Does the five-day rule in § 38-5A-4 give me five days to object?

No. Section 38-5A-4 requires a certified copy of the execution to be mailed to the judgment debtor by certified mail, with the day and hour of mailing noted on the original, and it stops the clerk or officer from serving the employer until five days from that time. It is a timing rule for service, not a deadline for the debtor. Relief routes appear instead in § 38-5A-6 and § 46A-2-130(3).

How long does a West Virginia wage execution last?

Under § 38-5A-3, a suggestee execution reaches salary or wages due or to become due within one year after its issuance, so the year runs from issuance rather than from service. Section 38-5A-7 allows renewal, but a renewal keeps the original's priority of lien only if it is served within a thirty-day period ending on the date the original or last previous renewal expires. Section 38-5A-5 requires the employer to pay over amounts held at least once every ninety days.

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

Section 362(c)(4) applies when a single or joint case is filed by or against an individual and two or more of the debtor's single or joint cases 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. The stay does not arise. A party in interest may request one within 30 days after the later filing; after notice and a hearing the court may impose it only on a good-faith showing as to the creditors to be stayed, effective on entry of the order.

Do these rules cover support, taxes or federal agency collection?

Only partly. Articles 5A and 5B and chapter 46A address judgment collection, and 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b) removes the ordinary wage ceiling for support orders, for orders of a United States court with jurisdiction over cases under chapter 13 of title 11, and for any state or federal tax debt. Support income withholding, tax collection and federal administrative collection operate under their own authorities, which this page does not cover; their absence here does not mean such collection cannot happen.

How long does the automatic stay ordinarily last?

Section 362(c)(2) provides that the stay of an act other than against estate property continues until the earliest of the closing of the case, its dismissal, or, in an individual chapter 7 case or a case under chapter 9, 11, 12 or 13, the time a discharge is granted or denied; the stay of an act against estate property continues while the property remains estate property. Repeat-filing rules, the § 362(b) exceptions and relief under § 362(d) can shorten that.

Wages & debt

Wage Garnishment in West Virginia: What the Law Says and What Bankruptcy Changes

West Virginia lets a judgment creditor reach private-employment wages by suggestee execution, capped at twenty percent. It issues only on proof that weekly salary or wages, after deduction of all state and federal taxes, exceed fifty times the federal minimum hourly wage, and payments may not reduce weekly pay below that floor (W. Va. Code § 38-5A-3). Filing generally stays ordinary prepetition collection under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), though domestic-support withholding is excepted, prior dismissed cases can shorten or prevent it, and a court may grant relief.

Key points

Private-employment wages are subject to suggestion by judgment creditors only as article 5A provides, a limit on those creditors rather than on every form of wage withholding; state or local-government pay is addressed separately in article 5B.
The private-employment execution is capped at twenty percent and may not reduce weekly pay below fifty times the federal minimum hourly wage then in effect (W. Va. Code § 38-5A-3).
A consumer whose earnings have been executed upon for a consumer credit sale, lease or loan may petition for hardship relief, which the court may grant on proof (W. Va. Code § 46A-2-130).
Filing generally operates as a stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) without a separate order, subject to the § 362(b) exceptions, the repeat-filing rules and relief under § 362(d).

If a creditor has a judgment against you and your paycheck is suddenly short, the questions are narrow: how much can they take, for how long, and what can change it. West Virginia answers the first two in its suggestee-execution statutes; federal bankruptcy law answers the third differently. This page summarizes what those statutes say and names the places where the published text does not supply the whole procedure.

How much of your pay can be garnished in West Virginia?

West Virginia reaches wages through a suggestee execution. For private employment, W. Va. Code § 38-5A-2 says salary or wages are subject to suggestion by judgment creditors only as that article provides. Section 38-5A-3 then makes the execution a lien and continuing levy on an amount equal to twenty percent and no more, and says payments may in no event reduce the amount payable to the judgment debtor below fifty times the federal minimum hourly wage then in effect. Issuance also requires proof that weekly salary or wages, after deduction of all state and federal taxes, exceed that same multiple. Public pay is addressed separately in article 5B, where § 38-5B-2 states the same two limits. Consumer-credit and rent-to-own judgments use their own formulas, and 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) sets a separate federal ceiling that section 1677 says does not displace state law allowing more limited garnishment.

Disposable earnings in §§ 46A-2-130 and 46B-6-4, and in 15 U.S.C. § 1672(b), means earnings left after amounts required by law to be withheld, so not every payroll deduction counts.
Section 38-5A-3 uses a different measure, salary or wages after deduction of all state and federal taxes, and the thirty-times figure in the rent-to-own provision does not by itself mean a lower weekly floor; these provisions and the federal limit are read together.

Weekly wage limits stated in the statutes
Judgment or pay type	Statutory weekly limit
Private employment (W. Va. Code § 38-5A-3)	Twenty percent, and never reducing weekly pay below fifty times the federal minimum hourly wage
State or local-government pay (§ 38-5B-2)	Twenty percent, and not below fifty times the federal minimum hourly wage
Consumer credit sale or consumer loan judgment (§ 46A-2-130)	The lesser of twenty percent of disposable earnings or earnings above fifty times the federal minimum hourly wage
Rent-to-own judgment (§ 46B-6-4)	The lesser of twenty percent of disposable earnings or earnings above thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage
Federal limit (15 U.S.C. § 1673(a))	The lesser of twenty-five percent of disposable earnings or earnings above thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage, subject to the § 1673(b) exceptions

What do West Virginia statutes require of creditors and courts?

Before judgment, § 46A-2-118 bars a creditor from attaching unpaid earnings by garnishment or like proceedings for a debt arising from a consumer credit sale, consumer lease or consumer loan, and § 46B-6-3 does the same for a rent-to-own transaction. After judgment, § 38-5A-3 lets the creditor apply, without notice to the judgment debtor, to the court that recovered the judgment or a court having jurisdiction of it, on satisfactory proof by affidavit or otherwise. Section 38-5A-4 then requires a certified copy to be served on the judgment debtor by certified mail, return receipt requested, with the day and hour of mailing noted on the face of the original; the clerk or the officer holding it for collection may not serve the employer until five days from that time. Section 46A-2-130(3) adds that no court may make, execute or enforce an order or process violating that section's limits.

Which income is protected from garnishment under West Virginia law?

The main safeguard in these statutes is a floor under your weekly pay rather than a list of exempt categories. In private employment, withholding may not reduce the weekly amount payable below fifty times the federal minimum hourly wage then in effect, and the same floor appears for public pay in § 38-5B-2. Support obligations sit outside the ordinary scheme: §§ 46A-2-130(4), 46B-6-4(d) and 38-7-42(b) each provide that an ordinary wage garnishment is not given priority over a voluntary assignment of wages for support, a garnishment for support arrearages, or a notice of withholding of amounts payable as support. Federal law goes further. 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b) removes the ordinary ceiling for a support order, for an order of a United States court with jurisdiction over cases under chapter 13 of title 11, and for a debt due for any state or federal tax.

Earnings under 15 U.S.C. § 1672(a) include periodic payments under a pension or retirement program, not only wages.
A wage limit is not a bank-account exemption: under § 31A-4-33 a banking institution may pay the entire balance of a joint deposit account to a creditor of any one joint tenant through legal process, including garnishment, suggestion or execution, though that payment is expressly without prejudice to a joint tenant's right or claim against the creditor or any other person to recover his or her interest in the deposit.

Which statutory protections may matter when contesting a West Virginia garnishment?

Sections 38-5A-6 and 38-5B-6 let either party apply at any time to the issuing court, on whatever notice that court directs, for vacation or modification of the execution. After a hearing the court is to vacate it if satisfaction of the execution or the judgment is shown, and may otherwise modify it as it deems just. For the employer's protection, the lien is deemed unaffected, as regards the employer, by a vacating or modifying order until that order is served on the employer. Section 46A-2-130(3) separately lets a consumer whose earnings have been executed upon under article 5A or 5B for a consumer credit sale, consumer lease or consumer loan petition any court having jurisdiction, or the circuit court of the county where the consumer resides, to reduce or temporarily or permanently remove the execution on undue-hardship grounds. When that is proved to the court's satisfaction, it may reduce or remove the execution. Section 46B-6-4(c) gives the same route after a rent-to-own judgment.

Section 38-5A-9 lets a judgment debtor claim an article 8 exemption for sums currently accruing, which must be asserted anew as to wages beginning to accrue after the next payment date and does not bind the employer until a certificate of exemption or a true copy is delivered to it. Article 8's own procedure and allowances are not covered on this page, so ask how a claim is actually made in your court.
Sections 46A-2-131 and 46B-6-5 bar discharge or any other form of reprisal because a creditor has subjected or attempted to subject unpaid earnings to garnishment for those judgments; 15 U.S.C. § 1674(a) bars discharge by reason of garnishment for any one indebtedness. These are anti-reprisal employment rules, not a remedy for money withheld wrongly.

How does filing bankruptcy affect a West Virginia garnishment?

A voluntary petition commences the case and itself constitutes an order for relief (11 U.S.C. § 301). The § 362(a) stay generally arises on filing, with no separate order or notice prerequisite, and reaches a proceeding against the debtor that was or could have been commenced before the case or that seeks to recover a prepetition claim, enforcement against the debtor or estate property of a prepetition judgment, and any act to collect or recover a prepetition claim. Section 362(b)(2)(C) excepts withholding of income that is estate or debtor property for a domestic support obligation under a judicial or administrative order or a statute. On request of a party in interest, after notice and a hearing, the court shall grant relief from the stay under § 362(d), including for cause.

What happens if you have filed bankruptcy before?

Section 362(c)(3) addresses one earlier dismissed case. If a single or joint case is filed by or against an individual debtor under chapter 7, 11 or 13 — that chapter describing the later case — and a single or joint case of the debtor was pending within the preceding one-year period but was dismissed, the stay terminates with respect to the debtor on the 30th day after the filing of the later case, as to any action taken with respect to a debt or property securing that debt, or with respect to any lease. A case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a dismissal under section 707(b) is excluded. On the motion of a party in interest, and after notice and a hearing completed before that 30-day period expires, the court may extend the stay as to any or all creditors only if good faith as to the creditors to be stayed is demonstrated. Its exact reach is a question for counsel.

Which exemption list applies if you file bankruptcy in West Virginia?

Under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(1), an individual debtor exempts property from the estate under either paragraph (2), the federal list in subsection (d), or, in the alternative, paragraph (3). Spouses whose estates are jointly administered cannot split the choice. Paragraph (3)(A) points to property exempt under federal law other than subsection (d), or under state or local law applicable on the filing date to the place where the debtor's domicile has been located for the 730 days immediately preceding filing; if domicile was not in a single State for that period, it points to the place of domicile for the 180 days immediately preceding those 730 days, or for a longer portion of that 180-day period than in any other place. Paragraph (3)(C) separately covers retirement funds in a fund or account exempt from taxation under the listed Internal Revenue Code sections. If the domiciliary requirement leaves the debtor ineligible for any exemption, the debtor may elect subsection (d).

West Virginia has not opted out: W. Va. Code § 38-10-4(k) provides that, solely for the purpose of applying 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(2), and only to the extent otherwise allowed by federal law, a domiciled individual debtor may exempt the property specified under § 522(d). The statute's own application provision makes that availability depend on the filing date, so confirm both the date and the domicile rule above with a lawyer.

What should you ask a lawyer about a West Virginia garnishment?

Bring the paperwork. Did the execution issue against private wages under article 5A or public pay under article 5B? What issuance date does it carry, starting the one-year period under § 38-5A-3, and what day and hour of certified mailing is noted under § 38-5A-4? Does the underlying judgment carry the hardship route in § 46A-2-130(3) or § 46B-6-4(c), and would a motion to vacate or modify under § 38-5A-6 fit your facts? How is an article 8 exemption claim under § 38-5A-9 made in your court? Is anything withheld support or tax collection rather than ordinary judgment collection, and how would prior bankruptcies bear on § 362(c)?

Frequently asked questions

Does the five-day rule in § 38-5A-4 give me five days to object?: No. Section 38-5A-4 requires a certified copy of the execution to be mailed to the judgment debtor by certified mail, with the day and hour of mailing noted on the original, and it stops the clerk or officer from serving the employer until five days from that time. It is a timing rule for service, not a deadline for the debtor. Relief routes appear instead in § 38-5A-6 and § 46A-2-130(3).
How long does a West Virginia wage execution last?: Under § 38-5A-3, a suggestee execution reaches salary or wages due or to become due within one year after its issuance, so the year runs from issuance rather than from service. Section 38-5A-7 allows renewal, but a renewal keeps the original's priority of lien only if it is served within a thirty-day period ending on the date the original or last previous renewal expires. Section 38-5A-5 requires the employer to pay over amounts held at least once every ninety days.
What if two or more of my earlier cases were dismissed?: Section 362(c)(4) applies when a single or joint case is filed by or against an individual and two or more of the debtor's single or joint cases 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. The stay does not arise. A party in interest may request one within 30 days after the later filing; after notice and a hearing the court may impose it only on a good-faith showing as to the creditors to be stayed, effective on entry of the order.
Do these rules cover support, taxes or federal agency collection?: Only partly. Articles 5A and 5B and chapter 46A address judgment collection, and 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b) removes the ordinary wage ceiling for support orders, for orders of a United States court with jurisdiction over cases under chapter 13 of title 11, and for any state or federal tax debt. Support income withholding, tax collection and federal administrative collection operate under their own authorities, which this page does not cover; their absence here does not mean such collection cannot happen.
How long does the automatic stay ordinarily last?: Section 362(c)(2) provides that the stay of an act other than against estate property continues until the earliest of the closing of the case, its dismissal, or, in an individual chapter 7 case or a case under chapter 9, 11, 12 or 13, the time a discharge is granted or denied; the stay of an act against estate property continues while the property remains estate property. Repeat-filing rules, the § 362(b) exceptions and relief under § 362(d) can shorten that.

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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