Glossary
Wage Garnishment
Wage garnishment is a court-ordered process in which your employer withholds part of your pay and sends it to a creditor to satisfy a debt. Federal law caps ordinary garnishment at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings for the week or the amount exceeding thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage (15 U.S.C. § 1673). States may prohibit or limit it further (15 U.S.C. § 1677).
Key points
- Garnishment reaches earnings held by an employer, and withholding commonly continues until the judgment is satisfied or the court releases the writ.
- Federal law is a floor of protection: state law may prohibit garnishment or allow less of it, never more (15 U.S.C. § 1677).
- Support orders, chapter 13 court orders, and state or federal tax debts fall outside the ordinary federal cap (15 U.S.C. § 1673).
- A discharge operates as an injunction against using process to collect a discharged debt as a personal liability (11 U.S.C. § 524).
- Procedures, notices and deadlines are set state by state, so check your state's page for the figure that applies to your paycheck.
If a notice about garnishment has just landed, from a court or from your employer's payroll department, the term means much the same thing everywhere: money is coming out of your pay before you ever see it. What differs is how much, on what schedule, and what filing a bankruptcy case does to it.
What does wage garnishment mean?
Wage garnishment is a legal procedure through which part of an employee's earnings is withheld by an employer and paid to a creditor toward a debt. Oregon's statute puts it plainly: garnishment means "any legal or equitable procedure through which the earnings of an individual are required to be withheld for payment of a debt" (Or. Rev. Stat. § 18.375).
Two defined terms do the work. "Earnings" generally means compensation paid for personal services, whether called wages, salary, commission or bonus, and in some states includes periodic pension or retirement payments. "Disposable earnings" means what remains after amounts required by law to be withheld, not what remains after rent and groceries.
The employer holding the money is the garnishee; the person who owes the judgment is the judgment debtor. Withholding commonly continues paycheck after paycheck until the judgment is satisfied or the court releases the writ.
Why does wage garnishment matter in a bankruptcy case?
Garnishment is often what brings someone to a bankruptcy court: it turns a debt on paper into an immediate cut in take-home pay.
Filing a case generally triggers the automatic stay. One district's local rule states the consequence directly: a writ of garnishment as to post-petition property of a debtor for a pre-petition debt violates the automatic stay, unless the case is under chapter 13 and the garnishment enforces an order for alimony, maintenance, or support (W.D. Mo. LBR 4003-1). How a writ already served is released is district practice; local rules govern.
Later, a discharge operates as an injunction against the employment of process to collect a discharged debt as a personal liability of the debtor (11 U.S.C. § 524). A debt that is not discharged is outside that injunction. In a chapter 13 case, a creditor also generally may not act to collect a consumer debt from an individual liable on it with the debtor (11 U.S.C. § 1301).
How does wage garnishment work in practice?
An ordinary garnishment usually begins with a judgment. The creditor applies to the court, a writ or order is served on the employer, the employer answers and starts withholding, and the judgment debtor receives a notice explaining how to request a hearing or claim an exemption (Ohio Rev. Code § 2716.06). Procedures, forms and deadlines differ from state to state.
Federal law sets the ordinary ceiling, and it is the lesser of two numbers, not a flat percentage (15 U.S.C. § 1673). Support orders, orders of a court with jurisdiction over chapter 13 cases, and state or federal tax debts fall outside that ordinary cap and follow their own rules (15 U.S.C. § 1673).
Federal law is a floor. State law that prohibits garnishment, or allows less of it, is preserved (15 U.S.C. § 1677). Several states use a different formula, a different multiplier, or an annual dollar ceiling. Read your state's page before assuming the federal figure is the one applied to your paycheck.
| Type of debt | Maximum part of weekly disposable earnings |
|---|---|
| Ordinary debt, including most consumer judgments | The lesser of 25% of disposable earnings for that week, or the amount by which those earnings exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage |
| Support order, debtor supporting another spouse or dependent child | 50%, deemed 55% where the garnishment enforces support for an earlier period |
| Support order, debtor not supporting such a spouse or child | 60%, deemed 65% where the garnishment enforces support for an earlier period |
| Chapter 13 court orders; state or federal tax debts | Excepted from the ordinary restrictions |
What do people get wrong about wage garnishment?
Four things trip people up.
First, that only state law decides how much. It does not: the federal cap applies, and state law matters because it may prohibit garnishment or allow less of it, never more (15 U.S.C. § 1673; 15 U.S.C. § 1677).
Second, that filing ends every garnishment automatically. The stay is broad, but support garnishments in a chapter 13 case are treated differently under some districts' rules (W.D. Mo. LBR 4003-1), and releasing a writ already served is usually a step someone has to take.
Third, that claiming property exempt destroys a creditor's lien. An exemption concerns an interest or equity in property; a lien is a separate thing and is dealt with separately, if at all.
Fourth, that garnishment and a bank levy are the same. Garnishment reaches earnings in the hands of an employer; a levy reaches funds already deposited.
Frequently asked questions
- Does filing bankruptcy stop a wage garnishment?
- Filing generally triggers the automatic stay, and one district's rule states that a writ of garnishment as to post-petition property for a pre-petition debt violates that stay (W.D. Mo. LBR 4003-1). Support garnishments in a chapter 13 case are carved out of that rule. Releasing a writ the employer already holds commonly takes a filed motion, and local practice varies.
- Can my whole paycheck be garnished?
- No. For ordinary debts, federal law caps garnishment at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings for the week or the amount by which those earnings exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage (15 U.S.C. § 1673). Support orders, chapter 13 court orders and tax debts follow different limits, and your state may allow less to be taken (15 U.S.C. § 1677).
- Can a garnishment restart after a bankruptcy case ends?
- It depends on the debt. A discharge operates as an injunction against the employment of process to collect a discharged debt as a personal liability of the debtor (11 U.S.C. § 524). A debt that is not discharged is outside that injunction, so collection on it can generally resume under state procedure. Which debts are discharged turns on the chapter and the facts of the case.
Sources
- 15 U.S.C. § 1673 — Restriction on garnishment
- 15 U.S.C. § 1677 — Effect on State laws
- 11 U.S.C. § 524 — Effect of discharge · official source
- 11 U.S.C. § 1301 — Stay of action against codebtor · official source
- W.D. Mo. LBR 4003-1 — Garnishments
- Or. Rev. Stat. § 18.375 — Definitions
- Ohio Rev. Code § 2716.06 — Form for notice to judgment debtor
By Antonio G. Jimenez, Esq. · Florida Bar No. 21022
Sources verified July 28, 2026 · How we verify
Every figure on this page is drawn from a primary legal source and checked against our canonical legal database before publication. Bankruptcy.law is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.