Stopping Wage Garnishment in Nebraska

To stop wage garnishment in any state, you will have to take drastic action. A wage garnishment is a formal court order to get some of a person's wages in order to pay for a debt owed to a creditor such as a loan company, credit card company or some other creditor. Typically, a wage garnishment is a method of last resort by a creditor since it takes time and effort to go to court and the creditor will have to prove that it engaged in less drastic action first.

Garnishment Limits

Since a wage garnishment is a court order, an employer is required to follow it. However, there are limitations to the amount of wages that can be garnished. In Nebraska, a creditor can only take one of these three amounts:

• 25% of disposable earnings

• 15% of the debtor's disposable earnings if the debtor is the head of a household
• Any amount past 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage

The amount that may be garnished from wages is limited by the larger of one of the three amounts listed above as exempt under Nebraska law. Even if a court order allows the creditor to take more than the state limit, state law will trump in that situation.

Stopping Garnishment

To stop a garnishment, the debtor has a few legal options:

• File for bankruptcy

• Get another job, since a wage garnishment does not follow a debtor from job to job
• Negotiate with the creditor

Getting Legal Help

However you choose to proceed, t is a good idea to retain the services of a licensed attorney familiar with wage garnishment issues. The attorney will be able to think of better ways to negotiate with a creditor than the average person and make sure you consider all possible legal options.