Florida garnishment law lets a creditor with a judgment reach your wages or bank account, but it also gives Florida residents some of the strongest wage protections in the country. If you support a child or other dependent and earn $750 or less per week in disposable income, your paycheck cannot be touched for ordinary debts. Above that, or without a dependent, federal limits kick in and cap what a creditor can take at 25% of disposable earnings.
Head-of-Family Protection
Florida’s most powerful shield is the head-of-family exemption. You qualify if you provide more than half the support for a child or other dependent. If your disposable earnings are $750 or less per week, the entire paycheck is exempt from garnishment for ordinary debts.1Online Sunshine. Florida Code 222.11 – Exemption of Wages From Garnishment That works out to roughly $39,000 a year in take-home pay that a creditor cannot reach.
Earn more than $750 per week and still qualify as head of family? Your wages remain protected unless you signed a written waiver at the time you took on the debt. Florida makes that waiver hard to slip past a borrower. It has to be in the same language as the underlying contract, printed as a separate attached document, displayed in at least 14-point type, and include a specific disclosure telling you that you are giving up your garnishment protection.1Online Sunshine. Florida Code 222.11 – Exemption of Wages From Garnishment Even where a valid waiver exists, the garnishment cannot exceed the federal 25% cap.
The head-of-family exemption does not apply to child support or alimony obligations.
The Federal Cap When No Exemption Applies
If you don’t qualify as head of family, or you signed a valid waiver, federal law sets the ceiling. A creditor can garnish the lesser of two amounts: 25% of your disposable earnings for the week, or the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment With the federal minimum wage at $7.25 per hour, the second figure comes to $217.50 per week.3U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws Earn $217.50 or less in disposable income per week and no wages can be garnished for ordinary debts at all.
How that works in practice: say your weekly disposable earnings are $500. Twenty-five percent of that is $125. The amount above $217.50 is $282.50. The creditor gets the lesser figure, so $125 comes out of your check. At $300 in disposable earnings, 25% is $75, and the amount above $217.50 is $82.50. The creditor gets $75. The formula always leaves you with at least 75% of disposable earnings, or $217.50, whichever protects more of your pay.
Child Support and Alimony Are Different
Support obligations follow a separate, much higher scale. If you are currently supporting another spouse or dependent child besides the one covered by the order, a creditor can garnish up to 50% of your disposable earnings. If you are not supporting anyone else, that climbs to 60%.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
Both figures rise by another 5% if you are more than 12 weeks behind, pushing the maximum to 55% or 65%.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment The head-of-family exemption does not override these support percentages.
Income a Creditor Cannot Reach
Some money is off limits regardless of how much you earn or whether you have dependents. Florida recognizes exemptions for Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income, veterans’ benefits, disability benefits, retirement pensions, and unemployment compensation.4Online Sunshine. Florida Code 77.041 – Notice to Individual Defendant for Claim of Exemption From Garnishment
Protection follows the money into your bank account, at least for federal benefits. When a bank receives a garnishment order, federal regulations require it to review your account within two business days and check for federal benefit deposits during the two-month lookback period before the order arrived.5eCFR. 31 CFR Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments The bank calculates a protected amount equal to the total of those deposits, or the current balance if it’s lower, and must leave that amount fully accessible without any action on your part.
This automatic review is important because you don’t have to race to court to keep the bank from turning over your Social Security check. It happens on the front end. But only direct-deposited federal benefits get automatic protection. Wages and other non-exempt money in the same account can still be frozen.
How to Claim Your Exemption
When you receive notice of a garnishment, the clock starts. The notice must include a form for claiming an exemption and requesting a hearing.4Online Sunshine. Florida Code 77.041 – Notice to Individual Defendant for Claim of Exemption From Garnishment You file a sworn claim with the court identifying the exemption and the facts behind it.
Once you file, the creditor has a short window to push back. If the creditor doesn’t file a sworn statement contesting your claim within 8 business days after hand delivery, or 14 business days if served by mail, the clerk automatically dissolves the writ. No hearing needed.4Online Sunshine. Florida Code 77.041 – Notice to Individual Defendant for Claim of Exemption From Garnishment If the creditor does contest, the court schedules a hearing.
For the head-of-family exemption specifically, you swear under oath that the garnished money is pay for your personal labor and that you are the head of a family residing in Florida. If the creditor doesn’t deny those facts under oath within 2 business days, all garnishment proceedings stop.6Justia Law. Florida Code 222.12 – Proceedings for Exemption
There’s also a separate 20-day deadline for challenging the writ itself. If any factual claim in the creditor’s original motion was false, you have 20 days from the date on the certificate of service to file a motion to dissolve.7Online Sunshine. Florida Code 77.055 – Service of Garnishee Answer and Notice of Right to Dissolve Writ Miss that window and the court treats the case as a default. Every pay period that passes without asserting your exemption is money you may not get back, so file quickly.
Wage Garnishment vs. Bank Account Garnishment
Wages and bank accounts get treated differently. When wages are the target, the court issues a continuing writ. Your employer deducts a portion of every paycheck and sends it to the creditor on an ongoing basis until the judgment is satisfied or the court orders otherwise.8Online Sunshine. Florida Code 77.0305 – Continuing Writ of Garnishment Against Salary or Wages This applies to every kind of employer, including state agencies. Florida explicitly waives sovereign immunity here, so working for the government provides no shield.
Your employer can also deduct a small administrative fee from your pay: up to $5 for the first deduction and up to $2 for each one after that.8Online Sunshine. Florida Code 77.0305 – Continuing Writ of Garnishment Against Salary or Wages Those come out of your check on top of the garnishment.
Bank account garnishments work as a one-time seizure. The writ freezes the funds in the account at the moment it’s served, and the bank holds those funds pending the outcome of the proceeding. That’s why the exemption deadlines above matter so much for account garnishments: the money is already frozen when you learn about it.
Can You Be Fired Over a Garnishment
Federal law prevents your employer from firing you because your wages are being garnished for any single debt, no matter how many separate deductions or court filings that one debt produces.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1674 – Restriction on Discharge From Employment by Reason of Garnishment An employer who violates that protection faces up to $1,000 in fines, up to a year in prison, or both.
The catch is right there in the statute. The protection covers one debt. If your wages get garnished for two or more separate debts, federal law no longer bars your employer from terminating you over the garnishments. Resolving or consolidating one before another lands can matter for keeping your job.
Pre-Judgment vs. Post-Judgment Garnishment
Not every creditor has already won a lawsuit. Florida allows any person or entity that has either filed a lawsuit to recover a debt or already obtained a judgment to seek a writ of garnishment.10Online Sunshine. Florida Code 77.01 – Right to Writ of Garnishment
Pre-judgment garnishment is the harder route. The creditor has to file a sworn motion showing the nature of the claim, the amount, that the debt is just and unpaid, and a belief that you won’t have enough property in the county to satisfy the claim. The creditor must also post a bond worth double the debt, payable to you if the garnishment turns out to be improper.11Online Sunshine. Florida Code 77.031 – Issuance of Writ Before Judgment That bond is a real remedy for you: if the pre-judgment garnishment was improper, you can recover costs, damages, and attorney fees from it.
Post-judgment garnishment is simpler because the court has already ruled that you owe the money. No bond is required. The creditor files a motion identifying the judgment and the unpaid balance, and the writ issues.
When Bankruptcy Stops a Garnishment
Filing for bankruptcy triggers an automatic stay that halts all garnishment activity the moment the petition is filed. Any garnishment that occurred within 90 days before the filing may qualify as a preferential transfer, meaning the funds could potentially be recovered. To do that, you or the bankruptcy trustee must show the payments were taken involuntarily, the money would have been exempt, and at least $600 was garnished during that window.
Bankruptcy carries its own long-term costs and is a serious step. For someone stacking multiple garnishments and unable to cover basic expenses, though, the automatic stay is the fastest legal stop available.