Wage garnishments and collections

steelnomad65 said:Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone here knows if I can file an enforcement action against an employer through the IRS for unpaid wages based on my pay stubs, specifically if the employer has already entered into a pre-trial settlement agreement signed before a commercial court? Basically, their accounts are currently unblocked and they're operating "normally," provided they repay their debt in installments over the next five years. From what I understand, wage claims are considered priority claims and aren't included in that specific settlement portion. Since my boss refuses to pay the wages he owes me—especially since I had to submit a constructive discharge notice because of this whole mess—I'm curious if there's a way to collect my back pay this way.

Thanks

Exactly, wages aren't part of a pre-bankruptcy settlement process. You can submit your pay stubs to the IRS for enforcement, but make sure they clearly indicate the wages weren't paid. Whether it's explicitly noted or not, I would definitely get those over to the IRS as soon as possible!

So I picked up some vacant land, bought from this Italian guy. Now I’ve got my
work permit and everything, even cleared the lot, but man, something else is totally blocking me... Like, legally, I'm golden. I have all the permits to hook up power, water, the whole nine yards, but on a spiritual level? This place is straight-up cursed since the second I stepped foot on it. I'm getting these creepy dreams where people are warning me not to build because the land belongs to someone else and it’s basically sacrilege. People say there used to be a cemetery nearby back in the 40s, though I don't see any sign of it... Twice now, someone's set fires to the property. Everything I bring out here just breaks. My mower works everywhere else in the US, but not on this dirt. Saws, heavy machinery, excavators—everything just dies the moment it touches this ground. What am I supposed to do?! Yeah, the Italian guy sold it to me just to get rid of it, but how am I gonna sell it when I just bought it? I'm all ready to go... Should I try to flip it, though who knows when a buyer will show up? Or just let it sit and watch my money go down the drain?

I have obtained a court judgment stating that my employer owes me a specific amount plus interest. Is it possible to take this ruling to the FIN and have them garnish the funds directly from the employer's account? Thank you in advance.

feraltinker8 said:I have obtained a court judgment stating that my employer owes me a specific amount plus interest. Is it possible to take this ruling to the FIN and have them garnish the funds directly from the employer's account? Thank you in advance.

A court judgment is an enforceable instrument. You can initiate an execution through a notary public or the relevant US court. Obviously, the judgment needs to be final and legally binding. Best to have a lawyer draft the paperwork.
Basically, this is a perfect chance to see how the new law plays out. If the employer files an objection to the execution, the only valid argument they can make to get it overturned is proving the debt was already paid. Any other excuse? It’ll be tossed out as incomplete or invalid.

feraltinker8 said:I have obtained a court judgment stating that my employer owes me a specific amount plus interest. Is it possible to take this ruling to the FIN and have them garnish the funds directly from the employer's account? Thank you in advance.

A court judgment is an enforceable instrument. You can initiate garnishment through a notary or the appropriate US court. Obviously, the judgment needs to be final and binding. Best to have an attorney draft the paperwork for you.
Basically, this is a perfect chance to see how the new law plays out. If an employer files an objection to the garnishment, their only valid argument—the only way they actually get the garnishment overturned—is if they can prove the amount was already paid. Any other excuse? It'll be rejected as incomplete or invalid.

feraltinker8 said:I have obtained a court judgment stating that my employer owes me a specific amount plus interest. Is it possible to take this ruling to the FIN and have them garnish the funds directly from the employer's account? Thank you in advance.

You definitely can! Just fill out a direct collection request on the FIN website. Just make sure you have the original judgment and that it includes the finality clause.

An official notice regarding a potential levy arrived at our house, addressed to my half-sister. It looks like it's about $100 some debt she owes to one of our local banks, probably from an old checking account she never closed. Obviously, there isn't enough money in that account for them to actually collect anything. Honestly, I have no idea how to even get a hold of her; she's somewhere abroad and keeps moving around constantly. She was registered at this address for a while, though. I'm really worried that they might try to come after my own bank account because of her debt, which I am definitely not responsible for. She's my father's half-sister. We share the same last name. She used to be listed at our address here, even though she never actually lived with us. That was way back when she was in school in the mid-90s, and she was living somewhere else in this city at the time. How is this legal notice supposed to be resolved now? Who are they going to target next? Her mother lives in Miami. I don't know her exact address, and I've never actually been in touch with her. My half-sister uses a different last name because she’s been married before. She was actually removed from our address by the authorities because she failed to check in with the police regarding her residency. I even have the paperwork from the police to prove it.

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I forgot to mention in my previous post, but we actually received a formal notice of intent to garnish wages from a law firm. I asked my dad about it, and he has absolutely no intention of paying off that debt from $100. Honestly, I have even less interest in helping out—it isn't my responsibility, and since I've been unemployed for quite a while now, I just don't have the means.

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Can someone please help me out here? If she doesn't pay off this debt from $100, who actually ends up on the hook for it? She’s currently somewhere abroad—honestly, who knows where, since she’s constantly moving between different countries—so she’s basically impossible to track down. Will they really go looking for her birth certificate just to identify her parents? I mean, surely I shouldn't be stuck paying her debts out of my own checking account at $100. She’s my half-sister on my father's side. The debt started out around $17, but now it's ballooned to $100. I can't tell if that jump is just legal fees from the law firm or maybe some kind of penalty from the bank. This notice is from a law firm regarding a potential garnishment. My dad just isn't taking any of this seriously. He thinks sending a letter to the lawyers is enough to make it all go away. The thing is, I have an active account at the exact same bank where they sent this notice, and because we share the same last name, I'm worried. Who are they actually going to come after? Her mother? She doesn't even have the same last name anymore since she remarried. Her mother lives in Miami, and while she travels internationally quite a bit too, her official residence is listed in Miami.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

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Look, my sister is the one on the hook for that debt, so she’s the only person I can actually go after for the money. I can't collect from you, and I certainly can't collect from anyone else.

So, I just received two envelopes from the IRS today—total curveball since I’ve paid off everything I owe and don't carry any debt or credit cards. I opened them up, thinking there was some mistake, and turns out they're both from the same judge who is actually suspending the collection process because they claim I have no income to seize—which is hilarious, considering I'm only 35 and definitely not retired yet! ))) The weirdest part, though—and this really caught me off guard—is that these notices date all the way back to 2003. Can you believe they're notifying me now, eleven years later, that they're dropping two separate collections from 2003 regarding some old spider case? I have no idea what kind of scheme this is.

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone here knows for sure whether a Christmas bonus is fully subject to garnishment? My company just released our holiday bonuses, and since the entire amount hit my regular checking account, it was all immediately seized by the collectors... any insight would be appreciated

Look, Christmas bonuses aren't some untouchable holy grail when it comes to garnishments. They aren't protected like your base salary or any other steady paycheck. So, if that money hits your bank account, it’s fair game for the collectors.
They could have just handed it over in cash, too. Honestly, it all just comes down to how the company handles things—whether they stick to direct deposit or if they're old-school enough to cut a check or hand you bills.

Does that mean we could hand out cash to people with frozen bank accounts while letting everyone else run their errands normally? How would you even justify that later on... especially since it would be pretty obvious the whole goal was just to dodge the garnishments...

Technically, they could have, since the law doesn't forbid it. But honestly? That all comes down to how the company chooses to run things.

Some outfits just dump everything straight into checking accounts because it’s less of a headache for their accounting department.
Look, if an employee has their bank account frozen due to some legal mess, that’s not the company's problem to solve. They aren't obligated to cough up cash on the spot if their standard policy—or whatever is written in the employment contract—says paychecks go strictly through direct deposit.

Jerry Anderson87 said:Does that mean we could hand out cash to people with frozen bank accounts while letting everyone else run their errands normally? How would you even justify that later on... especially since it would be pretty obvious the whole goal was just to dodge the garnishments...

It's possible
and there isn't really a need for justification since it's perfectly legal

The only real issue is whether an employer is actually willing to accommodate one person by paying cash while sticking to standard payroll for the rest—it just creates more administrative headaches for them.

Does anyone here actually know if there’s even such a thing as a grace period—like, what’s the absolute shortest amount of time a debt can sit there before they’re legally allowed to start seizing assets?
So, here’s the deal... I got sued over some debt from back in June of this year, looking at roughly $67, and we’ve already had one court hearing 😲... Honestly, the money in my account isn't even the issue—they send out statements quarterly and this one just happened to hit right while I was on vacation—I could settle it immediately if I wanted to. The real headache is these massive fees they've tacked on top of everything... is there any rule that stops them from jumping straight to garnishment or whatever?

They can pull the trigger on an enforcement action the second you miss that agreed-upon deadline.
Have you even tried calling them up yet? Honestly, just pick up the phone, ask if they’ll drop the collection request, and see if they'll give you a little breathing room.

Once the payment deadline actually passes—you know, once that due date rolls by—they can officially kick off the collections process.