If someone claims that you owe them money, they can go to court and bring a lawsuit against you. If they win the case, the court will give them a judgment against you. A judgment is a court order stating how much you owe to them. The person you owe money to is called the "creditor," and you are called the "debtor."

A creditor can use the judgment to collect money from you. They may take some of your wages, money in a bank account, or sell your home. The process is commonly called garnishment even if a Citation to Discover Assets form is used. The process starts with the creditor delivering legal papers, (Citation to Discover Assets, Wage Deduction, or Non-Wage Garnishment) to you or someone else.

[no-lexicon]Citation to Discover Assets[/no-lexicon]

A Citation to Discover Assets is a court document that tells you to come to court to tell the court and the creditor about your income and assets. This is so the creditor can find out what they can do to get the money you owe them. You must appear on the court date and give the information requested.

Once the creditor finds out about your income and assets, they can deliver additional citations to your employer (wage deduction) or bank (garnishment).

If you have property in a land trust, the creditor may serve the land trustee with a citation. This creates a lien against the trust property and stops any sale of the property until the creditor is paid.

Liens on houses and real estate

A creditor may place a lien on your property by recording a memorandum of judgment or certified copy of the judgment order. The papers are recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds in the county in which the property is located.

If the property is held in a land trust, the creditor must serve a citation upon the land trustee. Recording a lien with the Recorder of Deeds against property in a land trust has no effect against the property.

Once a lien placed against the property or land trust, the property may not be transferred without the judgment being paid.  

The creditor may ask the court or sheriff to have the property sold to pay the judgment or simply wait for you to sell it.

[no-lexicon]Wage garnishment[/no-lexicon]

A wage garnishment is when the creditor takes money out of your wages to pay off the debt. Your employer will take up to 15% of your gross income and give it to the creditor. However, the withholding can't leave you with less than $630 as weekly take-home pay. This amount is 45 times the Illinois minimum wage for 2024.

There is not much you can do to fight a wage garnishment other than filing for bankruptcy.

[no-lexicon]Non-wage garnishment[/no-lexicon]

Non-wage garnishment is when the creditor collects the judgment out of your bank account.

Some types of money cannot be garnished, like Social Security. You can also protect a certain amount of your money and property from debt collection. This is called claiming an exemption.

If your bank account has been frozen, you can go to court to unfreeze it by claiming your exemptions.