Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri
Garnishment without suit
My sister received a notice from a daycare that stated that in 10 days they will be filing a garnishment with her employer for a debt they claim she owes. She feels that she does not owe this debt. Can this daycare garnish her wages without any court proceeding? How should she respond?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Garnishment without suit
The only way a civil creditor can garnish your wages is with a judgment. If there is no judgment, there is no garnishment. If the debt collector is making false statements, that's a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
She should check, however, to make sure they didn't sue her, claim she was served, and then took a default judgment. Sometimes this happens. Check on www.courts.mo.gov/casenet and see if your sister has been sued. Even if a default judgment was obtained, if it has been less than a year, she can probably get it overturned, but you'll need to see an attorney right away.
Good luck
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