Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Minnesota

Re: Wage Garnishment

There is no limit on total, only the amount per paycheck.Minnesota Statutes 2005, Table of Chapters

Table of contents for Chapter 571

571.922 Limitation on wage garnishment.

Unless the judgment is for child support, the maximum part

of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any

pay period subjected to garnishment may not exceed the lesser of:

(1) 25 percent of the debtor's disposable earnings; or

(2) the amount by which the debtor's disposable earnings

exceed the following product: 40 times the federal minimum

hourly wages prescribed by section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor

Standards Act of 1938, United States Code, title 29, section

206(a)(1), in effect at the time the earnings are payable, times

the number of work weeks in the pay period. When a pay period

consists of other than a whole number of work weeks, each day of

that pay period in excess of the number of completed work weeks

shall be counted as a fraction of a work week equal to the

number of excess work days divided by the number of days in the

normal work week.

If the judgment is for child support, the garnishment may

not exceed:

(1) 50 percent of the judgment debtor's disposable income,

if the judgment debtor is supporting a spouse or dependent child

and the judgment is 12 weeks old or less (12 weeks to be

calculated to the beginning of the work week in which the

execution levy is received);

(2) 55 percent of the judgment debtor's disposable income,

if the judgment debtor is supporting a spouse or dependent

child, and the judgment is over 12 weeks old (12 weeks to be

calculated to the beginning of the work week in which the

garnishment summons is received);

(3) 60 percent of the judgment debtor's disposable income,

if the judgment debtor is not supporting a spouse or dependent

child and the judgment is 12 weeks old or less (12 weeks to be

calculated to the beginning of the work week in which the

execution levy is received); or

(4) 65 percent of the judgment debtor's disposable income,

if the judgment debtor is not supporting a spouse or dependent

child, and the judgment is over 12 weeks old (12 weeks to be

calculated to the beginning of the work week in which the

garnishment summons is received).

Wage garnishments on judgments for child support are

effective until the judgments are satisfied if the judgment

creditor is a county and the employer is notified by the county

when the judgment is satisfied.

No court may make, execute, or enforce an order or any

process in violation of this section.

HIST: 1990 c 606 art 3 s 30; 1991 c 156 s 20; 1993 c 156 s 18

Copyright 2005 by the Office of Revisor of Statutes, State of Minnesota.

See attached:

Re: Wage Garnishment

There is a $5000 per time limit if the execution is done through the attorney, rather than the sheriff. But there is no limit on the total that can be garnished. If you owed $100,000, at least theoretically the creditor could garnish you for that amount. There is a per-time limit of 25% of the paycheck or the amount over 40 x minimum wage, whichever is more for the wage earner.