Wage garnishment in Louisiana

Most a card or medical judgment can take

25% of disposable paysource

Pay you always keep

$217.50 a week (30 x $7.25)source

Most child support can take

50% of disposable paysource

If you leave the job

The seizure ends unless you are rehired within 180 dayssource

How much can be garnished from a paycheck in Louisiana?

Louisiana law protects 75% of your disposable earnings each week and never less than 30 times the federal minimum wage, which is $217.50 a week. A creditor can take up to 25%, but only from pay above that floor.

The state’s own twist is in what counts as disposable. Under Louisiana R.S. 13:3881, your employer subtracts taxes and other required withholding and then also takes out reasonable deductions it was already making for retirement, medical insurance and life insurance when the garnishment arrived. Federal law does not subtract those.

On $900 a week after taxes, with $100 going to health insurance and a retirement plan, the 25% is figured on $800. That is $200 a week, not $225. If your stub shows the cut taken before those deductions, the amount is too high.

The papers: a petition, interrogatories and a 30-day answer

A wage garnishment here starts after the creditor has a judgment and a writ of fieri facias, the court order to collect it. The creditor files a garnishment petition and the sheriff serves your employer with a citation, the petition, written questions called interrogatories and a notice of seizure. Under Code of Civil Procedure article 2412, the employer has 30 days to file sworn answers. The creditor must also send you written notice of the petition by mail or electronic means.

The court then signs a garnishment judgment that fixes the exempt part of your pay and sets regular payments until the debt is paid. The employer keeps a $3 processing fee each pay period out of the non-exempt part, as R.S. 13:3921 allows.

How to challenge a garnishment in Louisiana

Louisiana law does not set a number of days for you to object. Instead, R.S. 13:3923 lets any party ask the court by motion to reopen the garnishment case and the court can change or set aside its judgment at any time. Moving before the judgment is signed is still best, because every paycheck after that gets split.

Grounds worth raising:

• The balance on the creditor’s statement of sums due is wrong or already paid.
• Your insurance or retirement deductions were left out of the math.
• An older garnishment is still open. Under R.S. 13:3922 the earlier one is paid first from the same non-exempt share, so two creditors cannot each take 25%.

Call and a specialist goes over your garnishment judgment and the balance with you.

Changing jobs and money in the bank

A Louisiana wage seizure is tied to one employer. Its effects end when you stop working there, unless you are rehired or reinstated within 180 days. It can also lapse: if nobody opposes it, the employer confirms you work there and the creditor does not get a garnishment judgment within 180 days of the answers, article 2411 says the seizure ends.

Bank garnishments are not continuing. The bank only reports what it holds for you on the day it is served and it may still pay checks presented that day or the next business day. Your federal earned income tax credit and the refundable part of the child tax credit are exempt, except from the Department of Revenue or for past-due child support.

Child support takes a different share

Louisiana sets support limits below the federal ceiling of up to 65%. For child support, current or past due, half of your disposable earnings stays exempt, so no more than 50% can be withheld. For support owed to a spouse or former spouse, 60% stays exempt, which caps the withholding at 40%. When an order mixes the two without splitting the amounts, it is treated as child support.