Obtaining a Judgment

• Before a creditor can request a wage garnishment, she must obtain a judgment against you. The plaintiff, or person to whom you owe money, must file a complaint in the appropriate civil court setting forth the allegations against you. The plaintiff is required to serve you with the complaint. You have a specific amount of time within which to file a formal written answer with the court. If you do not file an answer, the court may enter a default judgment against you. If you do file an answer, the case will be set for trial, at which time the judge, or jury, will decide whether you owe the plaintiff money. If the judge or jury finds in favor of the plaintiff, a monetary judgment will be entered against you.
  
  

Wage Garnishment

• After the plaintiff has secured a judgment against you, she may proceed to attempt to collect on the judgment. The plaintiff must then file a request for garnishment on wages, which is then served on your employer. The wage garnishment order will direct him to retain a certain percentage or dollar amount from your wages each week toward satisfaction of the judgment.
  
  

Multiple Garnishments

• Federal law limits the amount of income that may be garnished to 25 percent of your disposable income; however, you must be left with at least 30 times the federal minimum wage each pay period. In addition, under the laws of the state of Maryland, a second or subsequent garnishment cannot take effect until the first garnishment is paid in full. Therefore, wages cannot be garnished by two judgments at the same time.
  
  

Exceptions

• Although Maryland does not allow wages to be garnished by two judgments at the same time, if one of the judgment is for child support or alimony, federal law will apply and you may have two active garnishments at the same time. In addition, up to 50 percent of your wages can be garnished if the garnishment is for child support or alimony payments and you are supporting another child, or up to 60 percent if not. An additional 5 percent can be added if you are more than 12 weeks in arrears on the payments.