Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

All lawsuits have to be served. If a defendant hides himself to avoid service (and moving without telling the lender is common), a case may be done by publication. And once there is a garnishment it is too late to dispute things.

The question you didn't ask is more important. Why not see a lawyer now about dealing with the garnishment?

It is very unusual for a defendant to have a judgment entered without knowing about it unless this is a case of identity theft/fraud or the defendant has moved and the creditor only has the old address. A creditor cannot garnish wages until 30 days after a judgment has been entered. And before the garnishment starts both the debtor and his/her employer have to be notified about the garnishment. The defendant can then contest the garnishment, but the grounds for that are very limited if this is your legitimate debt.

Since your post suggests that you did not have notice, I suggest that you seek local defense counsel to see whether the judgment can be opened or the garnishment attacked. You might also want to see how much the garnishment will be. There are limits as to how much can be garnished (it is a maximum of 25% of monthly disposable pay), but it may be even less if you are under an order to pay child support. In such case, allowing them to garnish might make sense.

If this is your debt, then your time and efforts may be better spent in deciding what you want to do about the judgment/garnishment. If you have a lot of debts, you might want to consider bankruptcy and in that case, you should consult with a bankruptcy attorney. Many attorneys give free consults.

If bankruptcy is not right for you for whatever reason, you obviously have a job and thus ostensibly have a way to repay the debt. As I said, perhaps allowing the garnishment to stand may make more sense. Or, depending on the amount of the debt, you might be able to resolve it for less than what you owe.

If you are interested in resolving the debt rather than litigating the debt, I give free consults via email and can assist with debt resolution for a reasonable fee. Please contact me at [email protected] if interested.