I live in Ontario. How can I stop a wage garnishment?

If you don't pay your debts, a creditor can go to court and obtain a wage garnishment. This is what people often refer to as having their wages "garnished", although the correct term is a garnishee or garnishment.

In order to garnishee your wages, a creditor must take you to court and sue you, and obtain a Garnishment Order from the court. The only exceptions would be a Credit Union that you have given an assignment of wages, or Canada Revenue Agency (who can garnishee your wages without a court order).

If a creditor has gone to the trouble of garnishing your wages, they are not likely to lift the garnishment because you agree to pay - they only garnishee people with a history of not paying, or whom they believe will not pay.

There are Three ways to stop wage garnishment

Once a wage garnishment starts, there are three ways to get it to stop:

	Repay the debt;
	File a Proposal to creditors; or
	File for Personal Bankruptcy.

How much can be garnished from my wages?

Under the Ontario Wages Act, the maximum a creditor can garnishee is 50% of your gross wages.The maximum amount you can be garnisheed will be determined by the court. A typical garnishment is generally 20% of your gross wages, but higher garnishments are not uncommon.

If you are threatened with a wage garnishment, or are currently being garnisheed, we recommend that you contact a nearby expert immediately to determine your options. The longer you wait to deal with the wage garnishment, the more you will lose from each paycheque.

In virtually all cases a Proposal to Creditors or a Personal Bankruptcy will stop a garnishment, so we strongly recommend that if you are being garnisheed, or are threatened with a garnishment, contact a nearby representative immediately to determine your options.