Creditor Filed Writ of Garnishment Against Wrong Person - How to Stop It?

[Violet]

Hello, I'm in SE Michigan. A creditor filed a writ of garnishment to garnish the tax refund of a person who has the same first and last name as my father. It was sent to our address, though this person is unrelated to us, has a different middle name and is about 50 years younger than my dad. The social security number on the form is wrong too, which we should probably be grateful for. The only thing on the form that is connected with my dad in any way is the address. My dad has no accounts with these creditors is not in default on anything - they just have the wrong guy. A nasty service processor tried to serve him last month for a different account, but went away (without apologizing, of course) when he saw my dad was clearly not in his early 20s.

We called the district court, and they told us to call the law firm. We did, and the law firm said just to mail the form back and mark it "wrong address." This sounds a little fishy to me. The writ request has small print that says if no objection is made, the garnishment will go through. How does my dad formally object that they have the wrong guy?

Is there a form we can fill out at the courthouse where we can state that the wrong person was filed against? Anything else we can do to stop my dad from being confused with this guy?

[HHM]

Honestly, that may be all you need to do. It is unlikely a garnishment would result against your father since the SSN's don't match up.

I guess what I don't understand is why they are serving you in the first place. The first a debtor knows of a garnishment is after the garnishment happens.

[LadyInTheRed]

I agree with HHM. Without your Dad's SSN, his tax refund is unlikley to be garnished.

[drowning123]

Sometimes you need to take drastic measures. You need to be at your dad's house next time they show up and cuss them out. Tell them they're trespassing and you're calling the cops. I find that cussing people out, especially when they're wrong, really works. I had that experience just this week and got a favorable result.

[DesdemonaB]

Hi Violet

Being from MI - I know that MI is the only state that state income tax refunds can be garnished for non-secured debts (as well as child support and back taxes) your father needs to be careful when he files his 2011 taxes - he needs to make sure that the MI treasury doesn't hold back any refund. According to the MI Treasury website it could take up to 18 weeks if he files jointly to release a refund if they receive a WofG.

Did the address match too or just the name? Two out of three factors (name, address) could hold up any refund till it manual verified - mean they verify the ss number.

HHM

A Writ of Garnishment in the State of MI does not have to be formally served (a processor) they can/are mailed via 1st class mail and usually by the court clerk and they mail to last know mail address (per paperwork). So if the processor who served the correct debtor did not correct the address in the proof of service paperwork the court mailed to the address on the Summons and Complaint / Judgment etc.

The Plaintiff and/or Plaintiff's attorney most likely needs to file a corrected WofG with the state; question is how does your father make sure that happens?

[Violet]

Hi Violet

Being from MI - I know that MI is the only state that state income tax refunds can be garnished for non-secured debts (as well as child support and back taxes) your father needs to be careful when he files his 2011 taxes - he needs to make sure that the MI treasury doesn't hold back any refund. According to the MI Treasury website it could take up to 18 weeks if he files jointly to release a refund if they receive a WofG.

Did the address match too or just the name? Two out of three factors (name, address) could hold up any refund till it manual verified - mean they verify the ss number.

Hi Desdemona,

The WoG has my father's address, and the name of someone who has his first and last name, but a different middle initial. I sure hope that's not enough to hold up my parents' refund.

I am working on a letter to send to the law firm. I will have my mother take a copy of the letter to the district court and request that they put it in the file. I haven't been able to think of anything else to do. Here is my rough draft of the letter:

Dear Mr. Lawyer:

You have sent the attached Request and Writ for Garnishment to the wrong address. There has never been a person named Joe M. Blow at my address. In addition, there has never been a person with the listed social security number at my address.

This is the second time I have been harassed with regard to this person’s legal matters. Last month, a process server spoke abusively to me after I told him there was no Joe M. Blow at this address.

You must stop harassing me, and you must remove my address from this Writ by filing a corrected Request and Writ for Garnishment with the court, or you will hear from my lawyer, XXX XXXXX, who can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

A copy of this letter will be filed with the State of Michigan XXth District Court.

Does this sound good? Thank you all for your help.

[GoingDown]

Another thing you might want to look into is to make sure that your father has the proper number of exemptions claimed such that he will not have any money coming back to him after he files his taxes in April.

They can't garnish what doesn't exist.