Creditors use a variety of informal and formal means to recover debts. One of the last measures a creditor will resort to is wage garnishment, which is a legal process to have some of your wages withheld to pay a debt.
Federal and Washington state laws provide for wage garnishment. In this blog post, we focus on how Washington garnishment laws work and what you can do if a creditor tries to have your wages garnished.
Stone Rose Law represents clients seeking bankruptcy. To learn more about your choices if you are the subject of a garnishment effort in Washington, call us at (480) 739-2448 or contact us online to speak with an experienced bankruptcy attorney.
A wage garnishment is a court order. Sometimes you may hear it referred to as a wage attachment. The garnishment order directs your employer to withhold a certain amount of money from your pay and to send it to the creditor that obtained the order of garnishment from the court.
With few exceptions, such as past-due tax obligations, past-due federal student loans, or family support obligations like spousal or child support, a creditor cannot have your wages withheld without going to court first to obtain an order of garnishment through a judgment against you.
Washington state’s wage garnishment law is found in the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) Chapter 6.27, along with its subordinate sections. These sections govern specific aspects of garnishment, including:
We take a closer look at each of these aspects below.
The first question is whether a federal garnishment law exists that covers the debt in question. If one does, then it applies over Washington laws.
Outside of specific situations in which federal government law controls, Washington garnishment laws apply.
If Washington garnishment laws apply, then the first step a creditor must take is to obtain a personal judgment against you that you owe the debt. Examples of creditors who may seek such a personal judgment are credit card issuers, banks and other issuers of personal loans or lines of credit, health care providers, car loan finance companies, and businesses that have provided services to you that are unpaid or otherwise past due.
The process of obtaining a garnishment judgment is generally the same as other lawsuits:
If the court rules in favor of the creditor, then it will issue a final order and court judgment against you and file the judgment with the court clerk.
Under RCW 6.26.010, under limited circumstances, a creditor can get a court order to garnish your wages before obtaining a judgment. These situations include:
One defense against a garnishment order is to request an exemption from it. To request an exemption, you must file a Claim of Exemption from Wage Garnishment and a financial statement with the levying officer.
The creditor can effectively agree to your Claim of Exemption by not responding to your request. In this event, the levying officer will tell your employer to stop withholding funds from your paycheck. If the creditor opposes the exemption, then the court will hold a hearing in which you can offer evidence and witnesses to show that you need the funds subject to garnishment.
If the court grants your exemption request, you will receive the funds that have been garnished, and future wage garnishment will cease or be reduced. If the judge rules in favor of your creditor, the wage garnishment will proceed.
A creditor who obtains a personal judgment against you on the debt will next request a writ of execution from the court to serve on your employer.
The wage garnishment order provides your employer with all the information it will need to begin garnishing your wages, starting with the first paycheck you receive after 10 days from the date of service of the writ. A wage garnishment usually lasts for 60 days. It can be renewed with a new writ of garnishment if the debt remains unpaid.
Under federal law, your employer can’t discharge you if you have one wage garnishment.
Under RCW 6.27.170, your employer cannot terminate your employment because a creditor garnished or tried to garnish your wages, unless you are served with three or more separate garnishment orders within 12 consecutive months.
What Happens If You Change Jobs?
If you change jobs while wage garnishment is active, then your creditor will request a new writ of garnishment for your new employer.
If multiple creditors obtain wage garnishment judgments and writs of execution against you, then Washington law prioritizes which get paid first if your wages cannot cover them all:
If the employer receives more than one writ with the same priority, the first one received will take precedence.
Unless otherwise provided below, under RCW 6.27.150, up to 25% of your weekly earnings or 35 times the federal minimum wage amount, whichever is less, is subject to garnishment.
Examples of disposable earnings include:
Examples of mandatory deductions from your disposable earnings include:
Voluntary deductions from your pay are not considered to be withholdings for calculating disposable income. Examples of voluntary withholdings include health insurance premiums, voluntary retirement accounts, or life insurance.
For consumer debt garnishments, much of your disposable earnings can be garnished, which is the lesser of:
For private student loan debt, the garnishment limit is the lesser of:
All court orders for child support include an automatic income withholding order.
For child support and spousal maintenance, federal law allows up to 50% of your disposable earnings to be garnished for child support if you are supporting another spouse or child, or up to 60% if you are not. An additional 5% of your disposable earnings can be subject to garnishment if you are more than 12 weeks behind in your support obligations.
If a creditor is seeking wage garnishment against you, then you have multiple possible defense options available. Some of these, like responding to the legal complaint and summons and seeking an exemption from garnishment, we have already mentioned above. Here are some other options that you and your Washington bankruptcy attorney may consider.
Paying the debt in full stops a wage garnishment.
If you cannot pay the debt in full, then you may still be able to negotiate with the creditor to settle the debt for a lesser amount. For example, you may be able to offer the creditor a lump sum payment as an accord and satisfaction of the total debt within a short-term time frame of 30 to 60 days.
For example, if the IRS is garnishing your wages because of overdue taxes, you may be able to make an offer in compromise or set up a payment plan.
If you believe that an error exists in the way the garnishment process took place, or that your disposable income has been improperly calculated, or that any other problem exists with your garnishment, then you can file an objection with the court.
Filing for bankruptcy petition under Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code creates an automatic stay that halts all debt collection efforts by creditors, including wage garnishments by current judgment creditors.
In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, if the underlying debt is dischargeable, then the creditor cannot restart the wage garnishment when you complete your Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing will create a debt repayment plan under which you will repay all or some of your debts over a three-to-five-year period. When your payment plan is complete and your case is closed, then creditors will not be able to garnish your wages over any unpaid sums left from the original debt.
Note, however, that although a bankruptcy filing is effective in stopping wage garnishment, it will not remove any liens connected with secured debts.
If you are experiencing mounting debt and one or more of your creditors is threatening you with garnishment, or has already begun garnishment proceedings against you in a Washington court, we recommend you contact a bankruptcy attorney to help you understand your options and protect your legal rights.
You can reach Stone Rose Law at (480) 739-2448 or use our online contact form to speak with an experienced bankruptcy attorney about what you can do in response to a garnishment lawsuit or to put a stop to existing garnishment of your wages.
