Wage garnishment in Utah

Most a card or medical judgment can take

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

Time to object

14 days from receiving the garnishment noticesource

How long one wage writ lasts

1 year after service or 120 days if another wage writ is servedsource

Bank accounts

Exempt money stays protected if it can be traced in the accountsource

How much can be garnished from my paycheck in Utah?

A Utah court order to take wages is called a Writ of Continuing Garnishment. The Utah Courts garnishment and debt help page says your employer must figure your disposable earnings, the money left after taxes and take the smaller of 25% or whatever is above $217.50 a week.

Utah’s minimum wage is the same $7.25 as federal, per the Department of Labor state list, so there is no higher state floor. On $700 a week of take-home pay, the most is $175. On $240, it is $22.50.

Your employer has to show its math on a form called the Garnishee’s Answers to Interrogatories for Earnings. Compare it with your pay stub. A wrong calculation is one of the few grounds Utah accepts for a challenge.

How a Utah wage garnishment starts

The creditor usually checks first that you work there. It sends your employer a Request for Verification of Employment and the employer has 10 days to answer both the creditor and you.

Next, the creditor files an application with the court. A sheriff, constable or private investigator then serves your employer with the writ, the answer forms, a Notice of Garnishment and Exemptions and a blank Reply and Request for Hearing. You get copies of the same papers by mail or hand delivery, according to the court’s page on applying for a writ.

The employer holds the money for 21 days before paying it out. That waiting period is your chance to object.

How to stop a wage garnishment in Utah

File form 1509DC, the Reply and Request for Hearing, within 14 days from the date you received the garnishment notice. In a family law case, the form is 1509FA. The court then sets a hearing.

Utah limits the reasons a judge can accept:

• The writ was not issued correctly, such as a wrong case number, a higher amount than the judgment or a missing Notice of Garnishment and Exemptions.
• The garnishee’s answers are wrong, such as bad math on your disposable earnings.
• The creditor owes you money under another order or agreement.
• The money is exempt by law.

Hardship, inability to pay and disagreeing with the original judgment are not grounds here. Call and a garnishment specialist goes through your writ and the 14-day date with you.

One writ at a time and the one-year clock

A Utah wage writ is effective for one year after it was served. If a second creditor serves its own wage writ, the first one lasts only 120 calendar days. When a writ expires, the creditor can ask for a new one. A Utah judgment is good for eight years and can be renewed.

Your employer can follow only one court writ at a time, in the order they arrived. Two state agencies jump the line: the Office of Recovery Services, for child support and the Department of Workforce Services, for benefit overpayments. Their orders are paid until the debt is gone and other writs wait. The IRS and the Department of Education run separate garnishments that do not wait their turn.

Can my bank account be garnished in Utah?

Yes. A regular Writ of Garnishment can take all available money in an account. Exempt funds should not be taken, but the bank will not know which money is protected unless you tell the court with the same Reply and Request for Hearing.

Utah Legal Services’ exempt property guide lists Social Security, disability, unemployment, workers’ compensation, veterans’ benefits, child support and retirement plans among protected money. That money stays exempt in the bank as long as it can be traced. Mixing it with other deposits can make it harder to prove. A joint owner who does not owe the debt can also ask, within 14 days, for their share back.