How do the federal garnishment limits fit with the Massachusetts formula?

Both constrain the amount. 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) caps the part of aggregate disposable earnings garnished in a workweek at 25 per centum of disposable earnings, or the amount by which they exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is less. Subsection (b) excepts support orders, orders of a United States court with jurisdiction over chapter 13 cases, and State or Federal tax debts. 15 U.S.C. § 1677 leaves more limited state garnishment laws intact; the Massachusetts reserve runs on gross wages, not disposable earnings.

Would filing stop a child support income withholding?

Generally no. Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(b)(2)(C), filing does not operate as a stay of the 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. The state rule is different: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 28 says its reserve does not apply in a proceeding to attach wages or a pension to satisfy a divorce, separate maintenance or child support order, which goes to the amount reachable, not to any stay.

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

Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(4), where a single or joint case is filed by or against an individual and 2 or more single or joint cases of that debtor were pending within the previous year but dismissed — other than a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after dismissal under section 707(b) — no stay goes into effect on filing. If a party in interest requests within 30 days after the later filing, the court may order the stay to take effect after notice and a hearing, only on a showing of good faith as to the creditors to be stayed, effective on entry of the order.

Which exemption list would apply in a bankruptcy case?

11 U.S.C. § 522(b) lets an individual debtor exempt either the subsection (d) federal list or, alternatively, the paragraph (3) list — property exempt under other federal law or State or local law, plus qualifying retirement funds. Paragraph (3)(A) uses the law of the place where the debtor's domicile was located for the 730 days immediately preceding filing, or, if not a single State for that period, the place where it was located for the 180 days immediately preceding that 730-day period, or for a longer portion of those 180 days than any other place. The subsection (d) list is unavailable where that State's law specifically does not authorize it. If the domiciliary requirement would leave the debtor ineligible for any exemption, the debtor may elect the subsection (d) property.

Will the withholding stop as soon as I file?

The stay's legal creation does not wait on notice: under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) the petition itself operates as a stay, and under 11 U.S.C. § 301 the filing constitutes an order for relief. Whether a particular withholding falls within the stay depends on the exceptions in subsection (b), any prior dismissed cases under subsection (c), and any relief granted under subsection (d). How the court, creditor and employer are notified is a practical question for your lawyer.

Wages & debt

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

In Massachusetts, when wages for personal labor are attached, the greater of 85 percent of gross wages or 50 times the higher federal or Massachusetts hourly minimum wage is reserved for each week or portion thereof (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 28) — though divorce, separate maintenance and child support proceedings fall outside that section. Filing generally stays judgment enforcement (11 U.S.C. § 362(a)), but not domestic-support income withholding; prior dismissals may shorten or prevent the stay, and courts can grant relief from it.

Key points

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 28 reserves the greater of 85 percent of the debtor's gross wages or 50 times the greater of the federal or the Massachusetts hourly minimum wage for each week or portion of a week, out of wages then due for labor already performed but unpaid.
The reserved amount must be paid over as if no attachment had been made, and every writ of attachment must state the exempt amount.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 32 generally bars attaching wages for personal labor unless the action is brought upon a judgment, the money is not exempt from execution, and a justice has authorized it in advance in writing.
The wage and pension protections in Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 28 do not apply to proceedings attaching wages or a pension to satisfy a divorce, separate maintenance or child support order, where applicable federal limits govern in their place.
Filing commences a case and constitutes an order for relief (11 U.S.C. § 301), and 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) generally stays enforcement of a pre-petition judgment, subject to exceptions, repeat-filing rules and relief from stay.

In Massachusetts, a creditor with a judgment can ask a court to reach part of your paycheck. This page covers those limits and what bankruptcy changes.

How much of your pay can be garnished in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts calls wage garnishment trustee process, and the limit is set by Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 28. When wages for personal labor or services are attached for a debt or claim, the statute reserves the greater of 85 percent of the debtor's gross wages or 50 times the greater of the federal or the Massachusetts hourly minimum wage, for each week or portion of a week. That reserved amount comes out of the wages then due for labor performed or services rendered during each week for which the wages were earned but not paid, and it is exempt from the attachment. Two details matter: the calculation runs on gross wages, not disposable pay, and the reserve is whichever of the two figures is larger. The dollar result therefore moves with whichever minimum wage rate, federal or Massachusetts, is higher in the week at issue.

What do the Massachusetts statutes require of creditors and courts?

Trustee process accompanies the commencement of personal actions, served under the applicable rules of court (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 1; Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 5). Wages need more: under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 32 no person is adjudged a trustee on wages for the defendant's personal labor unless three conditions are met, and application may be made only after ten days' written notice, delivered or sent by registered mail, return receipt requested, to the defendant at the last known address, place of business or employment. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 28 requires each writ of attachment to state the exempt amount and direct the trustee to pay it over.

The attachment must be made in an action brought upon a judgment.
It must be upon money or credits not exempt from execution.
A justice, associate justice or special justice must authorize it in advance by written permission endorsed on the complaint.
The notice must name the plaintiff and the court, the nature of the claim, and the time and place of the application, and say the defendant may be present and heard if he objects.
A justice finding that compliance with those notice provisions will unreasonably delay and hinder justice may authorize the attachment on shorter notice, or without notice; by its terms, that notice-shortening paragraph does not apply to trustee process enforcing support obligations under section thirty-six A of chapter two hundred and eight.

Which income is protected from garnishment under Massachusetts law?

Other income sits outside trustee process. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 28 also reserves amounts a trustee holds for a defendant in a pension, except as otherwise permitted by law. But 'pension' is a defined term there, covering ERISA plans, Keogh plans, certain corporate plans, Simplified Employee Plans, 403(b) annuity plans, IRAs and annuities distributed from them. That definition does not apply to sums deposited — determined without regard to deposits made by rollover or transfer, except to the extent protection under that section would have been limited in the absence of a rollover or transfer — in any plan maintained by an individual during the five year period preceding that individual's declaration of bankruptcy or entry of judgment in excess of 7 per cent of total income for the period. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 32 separately bars adjudging a trustee on wages due for the personal labor of the defendant's wife or minor children, and on wages or lay due a seaman, though not a fisherman.

Money of the defendant deposited in an account designated as a payroll account is not subject to attachment under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 20 — a rule about that designation, not blanket protection for every personal account that receives a paycheck — and the same section punishes deposits made to evade attachment.

Which statutory protections may matter when contesting a Massachusetts garnishment?

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 32 requires the notice to say the defendant may be present and be heard, unless a justice shortens or omits notice on the finding described there. An employer's answer is taken as true on how far it is chargeable, but either party may prove material facts it did not state or deny (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 16), and the court or a jury decides that question (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 17). Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 20A bars sending a claim against a resident debtor out of the commonwealth, or suing in a foreign court, to deprive that debtor of its wage exemptions, so long as the debtor and the employer holding the wages are within its courts' jurisdiction.

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 30 punishes by a fine, to the use of the person injured, whoever wilfully causes or aids and abets in causing exempt wages to be attached by trustee process to unlawfully hinder or delay their payment, on the complaint of the person injured or of the guardian or other person having lawful custody of a person incompetent to act. It is a penalty provision, not a procedure for recovering all withheld wages.
15 U.S.C. § 1674 bars an employer from discharging an employee because earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness, with criminal penalties for a wilful violation; it addresses firing, not the amount withheld.
Ask a lawyer which claim-of-exemption forms, court rules and filing deadlines apply.

How does filing bankruptcy affect a Massachusetts garnishment?

Filing a voluntary petition commences the case and itself constitutes an order for relief (11 U.S.C. § 301). Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) that filing operates as a stay of the commencement or continuation of a judicial action against the debtor, the enforcement of a pre-petition judgment against the debtor or property of the estate, and any act to collect a pre-petition claim. The stay comes from the filing, not from a separate court order. There are exceptions: 11 U.S.C. § 362(b)(2)(C) excepts withholding of income that is property of the estate or of the debtor for a domestic support obligation under a judicial or administrative order or a statute.

The stay of an act against property of the estate continues until the property is no longer property of the estate, and the stay of any other act continues until the earliest of the case closing, 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 (11 U.S.C. § 362(c)) — subject to that section's exceptions, to prior dismissed cases and to relief granted by the court.
On request of a party in interest and after notice and a hearing, the court shall grant relief from the stay, such as by terminating, annulling, modifying or conditioning it, for cause including lack of adequate protection (11 U.S.C. § 362(d)).

What happens to the stay if earlier cases of yours were dismissed?

11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3) applies where a later single or joint case is filed by or against an individual under chapter 7, 11 or 13 and a single or joint case of that debtor was pending within the preceding 1-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 then terminates with respect to the debtor on the 30th day after the later filing, as to any action taken with respect to a debt or property securing such debt or with respect to any lease. On the motion of a party in interest, after notice and a hearing completed before that 30-day period expires, the court may extend it as to any or all creditors only if the movant demonstrates the later filing is in good faith as to the creditors to be stayed. Whether that termination reaches your case and property is a question for a lawyer.

What should you ask a lawyer about a Massachusetts garnishment?

These sections set the limits and the gates; they do not establish what has happened in your own case. Bring your papers to a Massachusetts legal aid office or a consumer bankruptcy lawyer: the summons and complaint, any notice about an application for permission to attach wages, the writ of attachment, and recent pay stubs. Ask what kind of obligation is being collected and what stage the case has reached, since a judgment creditor collecting a consumer debt, a support order, a tax debt and a federal administrative collection are governed by different authorities.

Was this attachment authorized in advance in writing by a justice, and was it made in an action brought upon a judgment?
Did I get the ten days' written notice described in Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 32, and if not, was notice shortened or dispensed with?
Does the writ state the exempt amount and direct my employer to pay it over?
Is the reserve being computed on gross wages, and is it the larger of the two figures in the statute?
If the domiciliary rule in 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A) would leave me ineligible for any exemption, may I elect the property specified in subsection (d)?

Frequently asked questions

How do the federal garnishment limits fit with the Massachusetts formula?: Both constrain the amount. 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) caps the part of aggregate disposable earnings garnished in a workweek at 25 per centum of disposable earnings, or the amount by which they exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is less. Subsection (b) excepts support orders, orders of a United States court with jurisdiction over chapter 13 cases, and State or Federal tax debts. 15 U.S.C. § 1677 leaves more limited state garnishment laws intact; the Massachusetts reserve runs on gross wages, not disposable earnings.
Would filing stop a child support income withholding?: Generally no. Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(b)(2)(C), filing does not operate as a stay of the 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. The state rule is different: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 246, § 28 says its reserve does not apply in a proceeding to attach wages or a pension to satisfy a divorce, separate maintenance or child support order, which goes to the amount reachable, not to any stay.
What if two or more of my earlier cases were dismissed in the past year?: Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(4), where a single or joint case is filed by or against an individual and 2 or more single or joint cases of that debtor were pending within the previous year but dismissed — other than a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after dismissal under section 707(b) — no stay goes into effect on filing. If a party in interest requests within 30 days after the later filing, the court may order the stay to take effect after notice and a hearing, only on a showing of good faith as to the creditors to be stayed, effective on entry of the order.
Which exemption list would apply in a bankruptcy case?: 11 U.S.C. § 522(b) lets an individual debtor exempt either the subsection (d) federal list or, alternatively, the paragraph (3) list — property exempt under other federal law or State or local law, plus qualifying retirement funds. Paragraph (3)(A) uses the law of the place where the debtor's domicile was located for the 730 days immediately preceding filing, or, if not a single State for that period, the place where it was located for the 180 days immediately preceding that 730-day period, or for a longer portion of those 180 days than any other place. The subsection (d) list is unavailable where that State's law specifically does not authorize it. If the domiciliary requirement would leave the debtor ineligible for any exemption, the debtor may elect the subsection (d) property.
Will the withholding stop as soon as I file?: The stay's legal creation does not wait on notice: under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) the petition itself operates as a stay, and under 11 U.S.C. § 301 the filing constitutes an order for relief. Whether a particular withholding falls within the stay depends on the exceptions in subsection (b), any prior dismissed cases under subsection (c), and any relief granted under subsection (d). How the court, creditor and employer are notified is a practical question for your lawyer.

Sources

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

Sources verified October 9, 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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