Garnishment is a collection tool, not a lawsuit. It comes after a creditor has already won a money judgment, and it is one of the enforcement routes described in Florida consumer protection laws. This article covers how much of a paycheck a Florida writ can reach, who qualifies for the head of family exemption that most people search for as the head of household exemption, and the sworn claim a debtor files to stop or reverse the withholding.
How much of a paycheck a Florida garnishment can reach
Florida sets no flat dollar cap on garnishment. The ceiling comes from two sources stacked on top of each other: the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, and Florida’s own exemption for the earnings of a head of family.
Federal law draws the outer line. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1673, a garnishment on an ordinary debt cannot reach more than 25 percent of a worker’s disposable earnings for the week, or the amount by which those earnings exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever of the two is smaller. Disposable earnings are what is left after deductions required by law, such as income tax withholding and Social Security, not after rent, car payments, or other bills. Fla. Stat. § 222.11(2)(c) carries that same federal ceiling into Florida law for any debtor who is not a head of family.
Florida’s exemption is far stronger than the federal floor, and for workers who qualify it displaces the 25 percent math entirely.
The head of family exemption
The statute calls it the head of family exemption. Creditors, employers, and most search results call it the head of household exemption. Both names refer to Fla. Stat. § 222.11, the section titled “Exemption of wages from garnishment.”
The definition is narrower than the tax term and has nothing to do with marital status or how a return is filed. Under Fla. Stat. § 222.11(1)(c), a head of family is “any natural person who is providing more than one-half of the support for a child or other dependent.” A parent paying the majority of a child’s support qualifies. So can a person supporting an adult relative. A single worker with no dependents does not.
Qualifying splits the analysis into two tiers, both set by Fla. Stat. § 222.11(2):
- Disposable earnings of $750 a week or less. All of it is exempt from attachment or garnishment. Nothing is withheld.
- Disposable earnings above $750 a week. Those earnings cannot be garnished at all unless the debtor agreed in writing to give up the protection.
That written waiver is not something a creditor can bury in fine print. The statute requires the agreement to be written in the same language as the underlying contract, contained in a separate document attached to the contract, and set in at least 14-point type using the specific warning language the statute spells out. Even when a valid waiver exists, the amount taken still cannot exceed the federal cap in 15 U.S.C. § 1673.
How a creditor gets a writ of garnishment
A garnishment starts with a judgment. A creditor sues in county or circuit court, wins, and only then applies to the clerk for a writ of garnishment under Chapter 77. Debt buyers and original creditors both use the same route, and both are bound by the statute of limitations on debt in Florida when they file the underlying suit. Deficiency balances work the same way: a lender that sells a repossessed vehicle for less than the loan balance sues for the shortfall, and the Florida repossession laws that governed the seizure have no further effect once the deficiency judgment exists. The employer is the garnishee, the party holding money that belongs to the debtor. The clerk issues the writ to the employer, and the employer answers the writ by stating what it owes the employee. When the defendant is an individual, Fla. Stat. § 77.041(1) requires the clerk to attach a “Notice to Defendant of Right Against Garnishment of Wages, Money, and Other Property” to the writ. That notice contains the blank Claim of Exemption and Request for Hearing form, listing the major exemption categories: head of family wages, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, public assistance, workers’ compensation, reemployment assistance, veterans’ benefits, retirement or pension money, life insurance proceeds, disability income, and prepaid college or medical savings accounts. Service of that notice runs on its own clock. Under Fla. Stat. § 77.041(2), the plaintiff mails the writ, the motion, and the notice to the defendant’s last known address by first class mail within 5 business days after the writ is issued or 3 business days after the writ is served on the garnishee, whichever is later. If the mail comes back undeliverable, or the address cannot be found after a diligent search, the plaintiff mails the packet to the defendant at their place of employment and files a certificate of service in the case. ## Filing a claim of exemption The Claim of Exemption and Request for Hearing is the mechanism that turns a paper exemption into protected wages. It is a sworn document, and the deadline is short.
Check the categories that apply
The form comes attached to the writ. Category 1 covers head of family wages, and it has two sub-boxes: one for a person supporting a child or other dependent with net earnings of $750 or less per week, and one for a person over that figure who never agreed in writing to a garnishment waiver, both tracked to Fla. Stat. § 222.11. Other categories cover Social Security, veterans’ benefits, pensions, and disability income. More than one can apply at once.
Swear to it in front of a notary
The form is signed under oath and penalty of perjury and must be notarized. A deputy clerk can administer the oath at the courthouse. An unsworn or unnotarized form does not do the job.
File with the clerk within 20 days
Fla. Stat. § 77.041(1) gives the defendant 20 days after the date the notice is received to file the completed form with the clerk’s office. Filing late risks losing the exemption for money already withheld.
Serve the plaintiff and the garnishee
A copy goes to the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney and to the garnishee or the garnishee’s attorney, at the addresses printed on the writ, by mail or hand delivery. The form itself includes a certification of that service, which the defendant completes.
Fla. Stat. § 222.11(3) keeps exempt earnings exempt from attachment or garnishment for 6 months after a financial institution receives them, so long as the funds can be traced and identified as earnings.
Mixing the deposit with other money does not automatically kill the protection. The statute states that commingling of earnings with other funds does not by itself defeat a head of family’s ability to trace the earnings. Tracing is a factual question, and a debtor asserting it at a hearing is the one producing the pay records and account statements that connect the balance to wages.
What the employer withholds and for how long
Wage garnishment in Florida is continuing rather than one-and-done. Fla. Stat. § 77.0305 directs the court to issue a continuing writ to the judgment debtor’s employer, providing for periodic payment out of salary or wages as they come due, until the judgment is satisfied or the court orders otherwise. One writ therefore covers every pay period, without the creditor returning to the clerk each month.
Public employment is no shield. The same section states that a debtor’s status as an employee of the state, its agencies, or its political subdivisions does not defeat a judgment creditor’s right to garnish, and Florida waives sovereign immunity for that limited purpose.
Employers are compensated for the paperwork. Under Fla. Stat. § 77.0305, the court allows the employer to collect up to $5 from the employee’s wages for the first deduction and up to $2 for each deduction after that, to cover administrative cost. Those amounts come out of the worker’s pay on top of the garnished sum.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Florida creditor garnish wages for credit card debt?
Yes, but only after the creditor sues and obtains a money judgment. There is no administrative shortcut for ordinary consumer debt in Florida, the writ of garnishment under Chapter 77 issues on a judgment. Once a judgment exists, the head of family exemption in Fla. Stat. § 222.11 and the federal ceiling in 15 U.S.C. § 1673 determine how much of the paycheck the creditor reaches.
Is head of household the same as head of family in Florida?
They describe the same protection. Florida’s statute uses “head of family,” defined in Fla. Stat. § 222.11(1)(c) as a natural person providing more than one-half of the support for a child or other dependent. The IRS “head of household” filing status is a separate federal tax concept with different requirements, and qualifying for one does not establish the other.
Can money already garnished be returned?
It can. The Notice to Defendant states that a valid exemption may allow a debtor to keep or recover wages, money, or property already taken. The recovery route is the same sworn Claim of Exemption and Request for Hearing, filed with the clerk within the 20-day window in Fla. Stat. § 77.041. If the writ is dissolved, the withheld funds are released.
Are Social Security or veterans’ benefits garnishable in Florida?
Those funds appear as separate checkboxes on the statutory Claim of Exemption form in Fla. Stat. § 77.041, alongside Supplemental Security Income, public assistance, workers’ compensation, reemployment assistance, pensions, and disability income. Claiming the exemption still requires filing the sworn form. Different rules apply when the debt itself is child support or an obligation owed to the federal government.
Does the head of family exemption cover commissions and bonuses?
The definition of “earnings” in Fla. Stat. § 222.11(1)(a) includes compensation paid or payable in money of a sum certain for personal services or labor, “whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, or bonus.” Payments that are not compensation for personal services, business profits or distributions, for example, fall outside that definition, and whether a particular payment counts is a factual question decided at the exemption hearing.
What if a debt collector’s conduct is the real problem?
Garnishment procedure and collection conduct are governed separately. Threats to garnish wages where no judgment exists, or misstatements about what the law permits, are conduct issues rather than Chapter 77 issues, and the state route for reporting them is a Florida attorney general complaint. Filing a complaint does not stop an existing writ; the claim of exemption does that.