Five collections law facts every non-collection lawyer needs to know:

Even if you don’t practice collections law, chances are you’ll run into a judgment or enforcement issue at some point. Whether you're drafting orders, advising clients, or just trying to make sense of a garnishment, here are five practical things that can make a big difference—especially in Washington State.

1. Writing a simple judgment summary that leaves no doubt is easy, and incredibly helpful. Have a line in bold that says the "TOTAL amount of judgment" then below that a line that says "Interest on total shall be 12%" (or whatever is highest). Don't add 13 different things to show what the judgment is made up of, that was done in the motion.

NOTE: the one caveat to this are family law judgments need to make it clear for child support enforcement purposes what judgment is what.

2. The reason a judgment was entered is not always obvious down the line when collection is occurring. Some reference in the final judgment (not the summary) toward what the underlying dispute concerns helps. If you want to have a line that indicates the type of judgment then those (main) types are: consumer, tort, private student loan, medical, spousal support, and general.

3. A shorthand for the amount that can be taken from a wage garnishment is simply: recovery = ((Income - taxes) 0.25) - child support. So if someone makes 4000 per month, pays 1500 in taxes and 500 per month in child support it would be: ((4000 - 1500) 0.25) - 500 --> (2500 *0.25) - 500 --> $125 per month (or $625 when the child support ends). For domestic collections, child support often controls much of the outcome.

4. Every collection attorney or collection agency wants the case to be closed. If a debtor is attempting to contest a 3 year old judgment that they have been garnished on for the last 2 years, most likely the best remedies available to them are negotiations or bankruptcy. For negotiation purposes if a debtor agrees to make voluntary payments then it should at least match what the garnishments bring in from the creditor's perspective (usually). A good offer might be something like: "We agree to pay the balance owing in monthly installments equal to the amount currently being garnished, and in exchange you agree to stop garnishments (which incur $400+ in additional costs/fees every 2 months) and agree to freeze the interest as long as all payments are timely made. Where can we send the check to?"

5. Collection work is often done in the dark. The company the collection attorney believes to be an employer can be based on many things, but few of them are perfect. We look at employment records, investigative services, social media, applications submitted to clients, memories from clients, etc. If you are referring a collection case and have an idea of where someone is employed or asset knowledge, then share it please. If you are defending a debtor, don't be shocked that we sent a garnishment to an mistaken employer. It happens all the time.