Wage garnishment in Wyoming

Most a card or medical judgment can take

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

How long a continuing garnishment lasts

90 days from service on your employersource

Time to dispute the employer’s calculation

5 business days, then 5 more to file an objectionsource

Bank accounts

Pay deposited in the 20 days before the writ stays protectedsource

How much of my paycheck can be garnished in Wyoming?

Wyoming Statutes 1-15-408 and 1-15-511 copy the federal formula. The creditor gets the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings (pay after deductions required by law, like taxes) or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage. Wyoming’s own minimum wage is only $5.15, according to the U.S. Department of Labor state table, but the garnishment law points to the federal $7.25, which protects more.

The Wyoming courts’ writ of continuing garnishment form prints the chart your employer must use:

• $217.50 a week or less ($435 every two weeks, $942.50 a month): nothing.
• Above $217.50 but under $290 a week: only the part above $217.50.
• $290 a week or more: 25%.

The writ of continuing garnishment and its 90-day clock

After a court judgment, the creditor asks the circuit court clerk for a writ and a sheriff usually serves it on your employer. Under Title 1 of the Wyoming Statutes, section 1-15-502, the writ is a lien on your pay until the job ends, the judgment is paid or vacated, the writ is dismissed or 90 days pass since service, whichever is sooner.

A few limits help you:

• The creditor may serve only one continuing writ on the same employer for you in any 90-day period.
• Only one writ is paid at a time, oldest first. A child support withholding order goes ahead of all of them.
• You and the creditor can agree in writing to pause the garnishment for a set time. The creditor files that agreement with the clerk and gives your employer a copy.

How to object to a wage garnishment in Wyoming

Your employer must hand you a copy of the writ and its calculation of exempt pay with the first affected paycheck and a new calculation every payday after that. Check it against your stub right away. The Notice of Right to Hearing and Objection form sets out two short steps:

1. You have five business days from getting the calculation to settle a mistake with your employer, which must hold the money meanwhile.
2. If it is not fixed, the money goes to the court clerk. You then have five business days from the date the clerk receives it to file a written Objection to Garnishment and Request for Hearing and mail a copy to the creditor.

Miss that second deadline and the clerk pays the creditor. Call and a garnishment specialist reads the calculation with you while both windows are open.

Can my bank account be garnished in Wyoming?

Yes. A bank is reached with a non-continuing garnishment, which the Wyoming courts’ garnishment instructions say is effective for up to 30 days. Wyoming has a rule for paychecks that land in the bank. Under section 1-15-408, wages you deposited in the 20 calendar days before the writ was served, on the day it was served or within 10 business days after keep the paycheck protection, so no more than 25% of them can be taken. If the creditor already garnished that paycheck at work, the rest of it in your account is fully exempt.

The bank does not sort this out for you. Check the earnings box on the objection form and bring your pay stubs and bank statements.