Florida Wage Garnishment Laws: Limits, Exemptions, and Process

Under Florida wage garnishment laws, a creditor with a court judgment for an ordinary consumer debt can take the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings or the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed $217.50.¹ Florida then layers on its own head-of-family exemption, which can shield every dollar of a qualifying debtor’s wages from garnishment for consumer debts.² Child support, tax levies, and defaulted federal student loans follow separate rules and reach further into your paycheck.

Garnishment Requires a Court Judgment First

A creditor cannot start deducting from your wages just because you owe money. For a consumer debt, the creditor has to sue, win a judgment, and then file for a writ of garnishment in the same court, submitting an affidavit that identifies you, the amount still owed, and your employer.³ The court reviews the filing before issuing the writ.

For paychecks specifically, Florida uses a “continuing writ of garnishment.” Unlike a one-time writ that might freeze a bank account, a continuing writ attaches to future paychecks and stays in effect until the judgment is fully paid or the court orders it stopped.⁴ Once your employer receives one, deductions run every pay period, potentially for months or years.

How Much a Creditor Can Take for a Consumer Debt

For credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, and similar consumer debts, the federal cap sets the ceiling: the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings for that pay period, or the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed $217.50 (30 times the $7.25 federal minimum wage).¹ If your weekly disposable earnings are $217.50 or less, nothing can be taken at all.

Disposable earnings are not the same as take-home pay. The term means gross pay minus only the deductions required by law: federal and state income taxes, Social Security and Medicare, and state unemployment insurance. Voluntary deductions such as health insurance premiums, retirement contributions, union dues, and charitable giving stay in the calculation, which pushes the garnishable figure higher than many people expect.¹

A Worked Example

Say you earn $600 per week in disposable earnings. Twenty-five percent of $600 is $150. The amount exceeding $217.50 is $382.50. The garnishment is the lesser of the two: $150 per week. At $250 per week, 25% is $62.50, while the excess over $217.50 is only $32.50, so $32.50 per week is the ceiling.

Higher Limits Apply to Child Support, Taxes, and Student Loans

The 25% cap is for ordinary consumer debts. Other categories reach much further.

Child support and alimony can consume up to 50% of disposable earnings if you are supporting another spouse or dependent child beyond the one covered by the support order, and up to 60% if you are not. Another 5% can be added if the payments are more than 12 weeks overdue.⁵ Past-due support can therefore reach 65% of disposable earnings.

IRS tax levies work outside the court system entirely. The IRS sends your employer a Form 668-W, and the employer has at least one full pay period before funds must be sent. You get a Statement of Dependents and Filing Status to complete and return within three days. If you do not return it, the exempt amount is calculated as if you were married filing separately with no dependents, which produces the smallest exemption. The levy is continuous and stays in place until the IRS releases it with a Form 668-D.⁶

Defaulted federal student loans can be collected through administrative wage garnishment of up to 15% of disposable pay, also without a court judgment.

The Head-of-Family Exemption

This is where Florida law gives many debtors far more protection than federal law alone. A “head of family” is anyone providing more than half the support for a child or other dependent. If that person’s disposable earnings are $750 per week or less, all of those earnings are completely exempt from garnishment for consumer debts.² Not 25% protected. All of it.

Even above $750 per week, the wages of a head of family still cannot be garnished unless you previously agreed to it in writing. That written waiver must be in the same language as the original contract creating the debt.² Without that signed waiver, a creditor holding a large consumer judgment cannot touch a head of family’s paycheck regardless of income. The exemption does not apply to child support, alimony, or tax debts.

Other Income That Cannot Be Garnished

Certain categories of income are protected outright under federal or Florida law:

Social Security benefits, protected under federal law even after deposit into a bank account.
Workers’ compensation, exempt under Florida law as replacement for wages lost to a workplace injury.
Unemployment compensation, known in Florida as reemployment assistance.

These exemptions appear in the notice that accompanies every writ of garnishment, but none of them apply automatically. You have to claim them.³

How to Contest a Garnishment

When a writ of garnishment is issued, you receive a written notice that lists the major exemptions available under state and federal law and includes a form for claiming one and requesting a hearing.⁷

You have 20 days from the date you receive the notice to file the claim of exemption with the clerk of court.⁸ Missing that deadline can mean losing the right to raise the exemption at all. The form must be notarized before filing.

Once you file, the creditor has a short window to respond with a sworn written statement. If the creditor fails to respond in time, the clerk automatically dissolves the writ and notifies both parties.³ If the creditor does respond, the court schedules a hearing where both sides present their arguments.

Your Job Is Protected From a Single Garnishment

Federal law prohibits an employer from firing you because your wages are being garnished for any one debt, regardless of the debt type. The protection comes from the Consumer Credit Protection Act.⁹ The key word is “one.” Once you have garnishments for two or more separate debts, the federal protection no longer applies.

An employer who willfully fires someone over a single garnishment faces a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment for up to one year, or both.⁹ The Department of Labor can also pursue civil remedies, including reinstatement and back pay.¹⁰

How a Garnishment Ends or Changes

A continuing writ of garnishment in Florida ends in one of three ways: the judgment is paid in full, the court grants an exemption that eliminates it, or the court issues an order stopping it for another reason.⁴ Once the debt is satisfied, the creditor files a satisfaction of judgment and your employer is released from the obligation to withhold.

If your income drops and the current garnishment creates genuine hardship, you can petition the court for a modification. The court holds a hearing and decides based on the evidence. A change in the number of dependents or the loss of a second income are the kinds of facts that support a reduction.

Exemption status is not permanent either. Someone who qualifies as a head of family today might not next year if their dependents become self-supporting, and a creditor whose garnishment was blocked once can try again if your circumstances change.

1
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act
2
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 222.11 – Exemption of Wages From Garnishment
3
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes Title VI – Chapter 77 Garnishment
4
Florida Senate. Florida Code 77.0305 – Continuing Writ of Garnishment Against Salary or Wages
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
6
Internal Revenue Service. What if I Get a Levy Against One of My Employees, Vendors, Customers or Other Third Parties
7
Florida Senate. 2025 Florida Statutes 77.041 – Notice to Individual Defendant for Claim of Exemption From Garnishment; Procedure for Hearing
8
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 77.041 – Notice to Individual Defendant for Claim of Exemption From Garnishment
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1674 – Restriction on Discharge From Employment by Reason of Garnishment
10
U.S. Department of Labor. Wage Garnishment – Employment Law Guide