If the debtor has a job, you may be able to grab up to 25% of his or her wages.

If your court judgment is owed to you by a debtor who works outside of the home, you may be able to intercept up to 25% of his or her wages to satisfy your judgment. This process, permitted in nearly every state, is called a wage garnishment. You can garnish wages relatively quickly and cheaply if:

• the debtor receives a regular wage (he or she isn't self-employed)
• the debtor's pay is above the poverty line
• other wage garnishments aren't already in effect (unless your wage garnishment is for child or spousal support) and
• the debtor does not quit the job, contest the garnishment or file for bankruptcy.

A wage garnishment requires little effort on your part. You give the sheriff or other local official (called the "levying officer") information about where the judgment debtor works. The levying officer collects money from the employer and gives it to you. You can end the wage garnishment if you and the judgment debtor make an agreement about payment of the judgment.

A wage garnishment is often a strong impetus for a debtor to make arrangements to pay off a judgment -- many people want to avoid the embarrassment and inconvenience of having their salary reduced. Also, despite a federal law that bars an employer from firing an employee whose wages are garnished due to a single judgment, most employees believe that a garnishment won't win them brownie points with their bosses. And the law does not bar an employer from firing an employee for multiple wage garnishments from different judgments.

But instead of inducing the debtor to settle, a wage garnishment could produce the opposite effect -- pushing a debtor to quit the job or, worse, file for bankruptcy. If you choose to garnish wages, remember that you walk a fine line between making great progress on collecting your judgment and closing off the possibility of collecting.

Limits on Wage Garnishments