The Alternative Remedies Guide

It’s safe to assume that nobody out there wants to hear “garnishment of wages” and their name in the same sentence. Garnishment of wages refers to a court ordering an employer to deduct a particular percentage of an employee’s salary to be paid to a debt which the employee owes. Usually, the top amount that can be garnished is 25 percent.

The reason for garnishment laws is to enable debts to be repaid whenever the worker has not been paying on those debts regularly on their own. In the case of several entities filing for garnishment of one person’s salary, there is still a 25 percent limit on how much they can receive, although there is an order of who gets paid first from the worker’s net income. This is a part of the garnishment laws of the state.

Since nobody wants their wages attached by a court order, there are a few possible ways to avoid wage garnishment. One of those ways is to move to one of the four U.S. states which do not allow garnishment except for payment of back taxes, child support, federal student loans or restitution for a crime. Those four states include both North Carolina and South Carolina. If a person were to relocate to Charlotte or another city in either of those states, there are no garnishment laws that apply beyond those four situations described above.

A bank loan for a vacation, for example, could not be collected through garnishment of the wages of the person who borrowed the money if they are employed in North Carolina.

An employer cannot refuse to cooperate with a court order for garnishment except in those four states which do not allow garnishment. In other states, garnishment laws are absolute and cannot be avoided. Unless a person owes back taxes or has a federal student loan or owes child support, he can avoid wage garnishment simply by taking a job in a city like Charlotte, North Carolina.