Garnishment Hell.

What is the name of your state? Florida

Hi,

Sears & Roebuck is in the process of garnishing my wages. They have already obtained a judgement in January of this year.

When they filed a motion for continuing writ of garnishment a few months later, they stated that they did not believe me to be head of household (which is apparently exempt in Florida). Nowhere in the copy that I received did it state what proof they had of this. One of my questions is, did they have to provide some form of proof that I am not head of household? or was their "testimony" sufficient?

If no proof was needed, that sounds very wrong to me, since it was the basis of their entire motion.

Secondly, I filed for exemption because I AM in fact a head of household. Both of my children live with me that I solely support, plus an unemployed ex-wife that lives with me that I support. This has been true since January of 2001. I was able to file head of household on my most recent tax filing as well. I don't think I'll have a problem proving this at the scheduled hearing and reversing the writ of garnishment, however...

Just today I received a deposition to disclose 16 points of information before my exemption hearing next week. The problem is, they are only giving me 1 full business day to obtain information such as last 36 months of bank statements, last 3 years tax returns, 1 year phone bills etc.

What happens if I cannot provide each of the 16 things they've listed, in full? i.e. What if I only provided last 2 years of tax returns? last 10 phone bills instead of 12?

How can they possibly give me such short notice? and what does this kind of information have to do with whether I'm head of household or not?

Seems like they're using this opportunity to get information out of me in this deposition that they'll use later to try to obtain the money.

This sucks.

Oh yeah, they already started garnishing too and it hasn't even been a full 2 weeks...

Any information anyone can provide about any of this will be greatly appreciated, since this is very stressful.

[Ladynred]

Good Grief.. I don't keep a year's worth of phone bills and doubt I could produce 3 years of bank statements either !!!

What does it say on the paperwork that implies you only have 1 day ? Since that is clearly impossible, for anyone, I would think that you could appeal that. They're fishing for assets and expenses, obviously. Have you tried calling them and asking if the 1 day is correct ? You might also try calling the court and asking the clerk, that's not enough time for any 'discovery', utterly absurd.

If you filed your taxes as head of household, I think there's a definition on the 1040 form and/or instructions as to what constitutes HOH.. if you meet the IRS's conditions, they how could Sears dispute that ??? I'd fish out that definition and take it to court. You can d/l the 1040 publication online, highlight it, and take it with you !!

[bigun]

The answer, "I don't have 3 years worth of old bills or bank statements" is an acceptable answer if it is the truth. Also, don't be afraid to say I don't know or, I don't remember if that's the case.

Ladynred brings up a good point about HOH. If you claimed a child care credit, you should be in decent shape. However, if possible, I'd see a lawyer.

First, thanks for the replies.

Ladynred: I'm getting "one full business day" from the fact that I just received notice of deposition in the mail Friday (yesterday), and I have to appear with all the info on Tuesday at 1:00PM. Then, the exemption hearing is Wednesday. This really only gives me Monday to try to get some bank statements from the bank, account history from the phone company, copies of tax return that I'm missing, etc. (And don't they realize people work?!)

It does seem absurd, and I'm not too happy about it.

The tax forms might have definition of head of household, good idea. Also, the attorney representing Sears kindly sent me a blank form so I could file for exemption when they notified me of garnishment. It also contains a definition of head of household.

bigun: Thank you, that was a big question for me. I just didn't want to be held in contempt or something if I couldn't produce some of this, because I certainly don't have all of it. I was also afraid I would just automatically lose my case if I couldn't give them all the stuff they requested. I will honestly make my best effort though.

I did speak with a lawyer before I got the deposition. He told me it would be a breeze to win exemption. I also discussed bankruptcy and will probably go through with it as I am genuinely qualified. I wish I could have done it before all this mess, but I just simply don't have the $700-$1100 the many lawyers quoted me (hey I'm poor damnit!).

Thanks again everyone.

First hearing today, deposition. For those who were as clueless about it as I...

The plaintiff on one end of the phone, me and a court reporter on the other. They did not even ask me about the list of 16 items they asked for in their entirety. For example, they left out phone bills entirely. They did not even ask for copies of all the information I brought, such as the deeds/mortgage paperwork they asked for.

It was not a problem at all that I didn't have time to get some of the information they asked for, or so it seemed.

Off the record, they offered a settlement. I declined because of my inability to pay a lump sum within 30 days. They then offered to reduce the garnishment to $100/month. As long as I signed an agreement, they would cancel tomorrow's hearing. Hmm..

I deferred until tommorrow morning and asked if I could speak with an attorney before I make a decision. Reason being, one of the qualifications of head of household is that I have not signed anything agreeing to a garnishment. Who's to say if I had signed this they would have cancelled the hearing? Since all this was off the record, they could do a reversal, keep the hearing for tomorrow, present it as evidence which forfeits my HoH status, and garnish at the full 25% allowed by law! I assumed they were offering all this because I plainly proved my HoH status, and they will lose tomorrow.

I'll post an update tommorrow after the hearing, for anyone interested in the outcome of someone who foolishly handled everything himself and declined to retain the services of a real attorney. Let's hope it doesn't backfire, it hasn't yet!