What is wage garnishment?

Wage garnishment requires a court judgment first. Once a creditor wins a judgment, they can request a garnishment order from the court, which is served on the debtor's employer. The employer is legally required to withhold a specified percentage of the employee's disposable earnings — federal law caps it at 25%, and many states cap it lower — and remit it to the creditor until the judgment is satisfied.

Garnishment is primarily a consumer-debt tool. Business-to-business debts, where the debtor is a company rather than an individual, follow different enforcement paths — levying bank accounts or business assets is more common than wage garnishment in commercial contexts. The specifics depend on state law and the nature of the debt. This is general information, not legal advice.