Wage garnishment in Oregon

Most a card or medical judgment can take

25% of take-home pay and never below the weekly floorsource

Pay you always keep (from July 1, 2026)

$400 a week, $832 every two weeks, $1,792 a monthsource

Time to challenge a wage garnishment

120 days for a wage exemption, 30 days for other reasonssource

Bank accounts

A protected balance, set at $2,500 and indexed each July, stays usablesource

How much can be garnished from a paycheck in Oregon?

Two limits apply and the one that leaves you more money wins. Under ORS 18.385, 75% of your disposable earnings (pay after taxes and other required withholding) is exempt. A garnishment also cannot drop your take-home pay below a set floor. For wages paid from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, that floor is:

• $400 for a weekly check,
• $832 for a check every two weeks,
• $912 for a twice-monthly check,
• $1,792 for a monthly check.

On $480 a week, only $80 can be taken. On $600, the cap is $150. From July 1, 2027, the weekly floor becomes 30 times the standard state minimum wage, which the Bureau of Labor and Industries schedule lists at $15.55 starting July 1, 2026. The State Court Administrator will post the new figures each year.

A writ of garnishment reaches 90 days of pay

In Oregon the paper your employer gets is a writ of garnishment. It catches the wages owed when it is delivered and the wages you earn over the next 90 days, unless it is released or the debt is paid sooner. Writs for a county or county agency are the exception: those keep running until the county is paid.

Three smaller rules can help you:

• If the writ arrives within two business days before payday and your employer had already sent the instruction to pay you by direct deposit, that check is not garnished.
• Support withholding comes out first and the creditor only gets what remains of the nonexempt part.
• Your employer may not fire you because your earnings were garnished.

How to stop wage garnishment in Oregon with a challenge

Whoever delivers the writ must also send you a copy of it, a debt calculation, a notice of exemptions and a blank challenge to garnishment form. Fill out that form and deliver the original, in person or by first class mail, to the court administrator for the court named in the writ. Send a copy to the garnishor, the person who issued the writ. The court charges no fee to file it.

The deadlines in ORS 18.700 are:

• 120 days after you get a copy of the writ, when you claim an exemption for wages from that employer,
• 30 days for any other reason, such as the writ claiming more than you owe.

Once a challenge is filed, the court administrator holds the money until a judge decides. Call and a specialist checks the writ math and your deadline with you.

Can my bank account be garnished in Oregon?

Yes, but an Oregon bank must leave you a working balance. When a writ arrives that is not for support, restitution or a federal agency, the bank adds up all your accounts there. If the total is at or below the base protected account balance, you keep full use of it. If it is higher, that base stays open and the bank looks back about two months for direct deposits of federal benefits, retirement, state public assistance, unemployment, black lung or workers’ compensation payments and protects those as well. The law started the base at $2,500 and adjusts it every July for living costs.

Wages and other exempt money keep their protection in an account while they can be traced, up to $7,500 under ORS 18.348. The bank must tell you what it did within three business days of its review. The CFPB page on garnished wages and benefits covers the federal side.

Support and state tax writs use other numbers

The higher floors are for ordinary debts. If a writ comes with a notice from a child support agency or with a sworn statement that the debt is for support or court-ordered restitution, the floor stays at the older amounts: $254 a week, $509 every two weeks, $545 twice a month or $1,090 a month. State tax garnishments follow their own rules too and a special notice from a state agency can remove the 75% protection for that tax debt.