Wage Transfer

By means of wage transfer or wage concealment some debtors try to prevent attachment of their wages.

A wage transfer applies if the debtor’s employer does not pay the wage to the debtor but to a third party (e.g. his spouse). In that case the creditor can directly attach the third party’s payment entitlement. The Attachment and Transfer Order has to be served on the third party.

Wage concealment applies if the debtor is working for the company of a third party (usually his wife’s) for free or against unjustifiably low payment. In this case the creditor has the opportunity to attach the debtor’s alleged wage entitlement. In case the employer does not pay voluntarily, the creditor will have to substantiate and prove wage concealment. Any decisions in this respect will then be taken by the Court of Procedure. This is where the problem lies and which makes claim enforcement virtually impossible in practice: for the creditor often does not hold the evidence required to enforce his claim.