Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

If they sue and get a judgment, yes they can proceed with a garnishment. As you can see, it was not the best way to handle this in the divorce and this was the risk taken by doing it this way. You don't tell us how much money is involved, so whether it is cheaper to pay the debt or hire a lawyer hoping to get a better deal is something that can't be answered. You may or may not have a claim for contempt of the divorce decree, but you should ask your divorce lawyer about that (and it appears your ex may not be in a position to pay anyway).

Unfortunately, divorce law is not the same as consumer lending. If you co-signed that was a big mistake. What you are saying to the lender is "if my husband does not pay, I will" and you thereby induced the lender to make the loan. Now the truck was repo'd and you are on the hook for the deficiency.

The lender or junk debt buyer can only garnish your wages when they get a judgment against you. Depending on the amount of the balance, it may be possible to settle the debt now if you have the funds. If you don't have the funds, start saving. Hopefully, you will have the funds by the time a lawsuit arises. Even if you are sued and don't have the funds, it is still possible to work out a payment plan to avoid a garnishment. Just so you know, the garnishment in GA is limited to 25% of your disposable pay (your gross pay minus deductions for required things like federal/state taxes - deductions for 401(k) or health insurance are not included).

I agree with Attorney Riddle. You could have gone back to family court and got the judge to order your ex-husband to comply. Unfortunately, its too late. Since the truck was repo'd there has to be a reason why your ex-husband did not make payments. A judge can order him to reimburse you and maybe garnish his wages to compel his compliance. But if your husband does not have the funds and does not work or is self-employed, you are going to be spending money for lawyers and not get a return so it may be better financially in the long run if you chalk this up to a bad deal and move on and try to get out of paying as much as you can. Maybe since you wer a co-signer and did not know about this as an inducement to get the creditor to accept if you pay, you can persuade the creditor to remove this from your credit.

If you have the funds and want to resolve this, I may be able to work out a settlement. Plese contact me at [email protected] if interested.