How to Garnish the Self-Employed in Florida

If a resident of Florida owes you money under a contract and has not made payments as agreed under the contract, you may opt to garnish the person's wages to recover amounts the debtor owes. Typically, this involves obtaining a judgment and authorization from the court to garnish wages, then contacting the debtor's employer to have a portion of his wages withheld. Because a self-employed person does not have a specific employer, garnishing self-employment income can be more difficult than garnishing a payrolled employee's wages. However, simple strategies can help you collect debt from a self-employed person through garnishment.

Instructions

1

File a civil suit against the debtor in the county where the debtor resides. The court will send notice of the lawsuit to the debtor, giving her the opportunity to contest the suit. If the debtor does not respond or cannot raise a valid defense, the court will issue a default judgment in your favor.

2

File an application for a writ of garnishment with the Florida court that issued the judgment. A writ of garnishment serves as authorization to garnish the judgment debtor's assets.

3

Send the judgment debtor a statement-of-assets form, on which the debtor must disclose all income and assets, including self-employment income. List a date by which the debtor must respond. A statement of assets can help you determine whether the debtor obtains all of his income from self-employment activities or derives part of his income from traditional employment.

4

Request a debtor examination hearing from the Florida court that issued the judgment if the debtor does not respond to the statement-of-assets letter. A debtor examination hearing allows you to ask questions about the judgment debtor's income and assets, to which the debtor must respond under oath. If the judgment debtor fails to appear for the debtor examination hearing, she may be held in contempt of court and arrested.

5

Contact the debtor's employer if he is only partially self-employed. Demand in writing that 25 percent of the debtor's wages be withheld and sent to the court for payment against the judgment debt.

6

Ask the court to order repayment of the debt through the receivables of the self-employed person's business. Typically, the self-employed person is responsible for paying garnishment amounts to the court. However, if the judgment debtor fails to make payments, the court may allow you to seize and liquidate business assets.

7

Use the information obtained from the statement-of-assets form or the debtor examination hearing to contact the debtor's banks. Demand in writing that the banks freeze the debtor's accounts and forward funds in these accounts to the courts to pay the judgment debt.