Ga. Attorney General considers fixing unconstitutional garnishment law
Georgia’s Attorney General is considering ways to fix the state’s garnishment law, which was called unconstitutional earlier this week.
In the meantime, garnishments have stopped in Gwinnett County. The ruling could result in a temporary moratorium statewide.
The law is flawed because Georgia does not require creditors to tell debtors that some money — like Social Security benefits, welfare payments or workers’ compensation — cannot be garnished. When that money is taken improperly, the state law doesn’t require creditors to tell people how to get it back. It also doesn’t provide a timely procedure for determining whether money that was taken should have been exempt, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Marvin H. Shoob wrote.
Erik Heath, the attorney who argued the case that challenged the law, said the state’s process is “fundamentally unfair.”
“It needs to be reworked,” he said.
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About the Author
Arielle Kass covers Gwinnett County for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She started at the paper in 2010, and has covered business and local government beats around metro Atlanta. Arielle is a graduate of Emory University.
