To ask an Arizona court to reduce a wage garnishment because of financial hardship, file a Request for Hearing on Garnishment (Form 8) with the court that issued the writ, check the box for extreme financial hardship, and deliver it to the clerk within 10 business days of receiving your employer’s answer. If a judge finds clear and convincing evidence of hardship, the garnishment can be cut from 10% of your disposable earnings down to as low as 5%.
The 10-Business-Day Deadline
Once your employer (the “garnishee”) files its answer with the court confirming your employment and earnings, you’ll receive a copy. From the day you receive that answer, you have 10 business days to deliver your Request for Hearing to the clerk of the court that issued the writ. Miss that window and the court will usually deny the request unless you can show good cause for the delay, and judges rarely accept that excuse.
Weekends and court holidays don’t count against the 10 days, but the window is still short. Start pulling together your pay stubs, bills, and bank statements as soon as you learn a garnishment is coming. Waiting for the garnishee’s answer to arrive before you begin gathering documents is how people run out the clock.
Where to Get the Form
The Arizona Judicial Branch publishes the forms through its Self-Service Center. Judgment debtors objecting to a wage garnishment use Form 8, the Request for Hearing on Garnishment for an earnings garnishment. Maricopa County Justice Courts post the same form on their site.
What to Check on the Form
Form 8 lists several possible grounds for objecting. For a hardship reduction, check the box stating that the amount being withheld is causing extreme financial hardship for you or your family. If other grounds also apply, mark those on the same form. Common additional grounds include that exempt money is being garnished, that the judgment has already been paid, or that the court lacks jurisdiction. Checking more than one ground doesn’t weaken a hardship claim; it just gives the judge more ways to rule in your favor.
Fill in the case caption exactly as it appears on the writ you received, including the case number, the judgment creditor’s name, and the garnishee’s name. Sign and date the form.
Evidence You Need to Bring
The legal standard is “clear and convincing evidence” of extreme economic hardship to you or your family. That’s a higher bar than inconvenience. You need to show the judge that the garnished money is going to minimum living expenses: housing, food, utilities, transportation, medical care, and the needs of any dependents.
No Arizona statute lists required documents, but a judge who can see your full financial picture is much likelier to grant a reduction than one taking your word. Pull together:
- Recent pay stubs showing gross pay, net pay, and the garnishment deduction.
- Rent or mortgage statements.
- Utility, phone, and internet bills.
- Grocery and household receipts, or a reasonable monthly estimate.
- Car payment, insurance, and fuel costs.
- Medical bills, prescription costs, and any outstanding medical debt.
- Documentation for any dependents you support.
- Bank statements from the past two to three months.
If an unusual expense is what’s driving the hardship, bring the records for it. Specifics beat generalities every time at this kind of hearing.
Filing and Serving the Request
File the completed form with the clerk of the court that issued the original writ of garnishment. At the same time, deliver a copy to the judgment creditor and to your employer at the addresses listed on the writ. Mail or hand delivery both work. After you serve the copies, file a certificate of service with the court showing that you did so. Skipping the certificate can get your hearing canceled even when everything else is in order.
What Happens at the Hearing
The court will set a hearing date after you file. You have to show up. You’ll testify under oath about your income, expenses, and dependents, and present the documents you gathered. The judge weighs whether continuing the garnishment at the standard rate would cause extreme economic hardship.
Three outcomes are possible. If your evidence falls short, the judge denies the request and the garnishment continues at 10% of disposable earnings. If your evidence is strong, the judge can reduce the garnishment to as low as 5%. A full exemption is possible in rare cases involving multiple hardship factors, but it’s uncommon because the creditor already holds a valid judgment. Most successful hardship claims land somewhere in the 5% to 10% range.
Any reduction the judge grants applies going forward, not retroactively. Money already withheld before the hearing has already been paid out under the writ.
If the Garnishment Is Taking Exempt Income
Some income is fully protected from garnishment for ordinary consumer debts, and you don’t have to prove hardship to shield it. Under A.R.S. ยง 33-1126, exempt funds include child support or spousal maintenance you receive, health and disability insurance proceeds, workers’ compensation, and welfare benefits. Social Security, SSI, and VA benefits are also generally protected from garnishment by private creditors, and under 31 C.F.R. Part 212 banks must automatically protect two months of federal benefit deposits from a garnishment order. If a creditor is reaching exempt income, check the exemption box on the same Form 8 instead of, or in addition to, the hardship box.
If Your Weekly Earnings Are Already Near the Floor
Arizona already caps ordinary consumer wage garnishments at the lesser of 10% of disposable earnings, or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 60 times the highest applicable minimum wage. Wages at or below 40 times the federal minimum wage per week cannot be garnished at all. If your paycheck is close to that threshold, point it out at the hearing. The judge should be applying the statutory formula regardless, but errors do happen, and the Request for Hearing is where you flag them.
A Note on Bank Account Garnishments
If what you received is a bank account garnishment rather than a wage garnishment, the hardship form in this article isn’t the right tool. Non-earnings garnishment uses a separate process. You still have 10 days to file a Request for Hearing, but the usual objections are that the funds in the account are exempt or that the $300 per-person-per-account protection wasn’t applied. The extreme-hardship reduction described above is specific to earnings garnishments.