Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Re: Wage Garnishment

The person needs to consult directly with a bankruptcy attorney, where he/she lives, not works, ASAP.

Re: Wage Garnishment

Your question is confusing, but the reason why it is is becuase the legal situation is complicated and I know you are trying to ask for more information about these legal concepts. If I understand correctly, and maybe I do not, there is a garnishment IN D.C. in D.C. courts. The D.C. court is ordering the company in D.C. at the D.C. address to pay the D.C. court money garnished from the worker's salary, which was earned in Virginia, and the worker lives in Virginia.

First, yur question raises a concern about whether the judgment is too old. I do not know if it was renewed properly or whether a D.C. judgment can be renewed in this way. You should resubmit your question identifying D.C. law and get advice from a D.C. lawyer. For example, under Virginia law, a 10-year judgment would have been renewed 2 years AFTER it expired, and I don't know if they can do that in D.C. or not.

In general, however, Virginia law WOULD allow them to do this if the situation was reversed. A garnishment means that a debtor owes the creditor money. X owes the debtor money. The creditor tells X "don't pay that money to the debtor, pay it to me instead."

ANYONE who owes the debtor money can be ordered to divert that money instead to pay the creditor to pay the judgment.

So if (for example) a bank in D.C. is holding money belonging to Y (a resident of Virginia) then of course the bank can be garnished to demand this money from the bank to pay the creditor.

I assume from your question that the employer company was properly "served" inside D.C., so that D.C. courts have jurisdiction over the employer company in D.C.

If a similar situation arose in Virginia, YES Virginia courts WOULD garnish an employer present in Virginia for the employee's wages earned in D.C. If the employer owes money to the employee, and is subject to jurisdiction in Virginia, Virginia can demand that the employer pay money garnished from the wages to the creditor.

HOWEVER, there are exemptions and rules that apply to how much wages can be garnished. Virginia laws put limits on how much can be withheld from an employee's salary, including NONE if the salary is below a certain level. There are also a variety of exemptions that may apply.

A question I don't know the answer to is what would happen if D.C. law and Virginia law are different on these rules. However, I suspect that D.C. law is more protective of employees than Virginia is.

This may be extreme, but the employer could quit and go to work for a company that does not have any presence in D.C. (and does not have a registered agent in D.C.) However, it would be possible for the creditor to "domesticate" the judgment in Virginia, assuming it survives any challenge to its validity at that stage.