Garnishment is a legal order that allows a creditor to collect money owed by taking it directly from a third party, such as your employer or your bank, before you receive it. It lets creditors satisfy debts without needing your permission for each payment. While standard debt collection requires dealing directly with the debtor, garnishment legally intercepts funds at their source.
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Garnishment is a legal process where a creditor collects a debt directly from someone else who is holding your money. That third party, known as the garnishee, is usually your employer or your bank.
Before your paycheck ever hits your account, a portion of it is siphoned off to satisfy a judgment.
For a debtor, this is one of the most aggressive forms of debt collection because it completely bypasses your consent. Historically, creditors could abuse this power brutally.
In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in after creditors were freezing entire paychecks before a trial even happened, leaving workers with zero income. The court ruled this violated due process, leading to modern civil procedure rules that strictly limit how much can be taken from wages.
Wage garnishment is the most common form of garnishment and takes money straight from an employee's paycheck. When an employer receives a garnishment order, they are legally required to calculate the proper withholding and deduct the funds during payroll processing until the debt is resolved. An employer who fires an employee to avoid dealing with a garnishment faces federal penalties of up to a $1,000 fine and one year in prison.
When an employee owes multiple debts, garnishments follow a strict priority order. Federal tax debts are satisfied first, followed by local tax garnishments, and lastly consumer debts like credit card judgments. These deductions can negatively impact a debtor's credit, reputation, and ability to obtain loans or open bank accounts.
Federal law strictly limits how much money a creditor can take from weekly earnings. The standard weekly cap is the lower of 25% of disposable earnings (income remaining after mandatory taxes) or the amount by which weekly earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage. Four states (Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas) prohibit wage garnishment entirely, except for specific obligations like taxes, child support, student loans, and court-ordered fines.
Specific categories of income receive full protection from creditors in many jurisdictions. In Minnesota, creditors cannot garnish retirement benefits, social security, welfare payments, workers' compensation, or disability and unemployment insurance. In Florida, head-of-household earnings for individuals who provide more than half the financial support for a dependent are entirely exempt unless waived.
Beyond wages, creditors use a one-time garnishment mechanism called attachment, which is frequently served on banks. Rather than continuing over multiple pay periods, an attachment requires the bank to immediately turn over the debtor's existing funds or property held at the time the order is served.
Unlike standard creditors who must win a court judgment first, the Internal Revenue Service can initiate wage garnishment through an administrative levy without a court order. The IRS must assess the tax, issue a written demand for payment, and send a Final Notice of Intent to Levy at least 30 days before taking action. Because the IRS only has to mail this notice to the last known address, the levy is legally valid even if the taxpayer never actually receives it.
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Garnishment seizes money or property belonging to a debtor that is currently held by a third party, such as a bank or employer. Execution allows the seizure of money or property held directly by the debtor.
A Writ of Sequestration is the specific legal term used in many states for a garnishment issued against an employee or appointee of a governmental unit. Courts process these writs in the same manner as standard garnishments, applying the same wage exemptions.
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A credit card charges 22% and a mortgage charges 6% for the same reason, and it is not your credit score.
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