Wage garnishment in North Dakota

Most a card or medical judgment can take

25% of take-home pay or the part above $290 a week if lesssource

Pay you always keep

$290 a week (40 hours at $7.25)source

Each dependent living with you

$20 a week less can be taken, if you list them within 10 dayssource

Warning before the garnishee summons

At least 10 days’ written notice or the garnishment is voidsource

How much can be garnished from a paycheck in North Dakota?

The limit is in North Dakota Century Code chapter 32-09.1, section 32-09.1-03. A creditor with a judgment for a credit card, hospital bill or loan gets the smaller of two numbers each week:

• 25% of your disposable earnings (what is left after taxes and other withholding the law requires), or
• everything above 40 times the federal minimum wage, which is $290 a week.

Federal law protects only $217.50, so the state floor is higher. North Dakota has no minimum wage of its own above the federal rate; the U.S. Department of Labor state table lists $7.25. On $600 of weekly take-home pay, the cap is $150. On $350, only $60 can go and with two dependents at home that drops to $20.

The 10-day warning letter comes first

Before any garnishee summons reaches your employer, the creditor must send you a written notice at least 10 days ahead, in person or by first-class mail. If it skips this step, the garnishment is void. The notice names the debt amount and invites you to contact the creditor about a settlement.

After that, the creditor serves a garnishee summons and a notice to defendant on your employer and on you, both by personal service. Your employer then has 20 days to send back a sworn disclosure of what it owes you. The North Dakota Legal Self Help Center guide for judgment debtors walks through each paper in order.

Give your employer the dependent list within 10 days

This is the step people miss. Once you get the garnishee summons, you have 10 days to hand your employer a list of the dependent family members who live with you, with their Social Security numbers if they have them, signed under penalty of perjury. Each person on it lowers the weekly garnishment by $20.

If you do not send a list, the law assumes you have no dependents. A late list still helps, but only for paychecks after the date you turn it in, so money already held stays held.

The self help center guide points to two claim for exemptions kits from Legal Services of North Dakota, one for individuals and one for a head of family. Call and a specialist checks your summons dates with you before the 10 days run out.

How long a North Dakota wage garnishment lasts

A creditor can mark the summons continuing lien. Your employer then keeps holding the part of each check that is not exempt for up to 270 days, until the judgment amount is reached or until you leave the job. To renew, the creditor sends another notice 10 to 20 days before the lien ends.

Any garnishee summons lapses 360 days after service unless you agree in writing to more time or a court orders it. Your employer may not fire you because of a garnishment. If it does, you have 90 days to sue for twice your lost wages and to ask for your job back.