What Is a Wage Assignment in Arizona and How Does It Work?

A wage assignment in Arizona is a court order that tells your employer to take a set portion of your paycheck and send it to someone else, usually a child support recipient or a creditor who has won a judgment against you. The term shows up most often in family court, where A.R.S. § 25-504 requires an income assignment whenever a judge orders child support, but it is also used loosely to describe wage garnishment for ordinary debts under A.R.S. § 33-1131. The two work differently, and the limits on how much can be withheld are not the same.

The Two Situations Where It Comes Up

If a court has ordered you to pay child support or spousal maintenance, the wage assignment is automatic for support and available on request for maintenance. You do not sign anything agreeing to the deductions. The court issues the order, your employer receives it, and the withholding starts.¹

If a creditor has sued you over a credit card balance, medical bill, personal loan, or similar debt and won, they can ask the court for a writ of garnishment against your wages. That process runs under A.R.S. § 33-1131, and the rules on how much they can take are much tighter than the federal floor.

Wage Assignments for Child Support and Spousal Maintenance

Under A.R.S. § 25-504, when a court orders child support it must also order an income assignment to cover it. For spousal maintenance the court has discretion, but it has to issue the assignment if either spouse asks. Maricopa County’s Superior Court describes an income withholding order as directing deductions from wages, salary, commissions, or other periodic earnings to pay current or past-due child support or spousal maintenance.²

Arizona also allows a fast-track route. The person owed support, the person who owes it, or the Department of Economic Security can file a verified request with the clerk of the superior court for an ex parte order of assignment, meaning the clerk issues the order without a hearing and without advance notice to the person whose wages will be withheld. The order takes effect as soon as it is served on the employer.¹

How Much Can Be Withheld for Support

Support orders can reach a much larger share of your paycheck than ordinary creditor garnishments. The 10% cap in A.R.S. § 33-1131(B) does not apply to support. Instead, half of your disposable earnings for the pay period are exempt, which means up to 50% can go toward the support obligation.³

When you owe both current support and arrearages, the current amount has to be covered in full before any of the withholding is applied to what’s past due.

What Your Employer Does

Once an employer gets a support withholding order, A.R.S. § 25-505 requires them to withhold the amount and send it to the state’s support payment clearinghouse without delay.⁴ Employers may charge a small processing fee, capped at $1.00 per payroll period and $4.00 per month, and that fee comes out of what’s left of your pay after the support is withheld, not from the support itself.⁵

Garnishment for Ordinary Debts

For debts outside the support context, Arizona law is notably more protective of workers than federal law. The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act allows garnishment up to the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($217.50).⁶ Arizona caps it at the lesser of 10% of disposable earnings or the amount exceeding 60 times the highest applicable minimum hourly wage.³ When state law gives more protection, state law wins.

What the Numbers Look Like

Arizona’s minimum wage rose to $15.15 per hour on January 1, 2026.⁷ Sixty times that is $909, so the first $909 of weekly disposable earnings is off limits. A creditor can take only the lower of 10% of your disposable earnings or whatever portion exceeds $909. For most workers the 10% figure is the binding limit because their weekly pay doesn’t reach $909 after mandatory deductions.

An example. If your weekly disposable earnings are $800, the 10% calculation yields $80. But $800 is below the $909 threshold, so the 60-times-minimum-wage test would block any garnishment at all. The statute says whichever is less, so the lower number controls, which here is zero. Many Arizona workers earning under roughly $47,000 a year have substantial protection against garnishment for ordinary debts.

What Counts as Disposable Earnings

Disposable earnings under A.R.S. § 33-1131 is what remains of your wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, and even pension or retirement payments after amounts the law requires to be withheld, such as federal and state income tax, Social Security, and Medicare. Voluntary deductions, like health insurance premiums, 401(k) contributions, or union dues, do not reduce the disposable earnings number used in the garnishment math.³

Can You Be Fired Over It

Federal law protects your job from a single garnishment. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1674, no employer may discharge you because your earnings have been garnished for any one debt, and an employer who willfully violates the rule faces a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year in jail, or both.⁸ The protection covers one indebtedness. It does not reach the situation where you are being garnished by multiple creditors at the same time.

When It Ends and What Happens If You Change Jobs

A child support assignment generally continues until the obligation is fully satisfied, which can mean until the child reaches adulthood and all arrearages are paid. A spousal maintenance assignment ends when the maintenance period expires or the balance hits zero. A creditor garnishment stops once the judgment, interest, and allowable costs are collected.

Changing jobs does not carry an ordinary garnishment with you automatically. The creditor has to serve a new writ on your new employer. Support orders reach further: the Department of Economic Security or the custodial parent can issue a new order to any employer doing business in Arizona once they know where you work.⁹

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-504 – Order of Assignment; Ex Parte Order of Assignment; Responsibilities; Violation; Termination
2
Maricopa County Clerk of Superior Court. Income Withholding Orders
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-1131 – Definition; Wages; Salary; Compensation
4
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-505 – Limited Income Withholding Orders; Definition
5
Arizona Department of Economic Security. Employers – Child Support Rules and Regulations
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
7
Arizona Industrial Commission. New 2026 Minimum Wage
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1674 – Restriction on Discharge From Employment by Reason of Garnishment
9
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-506 – Order for Assignment; Foreign Support Order