgment debtor
- Name of the debtor’s employer
- Date when the garnishment is expected to end
If you’re ready to have an earnings withholding order served, call JPL Process Service at (866) 754-0520 and we’ll take care of it for you, often in as little as 24 hours.