Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Tennessee

If my wages are garnished and one of the garnishments is for past child support while the other one is for attorney fees of the other party, and they garnished it as one lump sum, how are the funds distributed? I would assume all of the funds would go toward child support until that part was paid and then to the atty fees. What is the law in the state of Tennessee?


Asked on 4/10/12, 5:17 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Howard R. Peppel Peppel, Gomes & MacIntosh, P.C.

There is no law in Tennessee on this point. The distribution of funds however, will be dependent upon the contractual agreement of representation between the custodial parent who is entitled to receive the child support and the lawyer representing him/her. Normally, the funds are released to the attorney who will then either send the court's check to the client or deposit the court's check for the garnished funds into the lawyer's trust/escrow account. The lawyer will then issue a trust/escrow check to the client for his/her portion of the received funds and transfer to himself/herself the lawyer's portion. However, as noted above, any transfer to the lawyer is strictly dependent upon the arrangement between the lawyer and his/her client.

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Answered on 4/11/12, 5:43 am


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