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Title 15 — Commerce and TradeRelease 119-73

§1673 Restriction on garnishment

Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 41— - CONSUMER CREDIT PROTECTION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - RESTRICTIONS ON GARNISHMENT › § 1673

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Limits how much of a person’s weekly pay can be taken by garnishment. Normally, the most that can be taken is either 25% of the person’s disposable earnings for that week or the amount by which those earnings are more than 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage in effect when the pay is made. The 25%/30-times rule does not apply to court or state orders for child or spousal support (including state administrative support orders that provide due process and judicial review), to orders under Chapter 13 bankruptcy, or to tax debts. For support orders, the cap is higher: 50% if the person is supporting a spouse or dependent child (other than the one the order is for), and 60% if not. No court or state may make or enforce a garnishment that exceeds these limits.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §1673

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Except as provided in subsection (b) and in section 1675 of this title, the maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subjected to garnishment may not exceed
(1)25 per centum of his disposable earnings for that week, or
(2)the amount by which his disposable earnings for that week exceed thirty times the Federal minimum hourly wage prescribed by section 206(a)(1) of title 29 in effect at the time the earnings are payable,
(b)(1)The restrictions of subsection (a) do not apply in the case of
(A)any order for the support of any person issued by a court of competent jurisdiction or in accordance with an administrative procedure, which is established by State law, which affords substantial due process, and which is subject to judicial review.
(B)any order of any court of the United States having jurisdiction over cases under chapter 13 of title 11.
(C)any debt due for any State or Federal tax.
(2)The maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subject to garnishment to enforce any order for the support of any person shall not exceed—
(A)where such individual is supporting his spouse or dependent child (other than a spouse or child with respect to whose support such order is used), 50 per centum of such individual’s disposable earnings for that week; and
(B)where such individual is not supporting such a spouse or dependent child described in clause (A), 60 per centum of such individual’s disposable earnings for that week;
(c)No court of the United States or any State, and no State (or officer or agency thereof), may make, execute, or enforce any order or process in violation of this section.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1978—Subsec. (b)(1)(B). Pub. L. 95–598 substituted “court of the United States having jurisdiction over cases under chapter 13 of title 11” for “court of bankruptcy under chapter XIII of the Bankruptcy Act”. 1977—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 95–30, § 501(e)(1), (2), designated existing provisions as par. (1) and existing pars. (1), (2), and (3) as subpars. (A), (B), and (C) thereof, substituted “for the support of any person issued by a court of competent jurisdiction or in accordance with an administrative procedure, which is established by State law, which affords substantial due process, and which is subject to judicial review” for “of any court for the support of any person” in subpar. (A) as so redesignated, and added par. (2). Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 95–30, § 501(e)(3), inserted “, and no State (or officer or agency thereof),” after “or any State”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1978 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 95–598 effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section 402(a) of Pub. L. 95–598, set out as an

Effective Date

note preceding section 101 of Title 11, Bankruptcy.

Effective Date

of 1977 Amendment Pub. L. 95–30, title V, § 501(e)(5), May 23, 1977, 91 Stat. 162, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by this subsection [amending this section and section 1675 of this title] shall take effect on the first day of the first calendar month which begins after the date of enactment of this Act [May 23, 1977].”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 1673

Title 15 — Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73