Earned income; displacement or concealment
By displacement or concealment of their real earned income, some debtors try to escape attachment of wages. Displacement is given if the employer, based on a corresponding agreement, pays the salary not directly to the debtor himself but to third parties (e.g. family members). If the creditor learns of this agreement, he can attach also the salary paid to the third party. However, in this case the third person must also be served with an attachment of earnings and transfer order. Concealment is given if the debtor works for a third party (often family members) in their company without remuneration or earning an unreasonable low salary. Here is the possibility to attach debtor’s ’alleged’ claim to the earned income. Because the employer in this case owes to the creditor the equivalent amount of a reasonable remuneration.