Wage garnishment in Texas

Most a card or medical judgment can take from wages

Nothing: current wages are exemptsource

Debts that can still reach your pay

Child support, spousal maintenance, back taxes, defaulted student loanssource

Most child support can take

50% of take-home paysource

Bank accounts

Deposited wages can be frozen by a writ of garnishment after a judgmentsource

Can a creditor garnish my wages in Texas?

Not for ordinary debts. Texas Property Code 42.001 lists current wages for personal services as exempt from seizure, with child support as the only exception named there. The Texas Constitution, Article 16, Section 28, adds spousal maintenance to the short list.

The Texas State Law Library debt collection guide puts it plainly: a collector cannot garnish your wages for ordinary debts. That covers credit cards, medical bills, payday and personal loans, repossession balances and old accounts bought by collection agencies.

So if a collector says it will “garnish your check” over a card balance, that is not something Texas law lets it do. Your employer should not withhold anything on a private creditor’s order for that kind of debt.

Debts that can still reach a Texas paycheck

The Texas Attorney General’s debt collection rights page names the debts that can still take part of your pay: court-ordered child support, back taxes and defaulted student loans. Courts can also order income withheld for spousal maintenance under Family Code 8.101.

Texas keeps child support withholding lower than the federal ceiling. Family Code 158.009 caps a withholding order at 50% of disposable earnings, meaning pay after required deductions. Federal law would allow up to 65% in some cases.

Tax and student loan garnishments come from government agencies, not from a court judgment won by a private lender and they follow their own rules.

Can my bank account be garnished in Texas?

Yes and this is where Texans get caught. The State Law Library guide explains that once wages are deposited into a bank account, the money can be frozen and possibly seized. The creditor first has to win its lawsuit and get a court order, which is also called a writ of garnishment, even though it cannot touch wages still owed by your employer.

Texas court rules require that you get notice of your protected property rights when a post-judgment order freezes your property. The guide also points to a TexasLawHelp.org form for asking the court to restore exempt money or property that was taken or frozen.

Read every page you are handed or mailed, starting with that notice of your rights. Acting fast matters, because the frozen money can be paid out to the creditor.

What to do if a collector threatens your paycheck

The Attorney General warns that a collector threatening to garnish your wages for consumer debt may be running a scam and asks you to file a complaint. Write down who called, the number and what was said.

• Check whether a lawsuit was ever filed. In Texas, a collector has 4 years to sue on most debts, per the State Law Library.
• If you were sued, answer the lawsuit. A judgment is what opens the door to a bank freeze.
• If your account is already frozen, find the court name and case number on the papers before you do anything else.

Call and a garnishment specialist goes through the papers, the debt and the deadline on them with you.