Wage Garnishment in California

What is Wage Garnishment?

Wage garnishment is a post-judgment enforcement tool that orders the debtor's employer to withhold a portion of the debtor's wages each pay period and deliver it to the judgment creditor. Federal and California law cap the maximum garnishment, generally the smaller of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount above 40 times the state minimum wage.

When you might need this service

• You have a California judgment against an individual debtor who is employed.
• A debtor has stable employment but no significant other assets to levy.
• A long-term recovery stream (12-18 months of garnishment) makes economic sense for the debt size.
• A debtor is changing jobs frequently to evade garnishment and you need active monitoring.

How Sari Law Firm helps

We identify the debtor's current employer (skip tracing, debtor exam), prepare and serve the earnings withholding order through the sheriff, monitor employer compliance, and reapply when the debtor changes jobs. For self-employed debtors or debtors paid through a related entity, we evaluate alternative enforcement (levies on accounts receivable, bank levies).