Wage garnishment in Arkansas

Most a card or medical judgment can take

25% of take-home pay, never touching the first $217.50 a weeksource

State floor with no paperwork

First $25 a week of net wagessource

Creditor’s time to fight your exemption claim

10 days or the court issues an order stopping the garnishmentsource

How long it runs

Until the judgment and costs are paid or the job endssource

How much of my paycheck can be garnished in Arkansas?

For a credit card, medical or collection judgment, Arkansas follows the federal cap described in the Labor Department’s Fact Sheet 30. Your employer may hold back the smaller of two amounts: 25% of your disposable pay or whatever you earn above $217.50 a week.

Disposable pay means pay after taxes and other required deductions. Weekly examples:

• $210 take-home: nothing can be held.
• $260: up to $42.50, the part over $217.50.
• $640: up to $160, which is 25%.

Paid every two weeks, $435 is protected. Note that Arkansas pays an $11.00 state minimum wage, as shown on the federal list of state wage rates, yet the garnishment floor is still figured from the $7.25 federal rate.

Arkansas wage exemptions: the $25 rule and the 60-day claim

State law adds two protections in Ark. Code 16-66-208. First, $25 a week of net wages is always off limits and you do not have to file anything to keep it.

Second, you can file a sworn statement claiming 60 days of wages as exempt. It only works when those wages, plus the other personal property you own, stay under the limit in the state constitution. That limit is $500 if you are married or the head of a family, under Article 9, Section 2 and $200 for everyone else. If a judge upholds the claim, the same wages cannot be garnished again for 60 days.

Arkansas legal aid’s exemption fact sheet notes that most workers keep more under the federal rule.

What the writ of garnishment and the Notice to Defendant mean

After a judgment, the creditor gets a writ of garnishment from the clerk and has it served on your employer like a summons. Under Ark. Code 16-110-401, the employer has 30 days to answer it in writing or risk owing your non-exempt pay itself.

Within 5 days of serving your employer, the creditor must mail you a copy along with a page titled “Notice to Defendant of Your Right to Keep Wages, Money and Other Property From Being Garnished.” It lists benefits you can claim as exempt.

Ark. Code 16-110-415 makes it a lien on each new paycheck until the judgment and costs are paid. It ends sooner if you leave that job or the judgment is set aside.

How to stop a wage garnishment in Arkansas

Your tool is an exemption claim, filed with the clerk of the court that issued the writ. The steps come from Ark. Code 16-110-402:

1. Write out what you claim and why. You can rely on federal law, Arkansas law or both.
2. File it with the clerk after the writ reaches your employer.
3. Within 5 days of filing, send the claim to the creditor or its lawyer by fax, with a copy in the mail at the same time.
4. Watch the 10-day clock. If the creditor files nothing in writing saying it contests your claim, no hearing is needed and the court issues a writ of supersedeas, an order that stops the garnishment.

If the creditor does object, a judge decides at a hearing. A garnishment specialist can walk through your writ and these deadlines with you on a call.

Can a creditor freeze my bank account in Arkansas?

Yes. A separate writ served on your bank can reach all the money in an account in your name. According to the Arkansas legal services garnishment guide, a bank writ only grabs what is there until the bank files its answer. The creditor needs a new writ to take later deposits.

Federal benefits get automatic help if they arrive by direct deposit. Your bank must leave two months of those deposits in the account, as the CFPB explains. Money from a deposited check or benefits mixed with wages, needs a claim of exemption and proof of where the balance came from.