California’s wage garnishment laws cap what most creditors can take from your paycheck at the lesser of 20% of your disposable earnings or 40% of the amount your disposable earnings exceed 48 times the applicable minimum wage per week, whichever leaves more money in your pocket.1Judicial Branch of California. Guide to Earnings Withholding Orders for Employers Those numbers apply to ordinary consumer debts like credit cards, medical bills, and personal loans. Child support, taxes, and defaulted student loans follow different rules, and some income cannot be garnished at all.
How Much a Creditor Can Take
California is stricter than federal law. The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act caps garnishment at 25% of disposable earnings or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment California drops the percentage to 20% and raises the minimum-wage multiplier to 48.1Judicial Branch of California. Guide to Earnings Withholding Orders for Employers
Disposable earnings are what’s left after mandatory deductions: federal and state income tax, Social Security, and Medicare. Voluntary deductions like 401(k) contributions and health premiums are not subtracted first.1Judicial Branch of California. Guide to Earnings Withholding Orders for Employers
Running the Numbers
California’s minimum wage is $16.90 per hour as of January 1, 2026, which puts the weekly threshold at $811.20.3California Department of Industrial Relations. California’s Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $16.90 Per Hour If your weekly disposable earnings fall at or below that figure, nothing gets garnished. Above it, your employer runs two calculations and withholds the smaller one:
- 20% of your disposable earnings for the pay period.
- 40% of the amount your disposable earnings exceed the weekly minimum-wage threshold.
Say your weekly disposable earnings are $1,200. Twenty percent is $240. Forty percent of the $388.80 above the threshold is $155.52. Your employer withholds $155.52. If you work in a city with a higher local minimum wage, that higher rate replaces the state figure in the calculation.1Judicial Branch of California. Guide to Earnings Withholding Orders for Employers
Different Caps for Different Debts
The 20%/40% cap only covers ordinary consumer debts. Other categories reach deeper into your paycheck:
- Child support: up to 50% of disposable earnings if you support another spouse or child, 60% if not. Both caps rise by 5 points once payments are 12 or more weeks overdue.4Administration for Children & Families. Is There a Limit to the Amount of Money That Can Be Taken From My Paycheck for Child Support
- California state income tax: up to 25%, no court order required.5Franchise Tax Board. Help With Withholding Orders
- Federal taxes: the IRS calculates an exempt amount from your filing status and dependents; everything above that is levied.6Internal Revenue Service. Levy
- Defaulted federal student loans: up to 15% of disposable pay through administrative wage garnishment.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1095a – Wage Garnishment Requirement
How a Garnishment Starts
For most consumer debts, the creditor has to sue you first, win a judgment, and then get a Writ of Execution and Earnings Withholding Order served on your employer through the local sheriff or levying officer. A judgment alone does not garnish anything. The creditor has to take that extra step.
Once served, your employer has 10 days to give you a copy of the order along with the forms you need to challenge it.1Judicial Branch of California. Guide to Earnings Withholding Orders for Employers Withholding continues each pay period until the judgment is paid off, the creditor terminates the order, or you win a Claim of Exemption.
Government Agencies Skip the Courtroom
Tax agencies and the Department of Education don’t need to sue you. The California Franchise Tax Board issues an Earnings Withholding Order for Taxes directly to your employer, who must comply immediately.8Franchise Tax Board. Wage Garnishments for Taxes Hardship modifications can be requested through your MyFTB account.
The IRS sends a sequence of notices ending in a Final Notice of Intent to Levy, which triggers a right to a hearing.9Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP504 Notice Ignore it and the levy goes to your employer.
For defaulted federal student loans, the servicer must give you at least 30 days’ written notice before withholding begins, and you can request a hearing or propose a repayment plan during that window.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1095a – Wage Garnishment Requirement
Bank Accounts Aren’t Safe Either
A creditor with a judgment can also freeze your bank account through a writ of execution served on the bank. California protects a baseline balance from bank levies — for the period ending June 30, 2025, the exempt amount was $2,170, and it adjusts annually. Larger exemptions apply if you receive public benefits or a pension, but you have to file a Claim of Exemption to assert them.
Federal benefits get an extra layer of protection. Under 31 CFR Part 212, your bank must automatically shield an amount equal to two months of federal benefit deposits — Social Security, VA benefits, federal retirement, and similar payments — before processing any garnishment order.10eCFR. Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments The bank does this on its own; no form required.
Income Creditors Can’t Touch
Certain income sources are off-limits to private creditors even with a judgment in hand. That list includes Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, veterans’ benefits, most disability payments, and public assistance.
Government agencies collecting child support, alimony, or federal taxes can reach some of these benefits that private creditors cannot. Social Security retirement, for example, can be garnished for child support or a federal tax debt but not for a credit card judgment.
If exempt income gets garnished anyway, the burden is on you to raise the exemption. File a Claim of Exemption with the court for wages, or the equivalent for bank levies. Move fast — money can lose its exempt character once it sits commingled with other funds in an account.
How to Stop or Reduce a Garnishment
The main tool is the Claim of Exemption. You file form WG-006 along with a Financial Statement (WG-007/EJ-165) showing your income, expenses, and dependents.11Judicial Branch of California. Make a Claim of Exemption for Wage Garnishment At the hearing, you have to show the garnishment prevents you from covering your family’s essential needs.12Judicial Branch of California. Make a Claim of Exemption for Wage Garnishment Bring documentation: pay stubs, rent or mortgage statements, utility bills, childcare costs, medical expenses. Specific dollar figures win these hearings. Vague statements about hardship do not.
The court can reduce the withholding or eliminate it. If you and the creditor reach a settlement or payment plan on your own, the levying officer files a Notice of Termination or Modification (WG-012) to stop or adjust withholding.13Judicial Branch of California. Notice of Termination or Modification of Earnings Withholding Order (WG-012)
Attacking the Judgment Itself
If you were never properly served with the lawsuit or the judgment was obtained through fraud, a motion to vacate the judgment can wipe out the garnishment entirely. It’s a narrower route, but worth considering when the original proceedings had real defects.
Bankruptcy
Filing bankruptcy triggers an automatic stay that halts most collection activity, including active wage garnishments.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 362 – Automatic Stay Once the creditor learns of the filing, withholding must stop.
The stay doesn’t block everything. Child support and alimony garnishments continue because those obligations are not dischargeable. Most tax debts and student loans also survive. If the underlying debt is discharged, the creditor permanently loses the right to garnish for it. In some cases you can even recover wages garnished in the 90 days before filing when the total exceeds $600 and you have exemptions available. Whether Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 fits your situation depends on assets, income, and debt mix, and is worth working through with a bankruptcy attorney.
Your Employer Can’t Fire You for One Garnishment
Federal law bars termination based on garnishment for any single debt, no matter how many pay periods it affects.15U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) California Labor Code Section 2929 mirrors that protection and also bars firing you over a threatened garnishment.16California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 2929
The shield covers one debt only. Once a second creditor obtains a separate judgment and starts garnishing, neither federal nor California law guarantees your job.
How Long a Garnishment Can Last
Garnishment continues until the judgment is paid, the order is terminated, or a challenge succeeds. Judgments themselves last 10 years in California, and creditors can renew them indefinitely for additional 10-year periods.17Judicial Branch of California. Judgment Renewals and Interest Rates Some medical and personal-debt judgments can only be renewed once, for five years.
If a creditor misses the renewal deadline, the judgment becomes unenforceable and the garnishment ends. If you’ve been dealing with a garnishment for years, it’s worth checking whether the judgment was ever renewed. That’s one of the few situations where doing nothing works in your favor.