Wage garnishment in Georgia
Georgia uses the federal paycheck limit, but one summons of continuing garnishment can keep taking money for up to 1,095 days, about three years. Your chance to object is the Defendant’s Claim Form and it has a 20-day clock tied to your employer’s answer.
- Most a card or medical judgment can take
- 25% of take-home pay or the part above $217.50 a week if lesssource
- How long one summons can run
- Up to 1,095 dayssource
- Time to file the claim form
- 20 days after the garnishee’s answer is filedsource
- When the court hears your claim
- A hearing is set within 10 dayssource
Who is taking money from your pay?
How do you file your taxes?
Do you also support another spouse or child?
How often are you paid?
How much do you take home?
If payroll takes more than this, call and we check the order against your pay stub.
Call 833-991-9547Garnishment laws in Georgia
Georgia does not add a lower percentage of its own. The court’s Notice to Defendant and Claim Form says garnishment of your earnings is limited to the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings for a week or the amount above $217.50. Disposable earnings means pay left after taxes and other deductions the law requires.
So on $700 a week of take-home pay, up to $175 can go to the creditor. More can be taken for child support or alimony or when a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan allows it. A card company or medical provider usually needs a court judgment first. Georgia Legal Aid notes the exceptions: unpaid income taxes, court-ordered child support and defaulted student loans.
What a summons of continuing garnishment means
For wages, the creditor files an affidavit and the court issues a summons of continuing garnishment to your employer, who is called the garnishee. The summons form orders your employer to hold the non-exempt part of your pay starting the day it is served and for the next 1,095 days.
Your employer must file a written answer within 45 days of service, then another answer every 45 days after that. The held money is sent to the court with each answer. The garnishment ends at the earliest of three events: the balance is paid, the 1,095 days run out or you stop working there.
How to stop wage garnishment in Georgia
The tool Georgia gives you is the Defendant’s Claim Form, which comes with the Notice to Defendant. You can check exemptions such as Social Security, unemployment, workers’ compensation, veterans’ benefits, pensions and exempt wages. You can also say the creditor has no judgment against you, the amount claimed is wrong or its affidavit is untrue.
- File the form with the clerk of the court named on the notice.
- Mail or deliver copies to the plaintiff (the creditor) and the garnishee.
- Do it within 20 days after the garnishee’s answer is filed or you may lose the right to claim an exemption.
The court schedules a hearing within ten days and mails you the date. Bring papers that prove the money is exempt. Call and a garnishment specialist goes through your summons and the 20-day window with you.
Benefits and bank money in Georgia
Creditors can also serve a separate summons on your bank. The Georgia Magistrate Courts forms page lists a summons of garnishment on a financial institution and the same claim form is used to protect what is exempt.
Georgia Legal Aid’s garnishment guide says Social Security, SSI, TANF, veterans’ benefits, workers’ compensation and unemployment are fully protected, even after they land in your account. Its advice is to keep benefits in an account separate from other money or receive them on a benefits debit card. Retirement, private disability insurance and disaster relief payments may also be protected in some cases.
Which court handles it
Many debt cases and garnishments in Georgia go through Magistrate Court, which hears claims up to $15,000, according to the Council of Magistrate Court Judges. The summons shows the court, the case number and the judgment it is based on. Check that the judgment is really yours and that the balance matches what you owe after payments.
Wage garnishment questions in Georgia
Can my bank account be garnished in Georgia?
Yes, through a summons served on the bank. File the Defendant’s Claim Form if the account holds exempt money such as Social Security or money that belongs to a joint account holder.
Does a Georgia garnishment stop if I change jobs?
That summons ends when your employer no longer owes you regular pay. It does not erase the judgment itself, so any unpaid balance is still owed.
How often does my employer report to the court?
Every 45 days. Each answer lists what was held from your pay and the money goes to the court with it.
Talk to someone about your Georgia garnishment
In Georgia the 20 days start when your employer files its answer, not when you notice the smaller check, so call now while you can still file the claim form.
Call 833-991-9547