Wage Garnishment in New York: What the Law Says and What Bankruptcy Changes

How much of your pay can be garnished in New York?

An income execution directs withholding of up to 10 percent of the judgment debtor's gross income (N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5231(b), (g)). Two further limits are measured weekly. Nothing is withheld for a week unless disposable earnings exceed 30 times the higher of the federal or state minimum hourly wage then in effect. The withholding for that week cannot exceed 25 percent of disposable earnings, or the amount above that 30-times figure, whichever is less. Disposable earnings are what remains after deductions required by law (§ 5231(c)). Because the state wage can be higher, the federal-only illustrations in § 5231(g) do not replace that rule.

• No amount is imposed under § 5231(b)(iv) in judgments arising from a medical debt action brought by a hospital licensed under article 28 of the public health law or a health care professional authorized under title 8 of the education law; that clause concerns those judgments, not every medical creditor or every collection method.

What do New York statutes require of creditors and courts?

Within 20 days after an income execution is delivered to the sheriff, the sheriff serves a copy on the judgment debtor like a summons, or by certified mail with an added regular-mail copy (N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5231(d)). It must tell you to pay the installments to the sheriff forthwith, and that on default it will be served on whoever pays you (§ 5231(a)). If you miss installments for 20 days, or the sheriff cannot serve you within 20 days after delivery, the sheriff levies on your employer or payor (§ 5231(e)). A 45-day window replaces the 20 days only for an amended execution issued because the applicable statutory interest rate changed, not for amended executions generally (§ 5231(d)).

• Two or more ordinary income executions against the same debtor and payor are satisfied in the order delivered to an authorized officer (N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5231(j)); support executions and deduction orders under N.Y. C.P.L.R. §§ 5241 and 5242 carry their own priority and ceilings.

Which income is protected from garnishment under New York law?

New York exempts 90 percent of a judgment debtor's earnings for personal services rendered within 60 days before, and any time after, an income execution reaches the sheriff or a motion is made to reach them, except any part a court finds unnecessary for the reasonable requirements of the debtor and dependents (N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5205(d)). Unemployment benefits under that article are exempt from creditor claims (N.Y. Lab. Law § 595) — that article's benefits, not every payment you receive. Workers' compensation is exempt from ordinary creditor claims and cannot be waived, though benefits other than payments under section 13 of that chapter are subject to a support income execution or order (N.Y. Workers' Comp. Law § 33). Statutory disability benefits carry a parallel rule and support exception (N.Y. Workers' Comp. Law § 218).

• Wages paid while a person receives specified supplementary public assistance — or would otherwise need it — are exempt from income execution only so long as that assistance continues or would be needed if the execution were enforced; the stated employer liability follows written notification from a social services official, and the creditor's claim otherwise remains unaffected (N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 137-a).

What happens if your bank account is restrained instead?

A restraining notice under N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5222 may not be served on your employer to reach wages or salary due or to become due; a bank restraint is not wage withholding. For a natural person's account, N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5222-a also applies: an exemption notice and two exemption claim forms must be served with the restraining notice, or it is void. Send one completed form to the bank and one to the creditor's attorney, or the creditor if unrepresented, within 20 days of the postmark; not returning it waives no exemption. An objecting creditor must move under § 5240 and serve the bank and debtor within eight days after the form's postmark or personal delivery. Government-creditor and support exceptions, with the required legend, remain in § 5222-a(i) and § 5222(k).

• Under § 5222-a(c)(4), a claim form plus proof that all account funds are exempt requires the creditor to instruct release within seven days of the claim's postmark; mixed funds require allocation under the lowest intermediate balance principle, not automatic release of the whole account.
• $3,425 in an account is exempt where deposits reasonably identifiable as statutorily exempt payments arrived electronically or by direct deposit in the 45 days before the restraining notice or execution was served on the bank (N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5205(l); N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5253). It preserves creditor rights under federal law and for support enforcement, and § 5205(o) lifts it for state, agency, municipal and support creditors using the required legend. It is effective April 1, 2024, does not apply to cases commenced earlier or restraints and executions already effected, and sets a floor, not a ceiling on exempt funds.

Which statutory protections may matter when contesting a New York garnishment?

Two provisions let you ask a court to act. At any time, either the judgment creditor or the judgment debtor may move, on such notice as the court directs, for an order modifying an income execution (N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5231(i)). Separately, a court may at any time, on its own initiative or on the motion of any interested person, make an order denying, limiting, conditioning, regulating, extending, or modifying the use of any enforcement procedure (N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5240). Neither statute promises a particular result. A proceeding under N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5239 lets an interested person ask a court to determine rights in levied property or debt before it is applied to the judgment. On the employment side, N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5252 bars discharge, layoff, denial of promotion, or discipline because income executions were served, and allows a civil action for lost wages within 90 days after a violation — an employment remedy, not a route to recover money already withheld.

How does filing bankruptcy affect a New York garnishment?

A voluntary case is commenced by filing a petition, and that filing itself constitutes the order for relief (11 U.S.C. § 301). The filing operates as a stay, applicable to all entities, of acts including enforcement of a prepetition judgment against the debtor or estate property and acts to collect a prepetition claim (11 U.S.C. § 362(a)). No separate court order creates it. But § 362(b) lists exceptions, including 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. Duration also differs by what is stayed: the stay of acts against estate property continues until the property is no longer estate property, while the stay of other acts has its own endpoints under § 362(c)(2). A creditor may request relief from the stay; the court decides whether to grant it after notice and a hearing (11 U.S.C. § 362(d)).

• Section 362(a)(1) covers the commencement or continuation of an action against the debtor that was or could have been commenced before the case, or to recover a prepetition claim — it does not stay every action against you.
• One prior case dismissed within the preceding year can shorten the stay under § 362(c)(3); two or more can prevent it from arising under § 362(c)(4), as the FAQs below describe.

What should you ask a lawyer about a New York garnishment?

Bring your pay stubs, the papers you received, and any bank notices, then ask questions that turn on facts the statutes do not settle. Legal aid organizations and private attorneys can tell you which ceiling in N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5231 actually binds in your pay period, and whether any of your income falls inside N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5205(d) or a benefit exemption. Ask what a motion under N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5231(i) or § 5240 would require in your court, and on what notice. If an account was restrained, ask about the N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5222-a claim timeline and what proof helps. On bankruptcy, ask how 11 U.S.C. § 362's exceptions and repeat-filing rules apply to you, and whether the New York or federal exemption list fits your property. Local court practice and forms vary, so confirm them where you live.

• Which statutory ceiling limits my withholding this pay period, and is the state or federal minimum wage higher here?
• If I file, which § 362 exceptions could apply to my debts, and what happens to amounts already withheld?

Frequently asked questions

Can my employer be served before I know about the judgment?

For an ordinary initial income execution, the sheriff serves the judgment debtor within 20 days after the execution reaches the sheriff (N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5231(d)). Employer levy follows either a 20-day payment default or the sheriff's inability to serve you in those 20 days (§ 5231(e)). Nothing guarantees the execution reaches you before the levy, and knowing about the judgment is not the same as being served.

What if child support is also being deducted from my pay?

Where earnings are also subject to deductions for alimony, support, or maintenance under N.Y. C.P.L.R. §§ 5241 or 5242, the amount withheld under an ordinary income execution may not exceed the amount by which 25 percent of weekly disposable earnings exceeds that support deduction (N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5231(b)(iii)). That ordinary ceiling does not limit the support order itself, which has its own percentage limits and priority.

Can a prior dismissed bankruptcy case change whether the stay applies?

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 a case of that debtor was pending within the preceding year but was dismissed — other than a case refiled under a chapter other than 7 after a § 707(b) dismissal — the stay terminates with respect to the debtor on the 30th day as to any action taken with respect to a debt, property securing that debt, or a lease. A party in interest may seek continuation, after notice and a hearing completed before that 30-day period expires, only by demonstrating that the later filing is in good faith as to the creditors to be stayed.

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

Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(4), 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 7 after a § 707(b) dismissal — the stay does not go into effect upon the filing of the later case. Within 30 days after that filing, a party in interest may request that the court impose a stay as to any or all creditors, after notice and a hearing, only on a demonstration of good faith as to the creditors to be stayed. A stay imposed that way takes effect on the date the order is entered.

Which exemption list applies if I file bankruptcy in New York?

When New York law governs, N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law § 284 bars debtors domiciled here from the federal list in 11 U.S.C. § 522(d), but § 285 lets an individual debtor opt for property allowed under § 522 notwithstanding that bar, so a New York filer may elect the federal list. Which state's law governs is a separate question from where you file: under § 522(b)(3)(A) you look to where your domicile was for the 730 days immediately before filing, and if not one single state, to the 180 days immediately before those 730 days, taking the place occupied for a longer portion than any other. If that leaves you ineligible for any exemption, § 522(b) allows the § 522(d) list anyway, and § 522(b)(3) separately covers property exempt under other federal law and tax-exempt retirement funds.

Does federal law set a garnishment limit too?

Federal law caps garnishment of aggregate disposable earnings for a workweek at 25 percent, or the excess over 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is less (15 U.S.C. § 1673(a)). The exceptions are a support order from a court of competent jurisdiction or a state administrative procedure affording substantial due process and judicial review, an order of a United States court with chapter 13 jurisdiction, and a state or federal tax debt (§ 1673(b)). Support has its own ceilings under § 1673(b)(2), and state law providing more limited garnishment still controls (15 U.S.C. § 1677).

Sources

• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5231 — Income execution
• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5222 — Restraining notice
• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5222-a — Service of notices and forms and procedure for claim of exemption
• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5205 — Personal property exempt from application to the satisfaction of money judgments
• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5205(l); N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5253 — New York direct-deposit bank-account minimum
• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5239 — Proceeding to determine adverse claims
• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5240 — Modification or protective order; supervision of enforcement
• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5241 — Income execution for support enforcement
• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5242 — Income deduction order for support enforcement
• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5252 — Discrimination against employees based upon wage assignment or income execution
• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5253 — Adjustment of exemption amounts
• N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 137-a — Exemption of earnings of recipients
• N.Y. Lab. Law § 595 — Benefit right inalienable
• N.Y. Workers' Comp. Law § 33 — Assignments; exemptions
• N.Y. Workers' Comp. Law § 218 — Disability benefit rights inalienable
• N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law § 284 — Exclusivity of exemptions
• N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law § 285 — Alternative federal exemptions
• 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. § 1677 — Exemption for State-regulated garnishments

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