Wage garnishment in Maine

Most a card or medical judgment can take

25% of take-home pay plus exempt income, counted togethersource

Pay you always keep

$604 a week (40 x $15.10)source

When your employer gets an order

After 2 missed installment payments or a missed hearingsource

Time to ask for a hearing

20 days after the employer’s answer is servedsource

Garnishment laws in Maine start with a disclosure hearing

After a creditor wins, it calls you back to District Court for a disclosure hearing, where a judge looks at your income, money and property. The Maine Judicial Branch guide to collecting a judgment explains that after a small claims judgment the creditor must wait 30 days before asking for this hearing. You must be served at least 7 days ahead in small claims or 10 days ahead in a civil case. The papers list what to bring, such as bank statements and tax returns.

At the hearing the judge sets an installment amount you pay the creditor directly. The judge may weigh what you and your dependents reasonably need and any other orders you are already paying. Going to this hearing matters: skipping it after a subpoena is one of the two ways a creditor gets to your employer.

How much of your pay Maine protects

Under 14 M.R.S. section 3126-A, a weekly payment order cannot exceed the least of three amounts:

• 25% of your disposable earnings (pay after required deductions such as taxes) plus exempt income like Social Security or unemployment, added together;
• the amount by which that total exceeds 40 times the federal or state minimum wage, whichever is higher;
• your total disposable earnings.

Maine’s minimum wage is $15.10 an hour, per the U.S. Department of Labor, so the first $604 a week is shielded. On $700 a week, 25% would be $175, but only $96 sits above $604, so $96 is the cap. If all of your money comes from exempt sources, the court may not order installment payments at all.

When your employer is told to withhold

If you miss two installment payments or fail to appear after a subpoena, the creditor can file a motion and affidavit asking the court to approve an order to withhold and answer. Under 14 M.R.S. section 3127-B, that order states the debt and must be served on your employer and on you within 60 days of its date.

Your employer then has 20 days to file a form answer with the court, send copies to you and the creditor and start withholding. It takes the installment amount already ordered or the legal maximum, whichever is less, until the debt is paid or the court says otherwise. The employer may keep $1 per check sent to the creditor and it may not fire you because of the order.

How to stop wage garnishment in Maine

The window is short. Within 20 days after the employer’s answer is served, you can file a motion asking for a hearing on how much, if any, of your earnings should go to the creditor. Serve it on your employer and the creditor too. After that hearing the judge can lower the withholding or end it and can order the employer or creditor to pay you back what was taken wrongly.

Bring pay stubs, proof of any benefits and your monthly bills. If you can afford a payment, asking the court for a new installment amount and then paying it on time keeps the matter off your paycheck. A garnishment specialist can go through the employer’s answer with you on the phone.