I had one bankruptcy case dismissed in the past year. Does the stay still arise?

Section 362(c)(3) covers a single or joint case filed by or against an individual under chapter 7, 11, or 13 when one earlier case of that debtor was pending within the preceding year but was dismissed — except a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a dismissal under section 707(b). The stay then terminates as to the debtor on the 30th day after the later filing, as to action taken regarding a debt, property securing that debt, or a lease. On a party in interest's motion, with notice and a hearing completed before that 30-day period ends, the court may extend it only on a showing of good faith as to the creditors to be stayed (11 U.S.C. § 362).

What if two or more of my earlier cases were dismissed within the year?

If two or more single or joint cases of an individual debtor were pending within the previous year but were dismissed — other than a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a dismissal under section 707(b) — the stay does not go into effect at all on the later filing, and on request the court promptly confirms that no stay is in effect. Within 30 days after that filing a party in interest may request one; the court may impose it as to any or all creditors, after notice and a hearing, only on a showing of good faith as to the creditors to be stayed. A stay imposed that way is effective on the date the order is entered (11 U.S.C. § 362).

How long does the automatic stay last?

Two different clocks run. The stay of an act against property of the estate continues until that property is no longer property of the estate. The stay of any other act continues until the earliest of the case being closed, the case being dismissed, or — in a chapter 7 case concerning an individual, or a case under chapter 9, 11, 12, or 13 — a discharge being granted or denied. Exceptions, repeat-filing limits and court-ordered relief can end or narrow it earlier (11 U.S.C. § 362).

Can wages that were already withheld come back?

That is a separate question from what the stay does going forward, and Hawaii law complicates it: payment by a garnishee is a valid discharge to the garnishee as against the judgment debtor for the amount paid or levied, even if the proceeding is later set aside or the judgment reversed (HRS §652-12). A judgment debtor in district court may file a motion for return or release of garnished wages, with notice to both the judgment creditor and the employer (Hawai‘i DCRCP Rule 70). Whether a particular sum can be recovered is a question for a lawyer.

Can my employer fire me because of a garnishment?

Federal law bars an employer from discharging an employee by reason of the fact that earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness (15 U.S.C. § 1674), and state laws prohibiting discharge where earnings are garnished for more than one indebtedness are left in force (15 U.S.C. § 1677). Hawaii makes it unlawful for an employer to suspend, discharge, or discriminate against an employee solely because the employer was summoned as a garnishee in a cause where the employee is the debtor (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 378-32). These are employment rules, not a remedy for money wrongly withheld.

Which exemption list applies if I recently moved to Hawaii?

Section 522(b) lets an individual debtor exempt the property specified in subsection (d) — unless the state law applicable under the domicile rule specifically does not authorize that — or, in the alternative, property exempt under other federal law, or under the state or local law applicable where the debtor's domicile was located for the 730 days immediately preceding the filing. If the domicile was not in a single state for that period, the applicable law is that of the place where it was located for the 180 days immediately preceding those 730 days, or for a longer portion of that 180-day period than any other place. If that requirement would leave a debtor ineligible for any exemption, the debtor may elect the subsection (d) list (11 U.S.C. § 522).

Wages & debt

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

Hawaii allows a judgment creditor to garnish a bracketed share of wages — five per cent of the first $100 per month, ten per cent of the next $100 per month, and twenty per cent of sums above $200 per month, after legally required deductions (HRS §652-1). A separate federal ceiling under 15 U.S.C. § 1673 can also apply to earnings. Filing a bankruptcy petition generally operates as an automatic stay that commonly halts ordinary wage garnishment, subject to statutory exceptions, repeat-filing limits and court-ordered relief.

Key points

Hawaii's garnishable share is bracketed: five per cent of the first $100 per month, ten per cent of the next $100 per month, and twenty per cent of sums above $200 per month, after legally required deductions (HRS §652-1).
The same state schedule applies after judgment. For ordinary wage garnishment, a separate federal ceiling caps withholding at the lesser of twenty-five per cent of disposable earnings or the excess over thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage, subject to exceptions (15 U.S.C. § 1673).
Compensation for personal services due for work done in the thirty-one days before the proceeding, and state or municipal pensions, are listed as exempt from attachment and execution (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 651-121; HRS §653-3).
Filing a petition generally operates as an automatic stay with no separate order required, though exceptions, repeat filings and court-ordered relief can change what it reaches (11 U.S.C. § 301; 11 U.S.C. § 362).
In district court the creditor must serve the employer with a notice and an information form, and a debtor's motion for return or release of wages must be noticed to the creditor and the employer (Hawai‘i DCRCP Rule 70).

If a creditor has a judgment against you in Hawaii, part of your paycheck can be withheld before it ever reaches you. This page sets out what Hawaii's garnishment statutes and the district court rule actually say, which income they list as exempt, and what filing a bankruptcy case generally changes. It is general information, not legal advice about your situation.

How much of your pay can be garnished in Hawaii?

Hawaii uses a bracketed share, not one flat percentage. HRS §652-1 defines the garnishable portion of a debtor's "wages" — which the chapter describes as wages, salary, stipend, commissions, annuity, or net income under a trust — as the amount remaining after the deduction of any amounts required by law to be withheld, calculated as "five per cent of the first $100 per month, ten per cent of the next $100 per month, and twenty per cent of all sums in excess of $200 per month, or an equivalent portion of the above amount per week." Those are successive brackets layered over monthly pay, not a flat twenty per cent and not a statement that everything else is beyond reach in every case. The statute adds that wages may be garnished after judgment at the rate specified in subsection (a), so the same schedule governs before and after a judgment is entered (HRS §652-1).

Does a federal limit on garnishment apply too?

Federal law sets its own ceiling on garnishing earnings. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1673, the most of an individual's aggregate disposable earnings for a workweek that may be garnished is the lesser of twenty-five per cent of those earnings or the amount by which they exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage in effect when the earnings are payable. Disposable earnings are what remains after deducting amounts required by law to be withheld, and federal "earnings" reaches compensation for personal services, including periodic pension or retirement payments (15 U.S.C. § 1672). Those restrictions do not apply to an order for the support of any person, to an order of a United States court with jurisdiction over chapter 13 cases, or to a debt due for any state or federal tax (15 U.S.C. § 1673). State law that limits garnishment more narrowly is left in force (15 U.S.C. § 1677), so which ceiling matters depends on your income and your debt.

What do Hawaii statutes require of creditors and courts?

Before judgment, the usual route is the notice-and-hearing procedure of HRS §652-1.5: the creditor attaches to its petition an application for garnishee process, an affidavit showing probable validity of the claim, and an order setting a hearing with notice to the debtor, with the hearing documents served on the debtor. On verification by oath of grounds the statute specifies, the court may allow the process to issue without that prior hearing (HRS §652-1.5). After a district court judgment, the creditor may instead, ten days after judgment, file a certified copy of the judgment and an affidavit of the amount due with the employer, who then files a disclosure within one week or withholds the statutory amounts (HRS §652-1). Rule 70 separately bars a post-judgment motion for a garnishee summons until ten days after entry of judgment unless the court orders otherwise, and requires that service on the employer under those chapters include a Garnishee Information form and a Notice to the Employer as the first page (Hawai‘i DCRCP Rule 70). Where the State or a county pays the wages, chapter 653 supplies the procedure, at the same percentages (HRS §653-2; HRS §653-11).

Which income does Hawaii law list as exempt from garnishment?

Hawaii's exemption statutes list categories; they do not promise a result in a particular case. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 651-121 exempts from attachment and execution compensation for personal services due to the debtor for services rendered during the thirty-one days before the proceeding. How that listing interacts with the withholding schedule in HRS §652-1 is a question for a lawyer. A pension a person is entitled to from the State or a municipal subdivision is not subject to garnishment, attachment, or execution (HRS §653-3), and wages under the statutory monthly amount from a state- or county-controlled unemployment work relief fund are exempt from such proceedings (HRS §653-4). In the prejudgment process the court considers exemptions the debtor claims, and the garnishee secures what the summons specifies except property the court has expressly found exempt from execution (HRS §652-1; HRS §652-1.5). Exemption from state collection is a separate question from the exemptions available in a bankruptcy case.

Which statutory provisions may matter when contesting a Hawaii garnishment?

Several provisions give a judgment debtor or an employer a way into court. Where the garnishee fund looks excessive compared with the statutory rate or the judgment, the court — on the creditor's consent or on motion of the defendant or the garnishee, with notice — decides that question and may release the remainder (HRS §652-1). Before judgment, the debtor may appear and be heard on probable validity and on whether property in the garnishee's hands is exempt from execution, and may move to dissolve or modify process that issued without a hearing (HRS §652-1.5). In district court, a judgment debtor who files a motion for return or release of garnished wages must give notice to both the judgment creditor and the employer, and the rule supplies a form the debtor may use; its ten-day period restricts the creditor's post-judgment filing and is not a debtor's objection deadline (Hawai‘i DCRCP Rule 70). These are doors into court, not guarantees about money already withheld.

How does filing bankruptcy affect a Hawaii garnishment?

A voluntary case is commenced by filing a petition with the bankruptcy court, and the filing constitutes the order for relief (11 U.S.C. § 301). Except as the statute provides otherwise, that petition operates as a stay, applicable to all entities, of actions against the debtor that were or could have been commenced before the case or that seek to recover a prepetition claim, of enforcement against the debtor or estate property of a judgment obtained before the case, and of acts to collect such a claim (11 U.S.C. § 362). The filing alone produces that stay; statutory exceptions apply — withholding income for a domestic support obligation under a judicial or administrative order or a statute is one — and repeat filings can shorten or prevent it, as the questions below describe. Relief from the stay does not follow from a request alone: on a party in interest's request, after notice and a hearing, the court grants relief — terminating, annulling, modifying or conditioning it — on the grounds the statute sets out, such as for cause (11 U.S.C. § 362).

What should you ask a lawyer about a Hawaii garnishment?

Hawaii's statutes and the district court rule answer some questions and leave others to your pay period, your court and your facts. A bankruptcy lawyer, or a legal aid office if cost is the obstacle, is where those get answered, and bringing the garnishment paperwork, your last several pay stubs and a list of your debts makes the first conversation much shorter. If you have moved to Hawaii within the last two years, say so early: which exemptions are available in a bankruptcy case turns on where you were domiciled, not only on where you live now. The questions below are the ones this page cannot answer for you, because the answers depend on documents only you have. Writing them down before the appointment is worth the five minutes, and so is asking what the lawyer would need in order to move quickly while a paycheck is being withheld.

Which chapter governs my garnishment — the general chapter, or the one for pay from the State or a county — and which court is my case in?
How do the state brackets and the federal ceiling interact for my pay period and my kind of debt?
Is any part of what is being withheld compensation for personal services from the thirty-one days before the proceeding, a government pension, or other listed exempt property?

Frequently asked questions

I had one bankruptcy case dismissed in the past year. Does the stay still arise?: Section 362(c)(3) covers a single or joint case filed by or against an individual under chapter 7, 11, or 13 when one earlier case of that debtor was pending within the preceding year but was dismissed — except a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a dismissal under section 707(b). The stay then terminates as to the debtor on the 30th day after the later filing, as to action taken regarding a debt, property securing that debt, or a lease. On a party in interest's motion, with notice and a hearing completed before that 30-day period ends, the court may extend it only on a showing of good faith as to the creditors to be stayed (11 U.S.C. § 362).
What if two or more of my earlier cases were dismissed within the year?: If two or more single or joint cases of an individual debtor were pending within the previous year but were dismissed — other than a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a dismissal under section 707(b) — the stay does not go into effect at all on the later filing, and on request the court promptly confirms that no stay is in effect. Within 30 days after that filing a party in interest may request one; the court may impose it as to any or all creditors, after notice and a hearing, only on a showing of good faith as to the creditors to be stayed. A stay imposed that way is effective on the date the order is entered (11 U.S.C. § 362).
How long does the automatic stay last?: Two different clocks run. The stay of an act against property of the estate continues until that property is no longer property of the estate. The stay of any other act continues until the earliest of the case being closed, the case being dismissed, or — in a chapter 7 case concerning an individual, or a case under chapter 9, 11, 12, or 13 — a discharge being granted or denied. Exceptions, repeat-filing limits and court-ordered relief can end or narrow it earlier (11 U.S.C. § 362).
Can wages that were already withheld come back?: That is a separate question from what the stay does going forward, and Hawaii law complicates it: payment by a garnishee is a valid discharge to the garnishee as against the judgment debtor for the amount paid or levied, even if the proceeding is later set aside or the judgment reversed (HRS §652-12). A judgment debtor in district court may file a motion for return or release of garnished wages, with notice to both the judgment creditor and the employer (Hawai‘i DCRCP Rule 70). Whether a particular sum can be recovered is a question for a lawyer.
Can my employer fire me because of a garnishment?: Federal law bars an employer from discharging an employee by reason of the fact that earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness (15 U.S.C. § 1674), and state laws prohibiting discharge where earnings are garnished for more than one indebtedness are left in force (15 U.S.C. § 1677). Hawaii makes it unlawful for an employer to suspend, discharge, or discriminate against an employee solely because the employer was summoned as a garnishee in a cause where the employee is the debtor (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 378-32). These are employment rules, not a remedy for money wrongly withheld.
Which exemption list applies if I recently moved to Hawaii?: Section 522(b) lets an individual debtor exempt the property specified in subsection (d) — unless the state law applicable under the domicile rule specifically does not authorize that — or, in the alternative, property exempt under other federal law, or under the state or local law applicable where the debtor's domicile was located for the 730 days immediately preceding the filing. If the domicile was not in a single state for that period, the applicable law is that of the place where it was located for the 180 days immediately preceding those 730 days, or for a longer portion of that 180-day period than any other place. If that requirement would leave a debtor ineligible for any exemption, the debtor may elect the subsection (d) list (11 U.S.C. § 522).

Sources

HRS §652-1 — Garnishee process; "garnishee fund"
HRS §652-1.5 — Prejudgment garnishment; procedures
HRS §652-12 — Payment by garnishee, effect
Hawai‘i DCRCP Rule 70 — Garnishment
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 651-121 — Certain personal property and insurance thereon, exempt
HRS §653-3 — Exemptions; pensions
HRS §653-4 — Further exemption
HRS §653-2 — Attachment of salary, etc.
HRS §653-11 — Answer; amount sequestered
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 378-32 — Unlawful suspension, barring, discharge, withholding pay, demoting, or discrimination
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. § 1672 — Definitions
15 U.S.C. § 1673 — Restriction on garnishment
15 U.S.C. § 1674 — Restriction on discharge from employment by reason of garnishment
15 U.S.C. § 1677 — Effect on State laws

By Antonio G. Jimenez, Esq. · Florida Bar No. 21022

Sources verified October 19, 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.

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