How to garnish wages after a judgement?

[landlordswife]

What is the name of your state? Utah

We are a property management company in St. George, UT (Washington County).
We are not satisfied with the outcome of using collection agencies.
We want to begin the process of collections.
So far, (I think) we know to write letters to the person owing money. After several
attempts, we will take them to small claims court. Can we do this or do we need to hire an attorney ? It is at that point - unless you know more information that we need to do prior to court - that we want to know how to go about collecting - garnishing salaries, liens, obtaining items they may have that are worth
money, etc. - and how to follow through
I've been told that each week the 'rules' may change and I need to be very careful about
what the % may be that week for garnishing.
What other information do I need to know?
Is this something we can do on our own?

Thank you,
landlordswife

[Ladynred]

Can we do this or do we need to hire an attorney ?

You do not need an attorney, just be sure you have crossed all your 't's and dotted every "i", have supporting documentation to make your case.

It is at that point - unless you know more information that we need to do prior to court - that we want to know how to go about collecting - garnishing salaries, liens, obtaining items they may have that are worth money, etc. - and how to follow through

You can't do anything until you actually WIN a judgment. Then there is a 30-day waiting period allowing the defendant to challenge. Once that 30 days passes, THEN you can go forward with executing the judgment by filing bank levies, wage garnishments, and liens on real property. Keep in mind though that there ARE exemptions that the defendant can claim, so you can't just go take anything you think is worth money. So, look up your state's exemptions before you go thinking you're going to take everything this person has.

The garnishment amount is set in your state statutes, and I seriously doubt they change the statutes every week . A quick check for UT shows this:

GENERAL GARNISHMENT EXEMPTIONS
$142.50 of disposable earnings for wages paid weekly.

FEDERAL law sets the MAX you can take (except for child support) at 25% of one's disposable income, state law may be less than that. In addition, unless they make more than 40x the minimum wage, you can't garnish at all.