Filing a claim of exemption for wage garnishment

If your wages are garnished, the debt collector can take up to 25% of your after-tax wages. If your income is low or near minimum wage, the amount taken may be less than 25%. Unfortunately, some employers miscalculate the amount below 25%.

By law, your employer cannot fire you or take other action against you for a single wage garnishment.

If you are unable to afford the amount to be garnished from wages, a claim of exemption may reduce or stop the withholding. Act quickly! If you file within ten days you might be able to prevent the garnishment from starting. Even if the garnishment starts, file as early as possible, since the sheriff will hold onto funds levied after filing the claim of exemption. Once the garnishment starts and funds are transferred to the debt collector, it is almost impossible to get them back.

In addition to your claim of exemption, you may be able to negotiate a settlement of your judgment. If the judgment was entered because you did not file an Answer in the case, you may be able to file a motion to set aside the judgment if you did not know about the case, the documents starting the case were never served, or you didn’t file an Answer due to inadvertence, mistake, or excusable neglect.