Negotiate paying off judgment?

[Anonymous]

Thanks, that is really helpful.  I'm surprised they were willing to negotiate even after they were garnishing.  If they wanted us to pay 30% I would be ecstatic.  There is just a lot of risk that goes along with that reward for us since they are not garnishing already.  Once they start garnishing I suppose you have nothing to lose with trying to negotiate. 

[Anonymous]

It was the reward of getting their money right now. With the garnishment they can only get 25% of available wages and if you quit the job they have nothing. Plus at the rate of garnishment it would take them more than a few years to get it all. I don't know what resources they use to find out about new employment but they seem to and it's a bad way to introduce yourself to the HR department. If you can afford to pay off a settlement offer it gets the monkey off your back because as stated previously the judgment is good for 10 years. That's a long time to keep looking over your shoulder and hoping for the best.

[RobertEG]

Garnishment of pay is not the only possible basis for their going back to the court and seeking satsfaction of the debt.

They can seek a writ of satisfaction of the judgment, and most likely motion the court for a statement of assets.

With a court order to do so, discosure of assets beyond simple income that could form basis for ability to satisfy the judgment mght be required.

Negotiation on reduction of the amount they might accept is always possible, but they have a court order for satisfaction of the entire amount.

That's a pretty strong negotiation position on ther side.....

[Anonymous]

In my situation, he doesn't have any other assets.  They don't have any other options other than garnishment at this point.  You can't get blood from a turnip as they say.  I realize they have the right to full payment of the debt (plus interest) but as I read more about this, a lot of the time they would like a big payment now instead of risking the person losing their job or something and them never getting anything.  Obviously people in this situation sometimes don't have the best employment history.  Honestly, if they were to garnish, it would make more financial sense in the short term to just quit his job.  It's kind of sad that you go through all those years of education and are better off not working at all.  I don't think we would choose that option because we try to be productive members of society, but maybe would look for a lower paying job (or ask to be paid less for the same job!) that would put us in a better situation as far as other payments go.