Walk It Through: The Judgment
10 percent of disposable earnings at most, a homestead up to $400,000, and support received.
A card company wins a judgment against a cook and moves to garnish the cook's pay.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One judgment and one cook. Vehicles and household goods, the steps to claim exemptions, and life insurance in detail are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Disposable earningsWhat remains of earnings after deductions required by law. The most that can be taken from a workweek's disposable earnings is 10 percent, or the excess over sixty times the minimum hourly wage, whichever is less.
- HomesteadOne home, of the kinds the section lists, held exempt from attachment, execution and forced sale up to $400,000 in equity.
- Spousal maintenanceSupport a court may order for a spouse who lacks enough property for reasonable needs, lacks earning ability to be self-sufficient, or meets another of the conditions the section lists.