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

How much of your pay can be garnished in Minnesota?

For a judgment that is not for child support, Minn. Stat. § 571.922 limits the maximum part of your aggregate disposable earnings for any pay period to the lesser of two numbers. The first is a percentage tier: 25 percent of disposable earnings where weekly income exceeds 80 times the greater of the two hourly wages the statute references; 15 percent where it exceeds 60 but is no more than 80 times that wage; and 10 percent where it exceeds 40 but is no more than 60 times it. The second is the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times that same wage. Whichever is smaller is the ceiling. Disposable earnings, under Minn. Stat. § 571.921, means earnings left after amounts required by law to be withheld, which does not include voluntary deductions. Child support judgments run on separate, higher tiers, and no court may make, execute, or enforce an order violating these limits.

How is the protected floor calculated, and does the federal 25 percent limit apply instead?

Minn. Stat. § 571.922 builds the floor from the greater of 40 times the state hourly wage or 40 times the federal minimum hourly wage that the statute references. The calculation must use the hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are payable, multiplied by the number of work weeks in the pay period. When a pay period is not a whole number of work weeks, each extra day counts as a fraction of a work week equal to the excess workdays divided by the days in a normal work week. Federal law sets its own ordinary ceiling: under 15 U.S.C. § 1673, the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings for the week or the amount above thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage, with exceptions for support orders, orders of a United States court with jurisdiction over chapter 13 cases, and debts due for any State or Federal tax. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1677, state laws providing more limited garnishment are unaffected.

What do Minnesota statutes require of creditors and courts?

Garnishment in Minnesota is an ancillary proceeding in a civil action for the recovery of money, and the creditor — not the court clerk — issues the garnishment summons. Minn. Stat. § 571.71 allows that in three situations. One route before judgment requires a court order under Minn. Stat. § 571.93, which lists grounds such as hiding or removing nonexempt property to defraud creditors. The second route opens 45 days or more after the summons and complaint were served, where a default judgment could have been but was not entered: the creditor must first serve the statutory Notice of Intent to Garnish and exemption form at least 20 days after the summons and complaint, and may garnish only if no Answer arrives within 25 days after service of that notice. An Answer is the debtor's written response explaining why some or all of the money is not owed. The third route is at any time after a money judgment is entered. Minn. Stat. § 571.90 sets penalties for garnishing before judgment when the chapter does not permit it.

What notices and deadlines does the garnishment process involve?

Minn. Stat. § 571.924 requires the creditor to serve the debtor, no less than ten days before the garnishment summons is served, a notice that a summons may be issued, describing the earnings exemptions and the consequences of a bad-faith claim or a bad-faith disregard of one. If more than one year has passed since that notice, or since the creditor's most recent garnishment summons, a fresh notice must precede the next summons. Copies of the garnishment summons and other papers served on the employer must be mailed to the debtor's last known address not later than five days after service on the employer. Service attaches nonexempt disposable earnings for the pay period in which the summons is served and for paydays falling within the following 90 days (Minn. Stat. § 571.73), and under Minn. Stat. § 571.923 an earnings garnishment is effective no longer than 90 days from service, except for county child-support judgments where the county notifies the employer on satisfaction.

Which income is protected from garnishment under Minnesota law?

Minn. Stat. § 571.92 makes Minnesota's general statutory exemptions applicable to earnings garnishment when the debtor is a Minnesota resident and the debtor's place of employment is in Minnesota, regardless of where the employer is domiciled. Earnings are defined broadly in Minn. Stat. § 571.921 to include pay to an employee, independent contractor, or self-employed person, periodic pension or retirement payments, and maintenance. The ten-day notice form in Minn. Stat. § 571.925 describes earnings as exempt where you are getting government assistance based on need, received such assistance in the last 6 months, or were an inmate of a correctional institution in the last 6 months, and says the exemption is not applied unless you complete and return the exemption claim notice. Under Minn. Stat. § 571.926, though, failing to serve that statement within ten days does not waive any exemption right; it lets the creditor proceed. Minn. Stat. § 571.73 also makes earnings and property exempt under Minnesota or federal law unattachable.

Which statutory protections may matter when contesting a Minnesota garnishment?

An exemption claim starts the dispute, and the objection procedure in Minn. Stat. § 571.72 applies to all garnishment proceedings under the chapter. Once the creditor receives your claim of exemption, it has six business days to either return any of your funds the garnishee released to it or interpose an objection. An objection is interposed by filing a Notice of Objection and requesting a hearing in the district court that issued the judgment, and by mailing or delivering one copy each of the Notice of Objection and Notice of Hearing to both you and the garnishee. Minn. Stat. § 571.914 sets the hearing windows: the court administrator schedules the matter no sooner than five business days and no later than seven business days from the date of filing. A debtor may request a continuance by notifying the creditor and the court, and the continued hearing is scheduled within seven days of the original date. An order stating whether the funds are exempt issues within three days of the hearing. Funds at a financial institution carry their own notices and timelines (Minn. Stat. § 571.91; Minn. Stat. § 571.911).

How does filing bankruptcy affect a Minnesota garnishment?

Under 11 U.S.C. § 301, a voluntary case is commenced by filing a petition with the bankruptcy court, and that filing constitutes an order for relief. Under 11 U.S.C. § 362, subsection (a) provides that the petition operates as a stay, applicable to all entities, of the commencement or continuation of judicial or administrative actions against the debtor on prepetition claims, of the enforcement against the debtor or property of the estate of a judgment obtained before the case, and of any act to collect a prepetition claim. That stay arises on filing, without a separate court order or notice prerequisite; notices matter operationally, not to the stay's legal creation. Subsection (b) lists what is not stayed, including withholding of income for payment of a domestic support obligation under a judicial or administrative order or a statute. Subsection (d) lets a party in interest request relief from the stay after notice and a hearing.

What should you ask a lawyer about a Minnesota garnishment?

Bring the papers you were served — the notice that preceded the summons, the garnishment summons, and the disclosure forms — and ask which route under Minn. Stat. § 571.71 the creditor used: a money judgment, the default-based route, or a prejudgment court order. Ask whether the ten-day notice required by Minn. Stat. § 571.924 was actually served, whether the percentage your employer is withholding matches the tier and floor in Minn. Stat. § 571.922, and whether your earnings fall within the need-based or recent-incarceration exemptions described in Minn. Stat. § 571.925. Ask what the deadline is for claiming an exemption or responding to an objection in your case, and when the 90-day attachment period under Minn. Stat. § 571.73 ends. If bankruptcy is on the table, ask how prior dismissed cases would affect the stay and which exemption set fits your situation. Minnesota's statutory notices repeatedly direct readers with exemption questions to contact a lawyer for legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Does filing bankruptcy stop a wage garnishment in Minnesota?

Filing generally triggers the stay in 11 U.S.C. § 362, which commonly halts the continuation of collection actions and the enforcement of prepetition judgments, including ordinary wage garnishment. It is not universal: subsection (b) excludes some matters, such as income withholding for a domestic support obligation, and subsection (d) lets a creditor ask the court for relief after notice and a hearing. Subsection (c) also limits how long the stay lasts and, for some repeat filers, whether it arises at all.

What happens to the stay if one earlier case was dismissed in the past year?

11 U.S.C. § 362 can cut it short. Where a single or joint chapter 7, 11, or 13 case is filed by or against an individual whose earlier case was pending within the preceding 1-year period but was dismissed — other than a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a section 707(b) dismissal — the stay terminates with respect to the debtor on the 30th day after filing, as to any action on a debt, the property securing it, or a lease. The stay still arises on filing; only an extension needs a court order, on a party in interest's motion after notice and a hearing completed before that 30th day, and only on a good-faith showing as to the creditors to be stayed, which can be any or all of them.

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

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

Can my employer fire me because of a garnishment?

Minn. Stat. § 571.927 prohibits an employer from discharging or otherwise disciplining an employee or independent contractor as a result of an earnings garnishment, and provides remedies including reinstatement and twice the earnings lost where the working relationship predated the violation. A civil action must be brought within 90 days of the prohibited action, and those rights cannot be waived by contract. Federal law separately bars discharge because earnings were garnished for any one indebtedness (15 U.S.C. § 1674). These provisions address firing and discipline, not over-withholding.

Can a Minnesota filer use the federal bankruptcy exemption list?

When Minnesota exemption law governs, the federal § 522(d) list is an available alternative under the choice framework in 11 U.S.C. § 522(b). Which state's exemption law applies is set by 11 U.S.C. § 522: the place of your domicile for the 730 days immediately preceding filing or, if that was not a single state, the place of domicile for the 180 days immediately preceding those 730 days, or for a longer portion of that period than any other place. If applying that domicile rule would leave a filer ineligible for any exemption at all, the same section permits an election of the federal list instead. Under § 522(b)(1), the two sets are alternatives, and spouses in a joint case cannot split the election.

Sources

• Minn. Stat. § 571.71
• Minn. Stat. § 571.72
• Minn. Stat. § 571.73
• Minn. Stat. § 571.90
• Minn. Stat. § 571.91
• Minn. Stat. § 571.911
• Minn. Stat. § 571.914
• Minn. Stat. § 571.92
• Minn. Stat. § 571.921
• Minn. Stat. § 571.922
• Minn. Stat. § 571.923
• Minn. Stat. § 571.924
• Minn. Stat. § 571.925
• Minn. Stat. § 571.926
• Minn. Stat. § 571.927
• Minn. Stat. § 571.93
• Minn. Stat. § 550.371, subds. 1–2
• 11 U.S.C. § 301
• 11 U.S.C. § 362 · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 522 · official source
• 15 U.S.C. § 1673
• 15 U.S.C. § 1674
• 15 U.S.C. § 1677

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