How to Attach Wages After a Judgment Is Won

A wage attachment, also called a wage garnishment, is a legal document that orders a debtor's employer to withhold a certain portion of his pay to satisfy a debt he owes. As a creditor, you must sue the debtor and win a judgment from the court before you can seek to garnish his wages. Legal entities, such as the state taxation department and the Internal Revenue Service, do not need a court order to garnish, but you must obtain one.

Instructions

1

Find out if your state laws allow wage garnishments by contacting your local or county courthouse. The states of Texas, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and North Carolina, for example, do not allow creditors to garnish wages in the state. However, after obtaining the judgment, you can ask the court to allow you to recover the debt via other methods, such as levying the debtor's bank account.

2

Apply for the wage garnishment from the same court that gave you the judgment if the state allows wage garnishments. Procedures vary by state. For example, in California, you apply for a writ of execution then prepare an Application for Earnings Withholding Order. Depending on your county, you might need to hire a process server to serve the debtor's employer with the garnishment paperwork. In Indiana, after you obtain the judgment, the court orders a Procedural Supplemental for you and the debtor to attend. At the hearing, the court determines how the debtor will repay the debt, such as via wage garnishment.

3

Follow court procedures regarding the wage garnishment. Once the debtor's employer receives the garnishment order, in most cases, it must verify that it has the debtor's wages and the amount and time frame in which payments will be submitted. In many cases, the court instructs you how to apply payments received, such as to interest first and then to the principal owed. Further, the state might allow the employer to withhold a small administrative fee for performing the garnishment; the cost might be split between you and the employee, or the employee alone might absorb the cost.

4

Send the debtor's employer the necessary paperwork if you establish a payment agreement with the debtor. Contact the issuing agency on its procedure for stopping the garnishment if the debtor enters into an installment arrangement with you.