Wage Garnishment Defense in Miami

Arturo R. Alfonso P.A. represents Miami-Dade workers whose wages are being garnished, or are about to be, in English and Spanish, as part of the consumer bankruptcy and debt work the firm handles. This page explains how we work a garnishment matter, from the papers your employer receives to the end of the withholding.

Whether a bankruptcy filing stops a garnishment, and the basics of Florida’s head-of-family exemption, are covered in our guide Can bankruptcy stop wage garnishment? This page does not repeat that. It follows a garnishment the way we handle it, stage by stage.

Step 1: Reading the Papers You Received

A wage garnishment in Florida comes after a judgment. Under Section 77.0305, Florida Statutes, when wages are garnished to satisfy a judgment, the court issues a continuing writ of garnishment to the employer, which pays a portion of the wages as they become due until the judgment is satisfied or the court orders otherwise. In Miami-Dade, the writ is issued in the same case that produced the judgment, usually in the Miami-Dade County Court or the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, and anything you file goes into that case.

Under Section 77.041, the creditor must mail you a copy of the writ, with a notice and a claim of exemption form, within 5 business days after the writ is issued or 3 business days after it is served on your employer, whichever is later. Your employer, called the garnishee, has 20 days after service to answer the writ (Section 77.04). The first thing we ask for is that envelope: the writ, the notice, the date you received it, and the case number.

Step 2: The 20-Day Window and the Claim of Exemption

The notice required by Section 77.041 tells you that the claim of exemption must be filed within 20 days after the date you receive the notice. That is the deadline we plan around. We review your pay stubs and your household to see which protection applies. Under Section 222.11, a head of family, meaning a person providing more than one-half of the support for a child or other dependent, keeps all disposable earnings of $750 a week or less, and earnings above $750 a week may not be garnished unless the person agreed otherwise in writing, in a waiver that meets the statute’s requirements. For a worker who is not a head of family, the amount taken may not exceed the federal limit in 15 U.S.C. section 1673: the lesser of 25 percent of weekly disposable earnings or the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage.

We gather proof of support, such as birth certificates, school or medical records, and records of who pays the rent and household bills. If the creditor relies on a waiver, we read it against Section 222.11(2)(b), which requires it to be written in the same language as the contract, contained in a separate document attached to the contract, and in substantially the statutory form in at least 14-point type.

Step 3: If the Creditor Contests the Claim

Once the claim is served, Section 77.041 gives the creditor 8 business days after the claim is hand delivered, or 14 business days if it was served by mail, to file a sworn written statement denying it. If no denial is filed, no hearing is required and the clerk dissolves the writ automatically. If a denial is filed, the court holds a hearing as soon as is practicable to decide the exemption. We prepare you for that hearing with the documents gathered in Step 2.

Step 4: Wages Already in Your Bank Account

The protection follows the money for a time. Under Section 222.11(3), exempt earnings deposited in a financial institution stay exempt for 6 months after the institution receives them, if the funds can be traced and properly identified as earnings, and commingling them with other funds does not by itself defeat a head of family’s ability to trace them. If a creditor garnishes your account, we match the deposits to your pay records, so bank statements for the last six months matter.

Step 5: When Bankruptcy Is the Better Tool

An exemption claim answers one creditor’s garnishment. When there are several judgments, or you do not qualify as a head of family, a bankruptcy filing may address all of the debts at once. Under 11 U.S.C. section 362(a)(2), the filing stays enforcement of a judgment obtained before the case began, and we send the case number to your employer’s payroll office and the creditor’s attorney when the case is filed. Withholding for a domestic support obligation is not stayed (section 362(b)(2)(C)). Whether Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 fits depends on your income and assets; our pages on Chapter 7 in Miami and Chapter 13 in Miami walk through each, and our guide to Florida bankruptcy exemptions explains what else the law protects.

What to Send Us Before the Consultation

• The writ of garnishment, the notice, any claim of exemption form, and the date you received them.
• Your recent pay stubs, showing gross pay and each amount withheld.
• Proof of who you support: each dependent’s name, age, and where they live, and records of the household expenses you pay.
• Bank statements for the last six months, if an account has been garnished or frozen.
• Any loan or credit agreement you signed with the creditor, including any page that mentions garnishment.

If collectors are also calling, our page on creditor harassment defense explains how we move that contact to our office, and our checklist of documents needed to file bankruptcy has the full list for a case.

Related Pages

• Bankruptcy Law in Miami
• Can bankruptcy stop wage garnishment?
• What is the automatic stay in bankruptcy?
• Florida bankruptcy exemptions
• Creditor Harassment Defense in Miami
• Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Miami
• Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in Miami