Texas Wage Garnishment Exemptions: Protected Wages, Accounts, and Benefits

Texas gives you some of the strongest wage protection in the country. Under the state constitution, your current wages for personal services cannot be garnished by private creditors at all. Credit card companies, hospitals, personal loan lenders, and the collectors who buy their debts have no way to reach your paycheck here. The Texas wage garnishment exemptions do carry exceptions, though, and they cover exactly the debts most likely to produce aggressive collection: child support, spousal maintenance, federal student loans, and unpaid federal taxes. Knowing where the line falls, and what happens once wages hit your bank account, is the difference between confidence and a frozen balance.

What Texas Protects by Default

Article 16, Section 28 of the Texas Constitution says no current wages for personal service may be subject to garnishment, except to enforce court-ordered child support or spousal maintenance.¹ Because this is constitutional, the legislature cannot quietly chip it away. The Texas Property Code reinforces the rule by listing current wages for personal services as exempt from garnishment, attachment, and execution.²

The protection is automatic. You do not file anything in advance, and you do not have to claim an exemption. If a private creditor sues you and wins a judgment, that judgment does not give them a path to your paycheck in Texas. They may try other collection tools, but ordering your employer to withhold money is not one of them.

One caveat for high earners: the Property Code protects unpaid commissions for personal services only up to 25 percent of the aggregate personal-property exemption cap, which is $100,000 for a family or $50,000 for a single adult without dependents.² Commissions above that threshold can potentially be reached by a judgment creditor.

The Four Debts That Can Still Garnish Your Wages

Four categories of debt get around the constitutional ban. If you are facing one of these, your paycheck is reachable within specific limits.

Child Support

Court-ordered child support is the most common garnishment seen in Texas. The Texas Family Code caps withholding at 50 percent of your disposable earnings.³ That state cap is more protective than the federal ceiling, which can reach 65 percent in some circumstances,⁴ so 50 percent is the number that applies here.

Spousal Maintenance

The constitution was amended to add court-ordered spousal maintenance as a second exception.¹ Income withholding for maintenance runs through Family Code Chapter 8 rather than Chapter 158, and either party to the order can initiate it through the court.

Federal Student Loans

Federal student loan servicers can order administrative wage garnishment of up to 15 percent of your disposable earnings, and they do not need a court judgment to do it.⁵ Federal authority preempts the Texas ban. You have 30 days from the date of the garnishment notice to request a hearing challenging the order.⁶ Missing that window does not eliminate your hearing right, but it does remove your ability to delay garnishment while the hearing is pending.

In January 2026, the U.S. Department of Education announced a delay of involuntary collections on defaulted federal student loans, including administrative wage garnishment, to give borrowers time to evaluate repayment options.⁷ The pause is temporary. Looking at consolidation or rehabilitation now is the practical move.

Unpaid Federal Taxes

The IRS can levy your wages without a court order after notice and demand.⁸ There is no flat percentage cap. The IRS uses Publication 1494 to calculate how much of each paycheck is exempt based on filing status, pay frequency, and number of dependents, and everything above that figure goes to the IRS.⁹ For someone with few dependents, the IRS can end up taking a larger share than any other garnishing creditor.

Disposable earnings, by the way, means your pay after legally required deductions only: federal, state, and local taxes, Social Security, Medicare, and state unemployment insurance.⁵ Health insurance premiums, retirement contributions, and union dues are not subtracted first, so your disposable earnings figure is higher than your take-home pay.

What Counts as Protected “Current Wages”

The constitutional language covers “current wages for personal service,” meaning compensation you have earned but not yet received. Hourly pay and salaries clearly qualify. Bonuses and commissions are generally protected too, as long as they represent payment for personal services rather than passive or investment income.

Independent contractors paid on a 1099 sit in a gray area. Texas courts look at the actual nature of the working relationship rather than just the tax form. A worker who functions as an employee in practice, with a fixed schedule, close control by the hiring party, and economic dependence on one company, may retain the protection even with a 1099. Someone running a genuine independent business with multiple clients, their own equipment, and real control over the work is less likely to qualify. Economic reality decides, not paperwork.

Protection After Payday: Money in the Bank

This is where most people get caught off guard. Once your paycheck is deposited, it generally loses its status as current wages and becomes an ordinary asset. A judgment creditor who cannot touch your paycheck can get a writ of garnishment against your bank account and freeze those same dollars after they land. The constitutional protection does not follow money into the bank.

Banks also typically charge a processing fee for handling garnishment orders, often around $75 to $125, and that fee comes out of your account whether or not any funds are ultimately removed.

Automatic Federal Benefit Protection

If your account receives direct deposits of Social Security, VA benefits, Railroad Retirement, or federal civilian retirement payments, a separate federal rule provides automatic protection. Under 31 CFR Part 212, when a garnishment order arrives, your bank must review the account and protect an amount equal to two months of federal benefit deposits, or the current balance, whichever is lower.¹⁰ You do not need to request it. The bank is required to calculate the protected amount and leave it accessible.

The Protected Property Claim Form

For other exempt funds that get caught up in a bank garnishment, Texas provides a Protected Property Claim Form approved by the Supreme Court of Texas. If a creditor garnishes money you believe is exempt, such as deposited wages or disability payments not covered by the federal auto-protection, you file the form with the court as soon as possible. It lets you identify which funds are protected and triggers a hearing where the court decides whether the money should be released. You should receive a copy from the creditor shortly after your account is garnished, along with notice of your rights.

Retirement Accounts

Texas Property Code Section 42.0021 exempts your interest in qualified retirement savings from creditor seizure. The protection covers 401(k) plans, traditional and Roth IRAs including inherited IRAs, SEP plans, and self-employed retirement plans, and it applies whether your interest is vested or not.¹¹

When you take a distribution from a protected retirement account, the money stays exempt for 60 days after the distribution date.¹¹ Roll it into another qualified plan inside that window and the protection continues indefinitely. After 60 days, an unrolled distribution loses its exempt status and becomes vulnerable like any other bank balance. If you are pulling retirement funds while a judgment creditor is active, the calendar matters.

There are limits. Excess contributions beyond what the Internal Revenue Code allows (and the earnings on them) are not exempt. An unfunded employer promise to pay deferred compensation does not qualify. And if you borrowed against your plan and gave it a security interest, the plan can enforce that lien.

What Your Employer Can and Cannot Do

When your employer receives a valid withholding order, they must comply. Ignoring one exposes the employer to liability, so do not expect them to refuse the order on your behalf. They have to calculate the withholding correctly and remit it.

For non-child-support garnishments, Texas lets your employer deduct a monthly administrative fee capped at the lesser of actual cost or $10 per month.¹² That cap does not apply to child support withholding under Family Code Chapter 158, which has its own rules.

Federal law also protects your job. Your employer cannot fire you because your wages are being garnished for a single debt. If garnishments arrive from two or more separate creditors, that federal protection no longer applies.

How to Challenge a Garnishment You Think Is Exempt

If a garnishment looks wrong, whether because the income is constitutionally protected, the creditor has no authority to garnish in Texas, or the withholding exceeds the legal cap, you can fight it. The process moves fast on both sides.

Under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 664a, you file a sworn motion to dissolve or modify the writ of garnishment in the court that issued it. The motion must address each finding in the original garnishment order, either admitting or denying it. Filing the motion automatically stays further proceedings under the writ, so the garnishment pauses while your challenge is pending. The court must hear the motion and rule within 10 days unless extended for good cause, and the creditor only needs reasonable notice, which can be less than three days.¹³

Before filing, pull together the documents your challenge will rest on:

The writ of garnishment or withholding order, showing the creditor, judgment amount, and legal basis.
Recent pay stubs, so you can calculate disposable earnings and check the withholding math.
Your employer’s response, which contains the earnings and deductions calculation where math errors tend to appear.
Bank statements, if an account was garnished, showing direct deposits of wages or exempt benefits.

The strongest challenges show that the garnished income is constitutionally protected current wages, that the creditor is a private entity with no garnishment authority in Texas, or that the withholding amount exceeds the applicable cap. Where the creditor is one of the four permitted types, the fight is usually over the numbers, and even a small over-withholding is grounds for a modification.

1
Justia Law. Texas Constitution Article 16 Section 28
2
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 42.001 – Personal Property Exemption
3
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 158.009 – Maximum Amount Withheld From Earnings
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act
6
eCFR. 34 CFR Part 34 – Administrative Wage Garnishment
7
U.S. Department of Education. US Department of Education Delays Involuntary Collections Amid Ongoing Student Loan Repayment Improvements
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6331 – Levy and Distraint
9
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 1494 – Tables for Figuring Amount Exempt From Levy
10
eCFR. 31 CFR Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments
11
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 42 – Exempt Property
12
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 63.006 – Administrative Fee for Certain Costs Incurred by Employers
13
South Texas College of Law Houston. Texas Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 664a – Dissolution or Modification of Writ of Garnishment