Garnishments

What is a Garnishment?

A garnishment is legal process and action that a creditor can use to collect money owed them. A garnishment directs your employer to send up to 25% of your wages per pay period to the creditor until the judgment is satisfied. The creditor may also send a garnishment summons to your bank. This may result in all of your accounts being frozen and inaccessible to you for up to 6 months.

What This Means to You

A garnishment will reduce your available income for paying your other bills and could result in your being denied access to the money in your own bank accounts.

How We Can Help You

If you see us prior to the return date on the garnishment summons we can stop the garnishments that are in place and in most circumstances get your money back and/or unfreeze your bank accounts. We can also prevent future garnishments.

Exceptions and Problem Areas

You must contact us as soon as the garnishment begins for us to best stop the garnishment and get any money returned. Even then it can take from a week to several months to get the money back. If you have previously used your Homestead Exemption provided for under Virginia Law it may not be possible to get a garnishment released at all. Be warned that once the date on the garnishment summons has passed we can not get your money back though we can stop future garnishments.