Is my learning diabled son, who is making $8.00 an hour as a hair
stylist, trying to support his wife and 2 kids, responsible for his wife's
student loans that were aquired before they were married.  A threat
has been made to garnish his wages.  He lives in Oregon and they
barely get by on what he makes.

Your son should check with an Oregon lawyer versed in debt collection
law, but as a general rule I would say no.  To analyze this, let's
assume that they lived in one of the community property states
(Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico,
Texas, Washington, Wisconsin or Puerto Rico).  Since she acquired this
debt wholly as her separate property before her marriage to your son,
the only way the creditor could garnish your son's wages is if (a) the
wife agreed in writing a the time she took the loans that she agreed
that any future community property interest in money she might have
could be used to satisfy the debt and (b) the creditor only garnished
~half~ (the wife's community property interest half) of your son's
wages.

But here, your son doesn't live in a community property state so I
cannot see a basis for the creditor's garnishing his wages or any
portion of them.  Even if the wife signed something, those wages
belong to your son and the wife has an ?equitable interest? in them
should the marriage dissolve.  That's the difference between community
property and non-community property states.  In community property
states, the wife gets half--everywhere else the judge makes an
"equitable distribution."  So I would ask an Oregon lawyer if there is
an Oregon law that permits a creditor to garnish a husband's wages for
premarital debt incurred solely by the wife.  The lawyer will likely
need to see the loan documents the wife signed . . .

Alternatively, you or your son should insist the collection agency
provide you with a legal basis for their attempted garnishment.  They
might just be bluffing, hoping your son?s employer will cave and honor
the garnishment without inquiry.