Garnishment and Installment Payment Legality

[david22585]

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Michigan

I had an old CC that I was sued on (Lost job, couldn't pay) and I had the judgement entered against me. The company on 11-10-2011 filed for a payroll garnishment with the first amount being deducted from my account on December 15th. When I got the letter regarding this, I filed for an order for installment payments on 12-09-2011 which was within the 14 day period from when I received the letter regarding the garnishment. Now payments were taken out of my paycheck on 12-15-2011, 12-31-2011 and 01-15-2012. The motion for installment payments was granted on 01-03-2012 (25 days after filing), and the attorneys office is claiming that the date the order is effective is on the date it was signed, not the date the motion was filed. The courts are telling me that it goes off the date that it was filed as this was an objection period and not that the date it was signed because that could take weeks for a judge to see it.

Who is right in this? The paperwork the way I read it goes off the date that the order was filed, not the date it was signed. Here is how everything is worded:

1. A motion for installment payments was filed with this court on 12-09-11 by the principal defendant.

5. The writ for periodic payments issued on 11-10-11 is suspended and the garnishee defendant is ordered to discontinue withholding amounts under the writ unless otherwise ordered by the court. Any funds deposited with the court or held by the garnishee defendant prior to the date of this order shall be paid and mailed to the plaintiff/plaintiff's attorney.

Then it has a date where the judge signed the order, and all it says is date. The way that I read this, in section 5 is states that any funds deposited before the date of the order which was filed on 12-09-11 shall be paid. What is the legal right on this?

Thanks!

[Mr. Knowitall]

We're talking standard Michigan court forms, right? Rather than snipping out a couple of provisions, how about identifying the forms by number. They're all available here.

[david22585]

Yep. The Form initially filled out was MC15a for the installment payment.

http://courts.michigan.gov/scao/cour...hment/mc15.pdf

That was the form. The court told me that my employer has to hold onto the funds for 28 days before sending them to the plaintiff to comply with the 14 day rule for objection to the initial order. My employer never did that and funds were mailed. The form MC15 also states this:

If a writ of garnishment was already issued and your employer is currently withholding funds from your earnings, you will also need to send a copy of the order to your employer. Otherwise, your employer will continue to withhold funds.

A writ of garnishment was issued, but they were not holding funds at the time that I filed the motion with form MC15a. So at the point this motion (MC15a) was filed, no further funds should have been withheld from my check, correct?