Wage garnishment in Delaware

Most a card or medical judgment can take

15% of take-home pay or the part above $450 a week if lesssource

Pay you always keep

$450 a week (30 x the $15.00 Delaware minimum wage)source

Wage attachments at one time

Only 1; the first creditor keeps priority until paidsource

Employer’s answer to the court

Due within 20 days of receiving the requestsource

Wage garnishment laws in Delaware

The rule sits in Title 10, section 4913 of the Delaware Code. It says 85% of the wages of anyone living in Delaware is exempt from attachment, which is Delaware’s word for garnishment. Wages include salary and commissions, but not money earned by someone who is self-employed.

Two limits matter most:

• The 85% protection does not apply to fines, court costs or taxes owed to the State.
• Only one attachment can be made on your wages. The creditor who attaches first keeps that spot until its judgment and costs are paid in full.

So a second creditor cannot pile onto the same paycheck. It has to wait its turn.

How much can be garnished from my paycheck in Delaware?

The Justice of the Peace Court publishes a chart for figuring a 15% attachment, Civil Form 34. Start with disposable earnings: gross pay minus federal tax, state tax, FICA and any city tax. Then compare two numbers and use the smaller one:

• 15% of disposable earnings.
• Disposable earnings minus 30 times the minimum wage.

The chart’s sample uses an old $8.25 rate and points you to the current one. The federal list of state minimum wages shows Delaware at $15.00, which makes the floor $450 a week or $900 for a two-week check.

On $600 a week after taxes, the most is $90. On $480, only $30. At $450 or less, nothing can be attached. The court warns that simply taking 15% of gross pay is wrong. It also posts charts for 10% and 7% attachments, so check which percentage your papers use.

How a Delaware wage attachment starts and how to answer it

The Justice of the Peace Court lays out the steps in its guide to collecting a judgment. The creditor files Civil Form 17 with your employer’s name and address. The court sends it to your employer, who has 20 days to file an answer (Form 17A) saying whether you work there, your rate of pay and any reason your wages cannot be garnished.

If another creditor is already garnishing you, the guide says the new creditor will not be able to garnish your wages. Make sure your employer’s answer says so.

If the judgment was entered because you missed the trial, the court’s post-judgment procedures sheet gives you 15 calendar days to ask that it be vacated or 30 days if the certified mail came back unclaimed. The fee is $15 and you can ask to proceed without paying fees. Call and a garnishment specialist goes through the papers and the dates with you.

Bank accounts and other property

A creditor can also garnish money or property that someone else holds for you, such as a bank, using the same Form 17 with a separate answer form, 17B.

Delaware’s list of protected property is short. Section 4902 covers the family Bible, school books, family pictures and clothing, plus trade tools worth up to $75 in New Castle and Sussex Counties or $50 in Kent County. A head of family can claim another $500 of personal property under section 4903. Retirement plans, life insurance and annuities are exempt under section 4915. The list does not name a protected dollar amount for a checking or savings balance.