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Filing a claim of exemption for wage garnishment

A wage garnishment is one of the most common ways to collect a judgment.
  • You will not go to jail for having a judgment against you.
  • If you receive a wage garnishment or bank levy, you have only days to take action.
  • There are ways you can control the repayment of the judgment.

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.

If your bank account is levied, you must act quickly! You have only ten days from the date of the levy to file a claim of exempltion (plus five days if the notice was sent be mail) with the sheriff performing the levy.

Relevant Files

  • This item is mapped from list block (Enforcement of Judgement) (Form EJ-160)
  • Financial Statement (Form EJ-165)

  • Prepare the claim of exemption

    Prepare a Claim of Exemption (form WG-006) and Financial Statement (form WG-007)

  • File the claim of exemption

    File the original plus one copy with the sheriff shown on the Order to Withhold Wages within 10 days (15 if the Order to Withhold Wages was served by mail)

  • Wait to see if the claim of exemption is opposed

    File the original plus one copy with the sheriff shown on the Order to Withhold Wages within 10 days (15 if the Order to Withhold Wages was served by mail).

  • Reply to the opposition, if any

    Serve and file your reply, if any with the court

  • Attend the hearing, if any

    Gather your evidence. Check tentative rulings the court day before if your court uses them.

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.

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