Wage garnishment in Rhode Island

Most a card or collector judgment can take

25% of take-home pay or the part above $217.50 a week if lesssource

Medical debt judgments

No wage garnishment since January 1, 2026source

After public assistance ends

All of your wages are exempt for one yearsource

Bank accounts

$500 in savings or other deposits is exemptsource

Rhode Island’s medical debt rule for paychecks

A 2025 law changed R.I. Gen. Laws 10-5-8, effective January 1, 2026. Now no garnishment of salary or wages can issue against you for a judgment in a case where the claim was based on medical debt.

Medical debt has the meaning set in R.I. Gen. Laws 6-60-1: money a consumer owes a health care facility or health care professional for health care services, products or devices. That covers bills owed to a hospital or a doctor’s office. The same law also bars a creditor from filing an attachment on your principal residence for a medical debt judgment.

If your employer started holding back pay for a hospital or doctor judgment after that date, raise it with the court that issued the writ.

How much of my paycheck can be garnished in Rhode Island?

For a credit card, personal loan or collector judgment, look at two numbers. State law, in R.I. Gen. Laws 9-26-4, exempts only $50 of most workers’ wages. Federal law protects far more and the rule that leaves you more money applies. So the cap is the smaller of 25% of disposable pay (pay after required deductions such as taxes) or whatever is above $217.50 a week, as the U.S. Department of Labor explains.

On $700 a week after taxes, up to $175 can be taken. On $260, only $42.50 can. The writ must state the judgment amount and your employer withholds until that total is reached. Your employer may charge you $5 for each writ it receives. Child support orders always come ahead of a creditor’s garnishment.

Pay the state protects in full

Several kinds of pay are completely exempt under section 9-26-4, no matter how large the debt:

• wages paid from a fund for relief of the poor or unemployment aid, when you are the person receiving the aid,
• all wages from any employer for one year after you stop receiving relief from a state, federal or city agency,
• wages owed to a sailor,
• the pay of a debtor’s minor children.

The one-year rule is easy to miss. If you came off public assistance in the past year, tell the court and show the date your benefits ended. A letter from the agency that paid you is the simplest proof.

Trustee process: how a garnishment starts here

Rhode Island calls an employer or bank that holds your money a trustee and the court steps are called trustee process. Under R.I. Gen. Laws 10-5-2, a creditor asking a court to attach your assets files a motion that states the day, time and place of a hearing and you must be served at least 5 days before that hearing. Once the creditor has a judgment, it can use trustee process in the same case.

The hearing is your chance to raise the medical debt bar, the one-year relief exemption or a wrong balance. Call and a garnishment specialist goes over the motion and the hearing date with you.

Can my bank account be garnished in Rhode Island?

Yes, but some of it is protected. Section 9-26-4 exempts savings or other deposits in a bank up to $500. Individual retirement accounts and plans covered by the federal ERISA law are also exempt, except from divorce and child support orders. Banks must shield two months of directly deposited federal benefits such as Social Security, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Rhode Island Legal Services helps people with low incomes claim these exemptions.