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garnishment

Garnishment refers to a court ordered process for collecting on a judgment , which takes money directly from the defendant’s wages or other third party who owes the defendant a debt . A garnishment order instructs a third-party who owes money to the defendant , typically the defendant’s employer or the defendant’s bank, to pay some or all of that money to the plaintiff  instead of the defendant. This third party is called a garnishee .

A court might garnish a defendant's wages for a variety of reasons including to pay child support , student loans, or back taxes. The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act limits wage garnishments to 25% of an employee's take-home pay, or 30 times the federal minimum wage , whichever is less. Additionally, many states have further restrictions on wage garnishments. For example, in Florida wages earned by the head of a household are deemed exempt wages and are therefore not subject to garnishment. 

A few courts allow plaintiffs to request wage garnishment even before the plaintiff wins his or her case as a provisional remedy under Rule 64(b)  of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure . Typically, however, courts prefer to use other provisional remedies like attachment .

[Last reviewed in January of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team
]

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