Can my wages be garnished? Limits and exemptions in Texas, Florida, and Maine

Savage Lex Team · 2026-07-24

Can my wages be garnished? Limits and exemptions in Texas, Florida, and Maine

A creditor is threatening to take part of your paycheck. You need to know what the law actually allows, because the answer depends entirely on where you live. Wage garnishment rules in Texas, Florida, and Maine are three very different animals, and two of them might surprise you.

Get the details wrong and you could pay more than you owe. Or miss a deadline that costs you the right to protect your income at all.

What is wage garnishment?

Wage garnishment is a court order telling your employer to withhold part of your paycheck and send it to a creditor. It usually happens after a creditor sues you, wins, and gets a judgment. The amount they can take is almost always capped by law.

Federal law sets the floor. Under the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. Section 1673), a judgment creditor can take the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings or the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage. States can go stricter than that. Some of them do.

Texas: your paycheck is mostly untouchable

Texas is one of the most debtor-friendly states in the country when it comes to wages. The Texas Constitution prohibits wage garnishment for most debts. Article 16, Section 28 says current wages for personal service are exempt. The Civil Practice and Remedies Code reinforces that at Section 63.004.

Only a few debts can reach your paycheck:

Court-ordered child support
Spousal maintenance (alimony)
Federal student loans in default
Unpaid federal taxes

Credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, none of them can touch your wages.

How much can be taken for the debts that do qualify? For child support, the federal limit is 50% of disposable earnings if you support a spouse or another child, 60% if you do not. Add another 5% if you are more than 12 weeks behind (15 U.S.C. Section 1673; Tex. Fam. Code Section 158.009). For defaulted federal student loans, the Department of Education takes up to 15% of disposable pay, but you keep an amount equal to 30 times the federal minimum wage per week (20 U.S.C. Section 1095a(a)(1)). The IRS uses its own formula based on your standard deduction and dependents (26 U.S.C. Section 6334(d)).

The catch. Once your paycheck hits a bank account, it stops being "current wages." A creditor who cannot garnish your paycheck at your employer can still get a writ against your bank account and freeze the money after it is deposited. People get burned by this constantly. Your paycheck is safe at work. Your bank account plays by different rules.

Texas also shields several categories of income from any kind of garnishment: Social Security, veterans' benefits, workers' compensation, unemployment, retirement accounts. Personal property is exempt up to $50,000 for an individual or $100,000 for a family (Texas Property Code, Chapter 42).

Your employer cannot fire you for having a garnishment (Tex. Fam. Code Section 8.208). Federal law does the same under 15 U.S.C. Section 1674, but only for garnishment on a single debt.

Florida: the head of household exemption changes everything

Florida follows federal garnishment rules with one significant addition. Florida Statute 222.11 creates a head of household exemption that can wipe out garnishment entirely.

The federal baseline applies if you do not qualify. A judgment creditor can take the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage per week.

But if you are head of household, Florida stacks protection on top of that. If your disposable earnings are $750 per week or less, your wages are fully exempt. Completely. If you earn more than $750 per week, wages cannot be garnished unless you signed a written waiver beforehand. That waiver has to be in 14-point type, in its own document, and includes the statutory language warning you that you are giving up your protection.

You qualify as head of household by providing more than half the support for a child or other dependent. Marriage is irrelevant. Living with the dependent is irrelevant. You just have to be the primary financial support.

This exemption is not automatic. You claim it by filing a Claim of Exemption within 20 days of receiving the garnishment notice. Miss that window and the exemption is probably gone.

One more thing about Florida. Exempt earnings deposited into a bank account stay protected for 6 months, as long as you can trace the funds back to earnings. Mixing the money with other funds does not by itself break the tracing (Fla. Stat. Section 222.11(3)).

Child support, student loans, and taxes follow the same federal rules as everywhere else: 50-65% for child support, 15% for defaulted student loans, the IRS formula for taxes.

Maine: a protected floor that grows every year

Maine does something the federal baseline does not. Instead of protecting 30 times the minimum wage, Maine protects 40 times the higher of the federal or state minimum wage. Maine's minimum wage sits at $15.10 per hour in 2026, so the protected floor is roughly $604 per week. Because the minimum wage is indexed to inflation and adjusts every January, that floor keeps growing.

The garnishment cap is the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount above that floor. The statute is 9-A M.R.S. Section 5-105.

To put real numbers on it: $604 or less in weekly disposable earnings means zero garnishment. $700 per week means only $96 can be taken. At $1,000 per week, the 25% cap kicks in at $250.

Maine also runs a disclosure process before garnishment happens. The creditor serves a disclosure subpoena, you show up at a hearing and disclose your income, assets, and liabilities under oath, and the court issues the garnishment order from there. The hearing is not a rubber stamp. It is a sworn look at your finances, and it determines what the court will order.

Judgments in Maine last 20 years. One of the longest enforcement windows in the country. A creditor can come back, renew the garnishment, levy your bank account, or go after home equity above the homestead exemption ($47,500, or $95,000 if you are 60 or older or disabled, per 14 M.R.S. Section 4422).

Child support garnishment follows federal limits: 50% if supporting a spouse or other child, 60% if not. Push it past 12 weeks in arrears and those numbers jump to 55% and 65% (14 M.R.S. Section 3126-A).

How the three states compare

|---|---|---|---|

| Head of household protection | N/A | Full exemption up to $750/week | N/A |

| Child support cap | 50-65% | 50-65% | 50-65% |

| Student loan garnishment | 15% | 15% | 15% |

What to do right now

Read the garnishment notice. It tells you what kind of debt, who the creditor is, and how much they want. If it is consumer debt and you live in Texas, the garnishment may be illegal. That is worth pushing on.

Check whether you qualify for an exemption. Florida head of household can eliminate garnishment, but only if you file within 20 days. In Maine, the disclosure hearing is your shot at showing the court your full financial picture.

Know the math. If a creditor is taking more than the legal limit, you have grounds to challenge the amount, even if the debt itself is valid.

Watch your bank account. Texas is the state where this matters most. Money sitting in your bank is not protected the same way your paycheck is. If you have exempt income like Social Security hitting that account, you may need to file a Protected Property Claim Form with the court.

Talk to someone. Legal aid offices, courthouse self-help centers, and attorneys who handle debt defense can help you figure out your options. This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Laws change and every situation has its own facts.

Bottom line

Texas mostly shields your paycheck from private creditors. Florida gives head of household earners an exemption that can wipe out garnishment. Maine builds in a protected floor that grows every year.

Ignoring a garnishment notice is the worst move. Assuming you have no options is the second worst. Read the notice. Know your state's rules. File your exemptions on time. Get help if you need it.

This article provides general legal information, not legal advice. Laws change and vary by state. Consult a licensed attorney for advice on your specific situation.