Wage Garnishment

I am writing from Florida regarding my husband. At the age of 17 he was involved in a fight (instigated by the plaintiff)at which time he broke the plaintiffs nose. Civil action was taken against my husband. The trial was held in the city of the occurance and my husband was unable to attend the trial. A judgement was awarded to the plaintiff for $10,000. Initially, my husband was paying what he could toward the balance and eventually stopped paying. Thirteen years after the judgement was placed, my husband was deposed and a writ of garnishment was put into effect 2 1/2 years ago. Due to the interest placed on the initial $10,000, the amount to be payed is now $60,000. At the time of the deposition, my husband and I were not married. We have since had a little boy who is 2 and are currently expecting our second child in May of this year. The amount of money being garnished is approximately 20% of his salary. We do not have a lump sum of money to offer the plaintiff and are having a hard time keeping our heads above water. At this rate we will not have this judgement satisfied for another 12 years. Is there anything we can do to reduce this burden? Are things such as family needs taken into consideration when designating the percentage of earnings to be garnished?

In order to answer your question accurately, there are a lot of details we need to know:

1) The original judgment was in Florida, is that where you live now? (Has to do with jurisdictional issues, garnishment statutes and possible sister-state judgments).

2) What was the original judgment date, amount, costs of court, attorney fees, and interest rate? (A lot of people do not know how to calculate interest and the current total could be in error).

3) How much time elapsed from the time of the judgment to the first payment? How much time has elapsed between payments? (this has to do with Statute of Limitations).

4) You say that your husband did not attend the trial, did he file a response to the lawsuit? (this has to do with default judgments and possible invalidation).

Depending on your answers to the above, you might be able to void the judgment, or you might be liable for some or all of the current claimed amount. In any case, I would suggest that you talk with a local attorney to see if there were some options for you. Also, he might be able to negotiate a lower payment or even lower total amount.