• Delaware state garnishment law limits the amount of wages a creditor can garnish.check in macro image by Alexey Klementiev from Fotolia.com
  
  Garnishment is a process in which a creditor requests that a court order a third party to intercept money paid to the debtor but owed to the creditor and turn it over to the creditor. A typical example of wage garnishment occurs when a plaintiff sues a defendant and wins a money judgment. If the plaintiff (now judgment creditor) has trouble getting the defendant (now judgment debtor) to pay then the judgment creditor can request the court to garnish the judgment debtor's employment wages.
  
  

Judgment

• A judgment is an amount of money that a court orders one party to pay another. In Delaware, a money judgment remains in effect for five years. That means the judgment creditor has five years to collect the money from the judgment debtor. However, judgment creditors can move the court to revive the judgment after the five year period has expired by filing a motion. Judgment creditors often have trouble collecting money from judgment debtors and many tools exist to enforce judgments. Delaware state law permits a judgment creditor to move the court to garnish the judgment debtor's wages. In other words, the court can order the judgment creditor's employer to withhold some of the judgment debtor's wages and pay those wages to the judgment creditor.
  
  

Limits

• Federal and Delaware state law place limitations on wage garnishment. To properly garnish a judgment debtor's wages, the judgment creditor must comply with both federal and Delaware state law. For example, federal law exempts 75 percent of a judgment debtor's income from wage garnishment. That means a judgment debtor can only garnish 25 percent of a judgment debtor's wage income. Delaware state law, however, exempts 85 percent of wage income from garnishment. In Delaware, therefore, a judgment creditor can only garnish a maximum of 15 percent of a judgment creditor's wages. In addition, Delaware state law only allows one garnishment per debtor, so a judgment creditor cannot garnish a judgment debtor's wages if that judgment debtor already has her wages garnished by another creditor. Finally, Delaware law prohibits bank account garnishment, which consists of a court ordering a judgment debtor's bank to pay the judgment creditor from money in the judgment debtor's bank account.
  
  

Procedures

• To garnish a judgment debtor's wages, the judgment creditor must request the court to do it. Delaware courts will only act on a request from the judgment creditor. The judgment creditor must fill out and file Civil Form 17 and include the name and address of the judgment debtor's employer (or garnishee). The judgment creditor must also include the county, court number, case's civil action number and court address as well as the judgment creditor and judgment debtor's information. The judgment creditor must serve (mail or deliver) copies of the completed form to the court, the judgment debtor and the garnishee. The garnishee then has 20 days to file an answer to the court and disclose whether the garnishee employs the judgment debtor and the judgment debtor's wage information.