Florida Garnishment Limits

Florida sets no percentage cap of its own on wage garnishment. The limits that apply come from the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA), which caps what an ordinary judgment creditor can take from a paycheck. Florida follows these federal limits directly, with one addition, the head of household exemption, which can eliminate wage garnishment entirely for qualifying debtors.

How much can be taken depends on the debt. The Consumer Credit Protection Act cap governs ordinary money judgments, while support orders, chapter 13 bankruptcy orders, and state and federal tax debts fall outside it. Bank account garnishment has no percentage cap at all. A creditor with a writ can freeze the entire balance up to the judgment amount.

Federal CCPA Limits on Wage Garnishment

The CCPA caps wage garnishment at the lesser of two amounts: 25% of disposable earnings, or the amount exceeding 30 times the federal minimum wage. The cap reaches ordinary money judgments of every kind, so a commercial judgment and a tort judgment are limited the same way a judgment on a credit card, a medical bill, or a personal loan is. Three categories sit outside it: a support order, a chapter 13 bankruptcy order, and any debt due for a state or federal tax.

“Disposable earnings” means what is left after the deductions the law requires: income tax withholding, Social Security, and Medicare. Voluntary deductions do not come out of the base first, so a health insurance premium or a 401(k) contribution does not lower the amount the creditor’s percentage is figured on.

At the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, the 30-times threshold is $217.50 per week. A debtor whose weekly disposable earnings are $217.50 or less cannot have any wages garnished. Between $217.50 and $290 per week, only the amount above $217.50 can be taken. At $290 or more, the creditor can garnish up to 25%.

For pay periods longer than one week, the thresholds scale proportionally. The biweekly floor is $435, the semimonthly floor is $471.25, and the monthly floor is $942.50. A debtor earning less than these amounts in the applicable pay period is completely protected from consumer-debt garnishment under federal law. That is before Florida’s head of household exemption is even considered.

Florida law also lets an employer keep a processing fee, capped at $5 on the first deduction and $2 on each one after that.

Florida’s Head of Household Exemption

Florida’s head of household exemption under § 222.11 goes well beyond the CCPA. A debtor who provides more than one-half of the support for a child or other dependent and earns $750 or less per week in disposable earnings is completely exempt from wage garnishment. No percentage can be taken.

A head of household earning more than $750 a week keeps the whole paycheck too, unless that person signed a written waiver of the exemption. Below that line the statute carries no waiver clause at all, so no signature can strip the exemption from a head of household earning $700 a week. Where a valid waiver exists, the creditor is still held to the federal ceiling of 25% of disposable earnings, or the amount above $217.50 a week, whichever is smaller.

Banks and other lenders sometimes put a garnishment waiver into a loan agreement or promissory note, and a head of household who signed one may find the exemption unavailable against that creditor. A valid waiver must be written in the same language as the contract it relates to. It must also sit in a separate attached document and use at least 14-point type in the form the statute spells out. Those requirements took effect October 1, 2010. No Florida appellate court has ruled on whether a particular waiver met them.

The exemption is not automatic. The debtor must file a sworn Claim of Exemption and Request for Hearing within 20 days after receiving the garnishment notice. The creditor has to answer under oath within 8 business days of a hand-delivered claim, or 14 if the debtor used the mail. If no answer comes, the clerk must dissolve the writ without a hearing.

Head of household wages stay exempt for six months after they reach a bank, credit union, or other financial institution, as long as the funds can be traced and identified as earnings. Mixing them with other money does not by itself defeat tracing. After six months the protection expires and the deposited wages become reachable.

Child Support and Alimony Limits

Garnishment for child support and alimony follows higher limits under the CCPA. The head of household exemption does not block it, because Florida’s family law chapter subjects a head of family’s earnings to garnishment to enforce this state’s alimony and child support orders and judgments.

The CCPA permits garnishment of up to 50% of disposable earnings if the debtor is currently supporting another spouse or child beyond the support order. If the debtor is not supporting another spouse or child, the limit increases to 60%. An additional 5% can be garnished if the support payments are more than 12 weeks in arrears, bringing the maximum to 55% or 65% depending on the debtor’s circumstances.

The floor that protects low-income earners from consumer debt garnishment (30 times the minimum wage) does not apply to support obligations. Even a debtor earning less than $217.50 per week can have support payments garnished from wages.

IRS Tax Levies

The IRS operates outside the CCPA entirely when levying wages for unpaid federal taxes. The IRS uses its own formula under 26 U.S.C. § 6334 based on the debtor’s filing status and number of dependents, and it publishes annual tables (Publication 1494) showing the exempt amount for each pay period.

The exempt amount is the standard deduction plus a set dollar figure for each dependent, divided across the pay periods in a year. Everything above that amount can be levied. Because a tax levy is not a percentage at all, the IRS can take a larger share of wages than any other creditor.

The IRS can also levy Social Security benefits at up to 15% of monthly payments through the Federal Payment Levy Program. This levy continues until the tax debt is satisfied.

Federal Student Loan Garnishment

The U.S. Department of Education can garnish wages for defaulted federal student loans through an administrative process that does not require a court judgment. The Higher Education Act caps the deduction at 15% of disposable pay. The CCPA floor still applies on top of that cap, so wages cannot be cut below 30 times the federal minimum wage ($217.50 per week).

The Department of Education can also offset Social Security benefits at up to 15% monthly, but the remaining benefit cannot drop below $750 per month. If the debtor’s benefit is already close to $750, the actual garnishment may be less than 15% or nothing at all.

Bank Account Garnishment Has No Percentage Cap

Bank account garnishment in Florida has no statutory percentage limit. When a creditor serves a writ of garnishment on a bank, the entire account balance up to the amount of the judgment can be frozen. There is no 25% cap, no minimum balance that must remain in the account, and no automatic protection for non-exempt funds.

The only limits on bank account garnishment come from exemptions. Federal regulation 31 CFR Part 212 requires banks to protect up to two months of directly deposited federal benefits automatically. The protected figure is the lesser of the benefits posted in that window or the balance when the bank reviews the account. Head of household wages deposited within the preceding six months are exempt if traceable. Tenants by the entireties accounts held by a married couple are beyond the reach of a creditor who holds a judgment against one spouse alone.

For non-exempt funds in a bank account, the creditor can take everything up to the judgment amount. Bank account garnishment often creates a more immediate financial crisis than wage garnishment because the debtor loses access to the entire frozen balance while the claim of exemption process plays out.

Multiple Garnishments

The CCPA’s limits apply to the total amount garnished when multiple creditors pursue wage garnishment simultaneously, not to each creditor individually. If one creditor is already garnishing 25% of the debtor’s disposable earnings, a second creditor cannot garnish any additional amount for a consumer debt. The CCPA sets no priority among competing writs; which creditor collects first is a question of Florida law.

Child support and alimony come first, because a Florida income deduction order takes priority over every other state-law process reaching the same income. If a support garnishment is already in effect, a consumer-debt creditor can only garnish up to the difference between the support garnishment and the 25% CCPA limit, and only if the support garnishment is taking less than 25%. Support garnishments often consume the entire garnishable amount, leaving nothing for consumer creditors.

An IRS levy is not subject to the CCPA percentage limits at all. A debtor facing both an IRS levy and a consumer-debt garnishment may see a combined withholding that exceeds 25% of disposable earnings.