Wage garnishment in New Hampshire

Pay you always keep

$362.50 a week (50 x $7.25)source

Most a card or medical judgment can take

Pay above $362.50 a week and never more than 25% of take-home paysource

Wages a writ can reach

Only pay earned before the writ is served; later work is exemptsource

Time to object to the employer’s disclosure

30 days after the disclosure is receivedsource

Trustee process: what New Hampshire calls wage garnishment

In this state the creditor files a trustee writ. Your employer is the “trustee” because it holds money it owes you. The writ is served on your employer along with a trustee disclosure form and the employer has 30 days to file that form with the court and send copies to you and the creditor, under RSA chapter 512.

Wages can be held this way only for a debt on a judgment from a New Hampshire court. A creditor must sue you and win first. 603 Legal Aid’s debt collection overview puts it plainly: a creditor cannot garnish your wages without a court order.

How much of my paycheck can be taken in New Hampshire?

RSA 512:21 exempts 50 times the federal minimum hourly wage for each week of pay. At $7.25, that is $362.50 a week. Your employer must still pay you that part on your usual payday. New Hampshire has no higher state rate, so the $7.25 figure applies.

Federal law adds a ceiling. The Department of Labor wage garnishment fact sheet caps an ordinary garnishment at 25% of disposable earnings, meaning pay left after required taxes. You get the better of the two rules.

On $400 of take-home pay for a week, only $37.50 can be held. On $500, the cap is $125. On $350, nothing can be taken.

Why each writ only catches past pay

The same statute says wages for work you do after the writ reaches your employer are exempt. So a trustee writ grabs only pay that was earned but not yet paid on the day of service. It does not keep taking from every future check the way a continuing garnishment does in many states.

To reach more of your pay, the creditor has to start again with a new writ. That gives you time between rounds to set up a payment plan, check the balance or look at other options. A garnishment specialist can look at the writ and the disclosure form with you when you call.

The periodic payment hearing after a judgment

New Hampshire courts often deal with unpaid judgments through payment orders. Under RSA 524:6-a, the court can ask about your ability to pay and order periodic payments it thinks are fair. Skipping a payment can be civil contempt unless the judge finds your situation changed or the miss was not on purpose.

Go to that hearing and bring a list of your income, bills and assets. 603 Legal Aid warns that a court could issue a warrant for your arrest if you do not attend. Once a payment order is in place, the court will not issue a writ of execution without notice to you, unless you and the creditor agree otherwise.

Objections and bank accounts

If the employer’s disclosure looks wrong, you can file a written objection within 30 days of receiving it and the court sets an evidentiary hearing. A bank named as trustee holds only what is in your account when it is served. It has no duty to catch later deposits. Money in an account set up as a payroll account is exempt.