In a wage garnishment, your creditor can sue you for the amount of money owed plus legal fees. If the creditor wins a judgment against you, they can get a court order that will allow the sheriff of the county you live in to take money from your paycheck to pay the creditor.

Laws on wage garnishment vary from state to state. All states allow wage garnishment for tax and child support debt Some states don't allow wage garnishment for creditor debts--North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas.

Some of your wages are protected in a wage garnishment. This is where it gets a bit complicated. The protected amount is equal to either 30 times the minimum wage or 75 percent of your "disposable" earnings--whichever is greater. Disposable earnings are what's left after all legally required deductions have been made from your paycheck.

Once you have a garnishment from one creditor, it doesn't mean you're protected from more garnishments. And while it's true you can't be fired by your employer if your wages have been garnished, if you have more than one garnishment, you're not protected from losing your job under federal law.

There are many steps that your creditor must take to garnish your wages. You shouldn't just get your paycheck one Friday and find the amount 25 percent less than normal.

• First, your creditor must serve you with notice that they are suing you for the amount you owe. Don't ignore this notice, or you may find the next step is that your wages have indeed been garnished.

• File an "answer" with the court. You can get a lawyer to do this or do it yourself. You're basically just answering the complaint against you by the creditor. Even if you owe the money, you'll buy more time.

• The case will then usually go to court or arbitration, where you can hopefully agree to a settlement without resorting to garnishment.

Ideally, you should take measures to be sure that the situation never gets to the garnishment.

• When you know you're in trouble and won't be able to pay a bill, call the creditor and let them know. Try to make payment arrangements.

• Stay in contact with your creditor. When they call, talk to them. Of course if they are being unreasonable and calling 20 times a day, this is harassment and there are measures you can take to stop the incessant calling.

• Talk to a credit counselor about your situation. Ask about debt management and debt settlement and negotiation.