Training For Colorado Garnishment Law Requirements

What Is A Garnishment?

A wage garnishment is any legal or equitable procedure through which some portion of a person's earnings is required to be withheld by an employer for the payment of a debt.

The six basic types of garnishments are child support, federal, state, or local levies, creditor garnishments, and student loans, with the largest amount of garnishments being for child support.

Employer Guidelines For Handling Garnishments

Employers generally have to notify the debtor in writing that a wage garnishment is about to start before making a garnishment and sending payments to the creditor. The wage garnishment then typically continues until the debts are paid off or otherwise resolved. Employers are required to provide employees with a copy of garnishment paperwork.

With regard to child support garnishments, all states are required to use the "Order/Notice To Withhold Income For Child Support" notice for Child Support. This notice is designed to provide employers with key information so that they do not have to decipher unfamiliar orders/notices from different states. Click here for details on this notice, including steps to process this notice.

Employers should note that they cannot contest the income-withholding order; however, the employer should contact the issuing agency if unable to implement the withholding either because the individual named in the order is not an employee or a withholding is already in place for the child and employee. Additionally, employers should note that states often have varying garnishment rules, so they should be sure to know the payroll wage garnishments rules for the state(s) in which it does business.

Colorado Wage Garnishment Rules

Like most states, Colorado follows the federal rules on garnishments. Generally speaking, this means that before creditors can garnish wages, they must first obtain a judgment against an individual for some monetary amount.

The Colorado Department of Revenue may garnish the wages of any taxpayer who has failed to pay their taxes after a Final Notice and Demand for Payment is issued. Wage garnishments are generally set at 25% of your disposable earnings, and once a garnishment notice has been sent to the employer, the garnishment will continue until the balance is paid in full.

Employers should note that if a debtor is dealing with two or more garnishment orders at the same time, the employer must give the following priority: 1) past due child support always comes; 2) delinquent federal income taxes; 3) state tax levies; 4) delinquent student loans; 5) bankruptcies and reorganizations; 6) Colorado garnishments and Revenue Department levies.

All of the foregoing take precedence over unpaid credit cards, consumer loans and even medical expenses, and it is the type of debt not the timing that matters. Further, in Colorado, a debtor can only be subject to one garnishment at a time.

Recommended Garnishment Training Courses:

• Garnishments, Child Support Orders, And Other Levies
• Dealing with Subpoenas, Summonses, Garnishments, Tax Levies, Etc.
• Paycheck Fundamentals Training & Certification Program