Wage Garnishment in Connecticut: What the Law Says and What Bankruptcy Changes

How much of your pay can be garnished in Connecticut?

For an ordinary money judgment, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-361a(f) sets the maximum weekly amount at the lesser of two figures: 25 percent of your disposable earnings for that week, or the amount by which those earnings exceed 40 times the higher of the federal minimum hourly wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the full Connecticut minimum fair wage established by Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-58(i), in effect at the time the earnings are payable. Section 31-58(i) provides for an annual adjustment, so the rate that applies has to be checked for the period when your earnings were payable rather than assumed from the historical rates printed in the statute. The statute also says the execution and levy are for the maximum earnings subject to levy unless the court orders otherwise on a motion for modification, and are not limited by the amount of your installment payment order. Only one execution under that section is satisfied at a time, with priority set by the order of presentation to your employer.

• Compare the two figures each week and apply the lesser one.
• The 40-times multiplier uses the higher of the federal and Connecticut wage rates.
• A small installment order does not cap the levy amount.

What do Connecticut statutes require of creditors and courts?

A wage execution is a post-judgment step, not a first move. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-356d, either party may ask the court for an installment payment order after a judgment against a natural person, and the court may order payments reasonably calculated to facilitate payment. Subsection (d) of that statute says the order is not enforced by contempt, but on default the creditor may apply for a wage execution under § 52-361a. The application must set out the particulars of the installment order and the default, and a clerk of the Superior Court then issues the execution to a levying officer. The execution must state the parties, the court and date of judgment, the amount due, any court-ordered limitation, the portion of earnings subject to levy, and employer identifying information, and it must be accompanied by a notice of rights and a claim form prescribed by § 52-361b. The levying officer serves your employer, who must promptly deliver or mail you a copy.

Which income is protected from garnishment under Connecticut law?

Connecticut has its own definition of disposable earnings, and it is not simply take-home pay. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-350a(4), disposable earnings are what remains after deducting the amounts required to be withheld for payment of federal income and employment taxes, normal retirement contributions, union dues and initiation fees, group life insurance premiums, health insurance premiums, and federal tax levies. That qualifier covers the whole list, not just the taxes, so deductions outside those categories do not reduce disposable earnings. Earnings themselves are defined broadly to include wages, salary, commission, and bonus. Separately, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-352b lists property exempt from debt-collection process, including public assistance payments and wages earned by a recipient under an incentive earnings program, health and disability insurance payments, workers' compensation, Social Security, veterans and unemployment benefits, and court-approved child support payments. Alimony and support other than child support are exempt only to the extent wages are exempt under § 52-361a. These are exemptions from process, not a general immunity for every bank balance; execution against a bank account follows a separate statutory route.

• Required withholdings for the listed taxes, levies, retirement contributions, union dues and initiation fees, and group life and health premiums come out before the percentage is calculated.
• Benefit categories in § 52-352b are exempt from any form of process for debt collection (§ 52-352a).
• Property executions other than earnings and bank debts run under § 52-356a.

Which statutory protections may matter when contesting a garnishment?

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-361a(d) gives you a window. On service of the wage execution on your employer, the execution is automatically stayed for 20 days, and if a claim is filed under § 52-361b(d) within 20 days of that service on the employer, the stay continues until the court determines the claim. That 20-day clock runs from service on the employer, not from the day you read the papers. To claim an exemption or seek modification, § 52-361b(d) calls for returning a signed exemption claim form to the Superior Court, indicating the earnings claimed exempt or the nature of the modification claim, the class of exemption, and the name and address of your employer or other holder. The clerk then schedules a hearing and notifies the parties and your employer. Under § 52-361b(e), no earnings claimed exempt or subject to a modification claim may be withheld until the claim is determined, and § 52-361a(h) lets either party seek modification at any time.

• The 20 days after levy in § 52-361b(d) applies to personal property executions under § 52-356a, a different trigger.
• Section 52-361a(j) bars discipline, suspension, or discharge because of a wage execution unless the employer is served with more than seven in a calendar year.
• Section 52-400a lets the court enter a protective order on a claim of illegal levy or unlawful collection practices.

How does filing bankruptcy affect a Connecticut garnishment?

Filing the petition commences a voluntary case and constitutes the order for relief (11 U.S.C. § 301). Under § 362(a)(1), the petition operates as a stay of actions against the debtor that were or could have been commenced before the case, or to recover a claim that arose before it, and § 362(a)(2) stays enforcement against the debtor or estate property of a judgment obtained before the case. It operates on filing, without a separate order, but does not stay every action against you. Section 362(b)(2)(C) excepts withholding of income that is property of the estate or of the debtor for payment of a domestic support obligation under a judicial or administrative order or a statute, and subsection (b) lists many other exceptions. Under § 362(d), on request of a party in interest and after notice and a hearing, the court shall grant relief from the stay for cause, including lack of adequate protection. Where prior cases were dismissed within the preceding year, §§ 362(c)(3) and (c)(4) can shorten the stay or prevent it from arising.

• Section 362(c)(1) continues the stay of acts against estate property while it remains estate property, and § 362(c)(2) governs the duration of the stay of other acts, both subject to subsections (d), (e), (f), and (h), including court-ordered relief.
• Which exemption list applies in a Connecticut case turns on the domicile rules in 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A).
• Ordinary judgment collection, support withholding, and tax collection are not treated the same way.

What if the judgment came from a hospital bill?

Connecticut has specific hospital-collection statutes, and they are narrower than a blanket medical-debt rule. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 19a-673b(c)(3), a hospital, an entity owned by or affiliated with it, or a collection agent receiving its referral may not, on or after October 1, 2022, apply for a wage execution under § 52-361a or otherwise seek to garnish a patient's wages to collect for health care the hospital or affiliated entity provided to that patient on or after October 1, 2022, if the patient is eligible for the hospital bed fund. Subsection (d) preserves the ability to pursue coinsurance, deductibles, or fees that may be reimbursed through awards, settlements, or judgments, or where payment has been or likely will be made directly to the patient. Under § 19a-673d, if such a collector becomes aware, before or after judgment, that the debtor has received information of eligibility for bed funds, free or reduced-price services, or another program eliminating or reducing the liability, it must promptly discontinue collection and refer the file for an eligibility determination.

• Section 52-356d(b) requires a stay of execution while a debtor complies with an installment order on a hospital-services judgment.
• Section 52-356a(a)(1) requires the court to have lifted that mandatory stay before a property execution application on such a judgment.
• Discontinuing collection is not cancellation of the debt; it pauses efforts pending the determination.

Frequently asked questions

Does the 25 percent ceiling apply to child support or taxes?

No. The ordinary ceiling in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-361a(f) governs executions under that section. Federal law at 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b) excepts support orders, orders of a United States court with jurisdiction over chapter 13 cases, and debts due for any state or federal tax from its ordinary limit, and sets higher percentages for support. Connecticut support withholding runs under § 52-362, which takes precedence over § 52-361a executions.

My employer is already withholding. Is it too late to object?

Missing the 20-day window described in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-361a(d) does not permanently end your options. Section 52-361a(h) lets either party apply at any time to the issuing court for modification of the execution, and after notice and hearing or a stipulation the court may modify it as is reasonable. Section 52-361b(e) also bars withholding earnings claimed exempt or subject to a modification claim until the claim is determined.

What do sections 362(c)(3) and (c)(4) say about repeat filings?

Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3), if a single or joint case is filed by or against an individual under chapter 7, 11, or 13 and one single or joint case of the debtor was pending within the preceding one-year period but was dismissed, other than a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after dismissal under section 707(b), the stay as to any action taken with respect to a debt, property securing such debt, or any lease terminates with respect to the debtor on the 30th day after the later filing. A party in interest may move for continuation; the court may extend the stay as to any or all creditors after notice and a hearing completed before the 30-day period expires, and only on a showing that the later filing is in good faith as to the creditors to be stayed.

What if two or more of my prior cases were dismissed?

Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(4)(A)(i), if a later single or joint case is filed by or against an individual debtor under the Bankruptcy Code and two or more single or joint cases of the debtor were pending within the previous year but were dismissed, other than a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after dismissal under section 707(b), the stay does not go into effect upon the filing of the later case. If a party in interest requests within 30 days after that filing, the court may order the stay to take effect as to any or all creditors, after notice and a hearing, only on a demonstration that the filing is in good faith as to the creditors to be stayed. A stay imposed that way is effective on the date the order allowing it is entered.

How does where I have lived affect which exemption list applies?

Under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b), an individual debtor exempts property under either the § 522(d) list or, alternatively, paragraph (3). Paragraph (2) is available unless the state law applicable under paragraph (3)(A) specifically does not so authorize. Paragraph (3)(A) looks to the law of the place of the debtor's domicile for the 730 days immediately preceding filing, or if domicile was not in a single state for that period, the place of domicile for the 180 days immediately preceding those 730 days or for a longer portion of that 180-day period than any other place. Paragraph (3) also reaches other federal exemptions and qualifying retirement funds, and if the domiciliary requirement would leave a debtor ineligible for any exemption, the debtor may elect the subsection (d) list.

What should I ask a lawyer or legal aid about my garnishment?

Useful questions include: when was the execution served on my employer, and is the 20-day stay still running? Does my pay stub reflect the § 52-350a(4) deductions before the percentage is applied? Is any of my income within Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-352b? Was an installment order entered and did I default? Is this a hospital-services judgment implicating §§ 19a-673b, 19a-673d, or 52-356d(b)? And how would § 362's exceptions and repeat-filing rules apply to me?

Sources

• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-361a — Execution on wages after judgment
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-361b — Notification of judgment debtor's rights; claim for exemption or modification
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-350a — Definitions
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-352a — Definitions for exempt property provisions
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-352b — Exempt property
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-356a — Execution against certain nonexempt personal property
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-356d — Installment payment order
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-362 — Income withholding and unemployment compensation for support
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-400a — Protective order by court
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-58 — Definitions (minimum fair wage)
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 19a-673b — Initiation of debt collection activities
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 19a-673d — Cessation of collection efforts upon debtor's eligibility for bed funds or other services
• 11 U.S.C. § 301 — Voluntary cases
• 11 U.S.C. § 362 — Automatic stay · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 522 — Exemptions · official source
• 15 U.S.C. § 1673 — Restriction on garnishment
• 15 U.S.C. § 1672 — Definitions
• 15 U.S.C. § 1674 — Restriction on discharge from employment by reason of garnishment

Related

• Build your personalised roadmap
• Find a bankruptcy lawyer by state
• Bankruptcy tools and screeners
• Statutes and rules library
• Wage garnishment in Massachusetts