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  In Maryland, creditors can seek to garnish a debtor's wages to recover unpaid debts. This process typically involves a creditor requesting that a court order the debtor's employer to deduct a portion of the debtor's wages and pay that money to the creditor. The process can also be done administratively depending on what kind of debt is owed. The three main types of creditors that garnish wages are tax collectors, custodial parents and unsecured creditors.
  
  

Tax Collectors

• The IRS can garnish a taxpayer's wages through a simple administrative process in which it provides written notice to the taxpayer that it intends to garnish wages. The IRS gives the taxpayer an opportunity to request a hearing over the matter. If the taxpayer does not request a hearing, then the IRS may provide a final notice and then begin garnishing wages. The Maryland Department of Revenue, the state's taxing authority, may also garnish wages for unpaid state income taxes through a similar procedure.
  
  

Parents

• When one parent obtains physical custody of the kids in a Maryland divorce proceeding, the parent awarded custody is referred to as the custodial parent. The noncustodial parent must pay an amount in child support that the court determines and memorializes in a custody order. If the noncustodial parent fails to make timely child support payments in full, the custodial parent may request the court to order the noncustodial parent's employer to garnish the noncustodial parent's wages. This process must be done in a Maryland Circuit Court. The custodial parent may garnish up to 60 percent of the noncustodial parent's wage.
  
  

Unsecured Creditors

• Unsecured creditors, like credit card companies, have no security interest in an underlying asset of a debt. For example, a car loan company is considered a secured creditor because they keep a security interest in the car that permits them to repossess the car if the borrower defaults. Lines of credit typically only go off the borrower's promise to pay. Therefore, credit card companies routinely seek to garnish the wages of borrowers who default on credit card debt. However, Maryland and federal law place limitations on the amount of income they may garnish. Maryland follows federal law for wage garnishment, which limits the amount a creditor can garnish at 25 percent of the debtor's wages or the difference between 30 times the federal minimum wage and the weekly income for individuals who earn on or about minimum wage.
  
  

Warning

• Please contact a qualified attorney licensed to practice in Maryland to find out what obligations, if any, you may have with regard to wage garnishment laws in Maryland, which are subject to change.