Legal Question in Family Law in Kansas

Re: Child support garnishments

Creditors may have to get in line. . .the earlier filed garnishments will prevail. Have you considered a consolidation of your debt or perhaps, a bankruptcy filing?

Re: Child support garnishments

First let me clarify something for you, as the law on child support can be quite confusing. If your wage withholding is for child support in Kansas it is actually called an Income Withholding Order (IWO) rather than a traditional garnishment. IWO's have priority over other garnishments and allow a higher percentage of the employee's income to be withheld each pay period than a traditional garnishment.

However, that being said, the state absolutely cannot take all or your disposable income after taxes for child support, past due or present. In Kansas, the total amount an employer can withhold for child support, spousal support and premiums for health insurance for the child is the LESSER of: (1) the amount on the income withholding order (the garnishment filed with your employer) or (2) the federal consumer credit protection limit (which is a percentage of your aggregate disposable earnings for each pay period.) Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act allows up to 50 percent of a worker's disposable earnings to be garnished for child support if the worker is supporting another spouse or child, or up to 60 percent if the worker is not. An additional 5 percent may be garnished for support payments more than l2 weeks in arrears.

Thus, you could have up to 65% of your disposable income withheld for child support in certain situations.

Knowing this, if you believe you are having an excessive amount of your income withheld, you should hire an experienced attorney to review your income withholdings to make sure your employer is not withholding more money than it should under Kansas law. If you need further assistance, I would be happy to assist you in this matter. Best of luck with your situation.