By Robert A. Stiberman, Esq., Member of The Florida Bar since 1998, representing Florida bankruptcy clients since 2009. Last reviewed: June 2026.
In Florida, an ordinary creditor (a credit card company, medical biller, or other lender) cannot garnish your wages without first suing you, winning a judgment, and obtaining a writ of garnishment, and the law requires that you be mailed notice of that garnishment. If money is coming out of your check and you never saw it coming, the usual reasons are: you were sued at an old address and a default judgment was entered, the notice went somewhere you didn’t see it, or the debt is a special type (child support, taxes, or federal student loans) that doesn’t need a court judgment. The good news is that you likely have powerful options, including Florida’s head-of-household exemption, a 20-day window to claim it, and bankruptcy’s automatic stay, which can stop a garnishment immediately.
Here’s how garnishment works in Florida, what protections you have, and what to do right now.
How Wage Garnishment Actually Works in Florida
For a regular debt, a creditor must take these steps before touching your paycheck:
- Sue you and obtain a money judgment.
- Ask the court to issue a writ of garnishment.
- Serve that writ on your employer (the “garnishee”), who then withholds part of your disposable earnings.
Florida law then requires the creditor to mail you a copy of the writ, the motion for garnishment, and a “Notice to Defendant of Right Against Garnishment” within the deadlines set by Fla. Stat. § 77.041. That notice tells you how to claim an exemption, and you generally have 20 days from receiving it to file a claim of exemption. Miss that window and you can lose protections you were entitled to, so if you’ve been served, act quickly.
Florida’s Head-of-Household Exemption (Your Strongest Protection)
This is the protection most people don’t know they have, and it’s one of the most generous in the country. Under Fla. Stat. § 222.11:
- If you are “head of family” (you provide more than one-half of the support for a child or other dependent) and your net (disposable) wages are $750 per week or less, those wages are 100% exempt from garnishment by a judgment creditor.
- If you earn more than $750 per week, all of your disposable wages are still fully exempt unless you signed a specific written waiver that meets Florida’s strict requirements. The $750 figure is not a cap on what can be taken; it only determines whether the creditor needs that signed waiver. Without a valid waiver, a judgment creditor generally cannot garnish your wages at all, no matter how much you earn. If a valid waiver does exist, garnishment is then limited to the federal CCPA cap (below).
That written waiver is hard to create: the statute requires it to be a separate document attached to the contract, in at least 14-point type, in the exact language the law prescribes, and signed by you. Ordinary credit card and medical-debt contracts almost never contain a valid one, which is why head-of-family wages in Florida are, in practice, usually fully protected.
The exemption is not automatic, though. You still have to claim it by filing a sworn affidavit / claim of exemption with the court, showing your income and that you support a dependent. This protection also extends, for a time, to head-of-family wages that have been deposited into a bank account and can still be traced. We review whether you qualify and make sure the claim is filed correctly and on time.
The Federal Cap on Garnishment (CCPA)
Even if you are not head of household, federal law limits how much can be taken. Under Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. § 1673), a regular creditor can garnish only the lesser of:
- 25% of your disposable earnings, or
- the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($7.25 × 30 = $217.50).
You also cannot be fired because of a single garnishment. These caps are floors of protection; Florida’s head-of-household exemption is often far stronger.
Who Can Garnish Without a Court Judgment
A few obligations skip the lawsuit step, but they still must give you notice and a chance to respond:
- Child support and alimony. Support orders are sent to your employer for automatic withholding. Federal law allows up to 50% of disposable earnings if you support another spouse or child, 60% if you don’t, plus 5% more if you’re over 12 weeks behind.
- Federal student loans. The Department of Education (or its collector) can garnish up to 15% of disposable income, but must give you written notice at least 30 days beforehand, with the right to a hearing and to set up a repayment arrangement.
- Back taxes (IRS). The IRS can levy wages without a court order. It must send a levy notice, and you can claim a level of exempt income and pursue an installment agreement or “currently not collectible” status.
How to Find Out Who Is Garnishing You
Start with your employer’s payroll or HR department. They received the order and can give you the case number, the creditor’s name, and the withholding amount. With that, you (or your attorney) can pull the court file, find the judgment, and figure out how to challenge or stop it. If payroll won’t help, an attorney can locate the order for you.
How to Challenge or Stop a Garnishment
Depending on your facts, you may be able to:
- Claim an exemption (head-of-household above all, within the 20-day window).
- Attack the judgment if you were never properly served or the debt was already paid or discharged. Improper service is a real defect, and “I was never notified” can be the basis to set aside a default judgment, but the deadlines are short.
- Check the math against the CCPA caps and challenge over-withholding.
- Negotiate a payment plan or settlement with the creditor.
- File bankruptcy, which stops the garnishment fast (below).
How Bankruptcy Stops Wage Garnishment
For many people, this is the fastest and most complete fix, and it’s what our firm does. In fact, a high percentage of our clients cite wage garnishment as the primary reason they decide to file. The moment a bankruptcy case is filed, the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 takes effect and legally halts most wage garnishments immediately, before the next paycheck in many cases. From there:
- Chapter 7 can discharge the underlying debt so the garnishment never resumes.
- Chapter 13 folds the debt into a single, manageable plan payment and stops the creditor from taking your wages directly.
(The stay does not stop garnishment for domestic support like child support, and tax treatment varies.) See our related guide, can bankruptcy stop wage garnishment in Florida, and our main wage garnishment defense page.
How we act the same day we file. Stopping a garnishment quickly takes more than just filing the petition, the right people have to know about it. As soon as we file your voluntary petition and obtain a bankruptcy case number, we prepare and file a Suggestion of Bankruptcy in your pending state-court case, which formally notifies the court and the creditor that the automatic stay is in effect. We then make sure your employer knows too: we either send your Human Resources / payroll department a Notice of Bankruptcy filing directly, or hand you a copy to forward to HR immediately, so the withholding stops on the very next payroll run rather than weeks later.
Can You Get Back Wages That Were Already Garnished?
This is one of the most common questions we hear, and the honest answer for Florida is: it’s limited, and it turns almost entirely on timing.
- Wages garnished after you file should be returned. Once the automatic stay is in effect, anything a creditor continues to withhold is collected in violation of that stay and should be paid back to you. This is exactly why we move to notify the court and your employer the same day we file.
- Wages garnished before you file are harder to recover in Florida. In theory, money a creditor collected by garnishment in the 90 days before filing can be an avoidable “preference” under 11 U.S.C. § 547, which you may be able to recover and keep if you can exempt it (§ 522(h)) and the creditor took at least $600 (§ 547(c)(8)). The catch is a Florida-specific rule: the federal appeals court that governs Florida (the Eleventh Circuit) has treated the key “transfer” as occurring when the writ of garnishment was served, not when each paycheck was withheld (In re Conner, 733 F.2d 1560 (11th Cir. 1984)). So if the garnishment was already in place before that 90-day window, the wages it pulled during the window usually cannot be clawed back. Recovery is more realistic when the writ itself was served within the 90 days, or for funds that were withheld but not yet turned over to the creditor when you filed.
Because of that, we don’t promise to get back wages that were already garnished. What we can almost always do is stop the garnishment going forward and discharge the underlying debt. Where past wages may be recoverable, we look at the exact dates in your case and tell you honestly whether it’s realistic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my wages be garnished in Florida without notice? For ordinary debts, no. A creditor must sue you, get a judgment, obtain a writ, and mail you notice under § 77.041. If you truly received no notice, you may be able to set aside the judgment, but deadlines are short, so act fast. Child support, the IRS, and federal student loans can garnish without a court judgment but must still notify you.
How do I stop a garnishment that already started? You can claim an exemption (especially head-of-household), challenge an improper judgment, or file bankruptcy, which triggers an automatic stay that halts most garnishments immediately.
What is Florida’s head-of-household exemption? If you provide more than half the support of a dependent, your wages are exempt from garnishment by a judgment creditor. If you net $750/week or less, all of it is exempt; if you earn more, all of it is still exempt unless you signed a specific statutory written waiver, which ordinary consumer contracts rarely contain. You must file a claim of exemption to use it.
If I make $10,000 a month and didn’t sign a waiver, can they garnish me? Generally no. A head of family who never signed Florida’s specific written garnishment waiver is fully protected regardless of income, so an ordinary judgment creditor cannot garnish those wages at all. The $750 figure only sets whether a waiver is required, not a limit on what can be taken.
How much of my paycheck can be garnished? For a regular creditor, the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount over $217.50 per week, and often nothing at all if the head-of-household exemption applies.
How long do I have to respond? Generally 20 days from receiving the garnishment notice to file a claim of exemption. Don’t let the deadline pass.
Can I recover wages that were already garnished? Wages taken after you file should be returned as a stay violation. Recovering wages garnished before filing is limited in Florida: the Eleventh Circuit treats the “transfer” as occurring when the garnishment was served, so wages pulled by a garnishment that was already in place more than 90 days before filing usually can’t be recovered as a preference. It’s fact-specific and depends on the exact dates, so we review it in every case.
Talk to a Florida Wage Garnishment Attorney
If your wages are being taken, or you just got a garnishment notice, talk to us before the deadline runs. We’ll find out who’s garnishing you, check whether you qualify for the head-of-household exemption, and tell you whether claiming an exemption, challenging the judgment, or filing bankruptcy is the fastest way to protect your paycheck. Call 954-922-2283 or request a free, confidential consultation. Firmwide, we’ve filed more than 2,500 Florida bankruptcies since 2009.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Outcomes depend on the specific facts of your case.