Wage Garnishment in Georgia: Limits, Process, and Exemptions

Wage garnishment is the step that turns a paper judgment into money. It is one of the enforcement tools covered in Small Claims in Georgia’s Magistrate Courts, and it usually follows a judgment from a magistrate court collection case. This article explains how a garnishment is filed, the legal cap on how much of a paycheck it can reach, how long it runs, which funds are protected, and the process a debtor uses to claim an exemption.

How wage garnishment works in Georgia

Garnishment is a separate court action that a creditor (the plaintiff) brings against a third party who holds money belonging to the debtor (the defendant). For wage garnishment, that third party is the employer, called the garnishee. The employer withholds part of the paycheck and pays it into court, which then disburses it to the creditor.

A garnishment requires an existing money judgment. A creditor cannot garnish wages on an unpaid bill alone; the debt must first be reduced to a judgment, which in a small claims matter happens after a magistrate court collects on a Georgia small claims judgment. Garnishment proceedings are governed by Article 1 of Chapter 4 of Title 18 of the Georgia Code, which Georgia rewrote in 2016 and amended again in 2020.

Georgia recognizes two main forms of wage garnishment. A continuing garnishment captures a portion of every paycheck over an extended period from a single filing. An ordinary garnishment reaches money the garnishee holds at a single point in time, which is the form used for a bank account rather than a recurring paycheck.

The limit on what can be taken from a paycheck

Federal and Georgia law both cap how much of a paycheck a garnishment can reach, and the two limits overlap so that the smaller protection always controls. The calculation runs on disposable earnings, meaning gross pay minus the deductions the law requires, such as taxes and Social Security.

Under O.C.G.A. § 18-4-5, the maximum that can be garnished from disposable earnings for any workweek is the lesser of two figures: 25 percent of that week’s disposable earnings, or the amount by which those earnings exceed $217.50. The $217.50 floor is 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage of $7.25. Georgia mirrors the federal restriction in 15 U.S.C. § 1673, part of the Consumer Credit Protection Act.

Two adjustments matter. A garnishment based on a private student loan is capped at 15 percent of disposable earnings rather than 25 percent. And for pay periods other than a week, O.C.G.A. § 18-4-5(a)(3) sets the floor as the proportionate multiple of 30 hours at $7.25, so a biweekly paycheck uses a $435 floor. Garnishments for child support follow a different, higher cap set in Article 3 of the chapter.

Filing a garnishment after a judgment

A creditor starts a garnishment by filing an affidavit, not by serving the employer directly. O.C.G.A. § 18-4-3 requires the affidavit to state that the plaintiff holds a judgment against a named defendant, the amount still due, the court that entered the judgment, and the case number. The affidavit is sworn before a notary or the clerk.

1. Confirm a judgment exists and is unpaid

   Garnishment requires a money judgment. The amount claimed in the affidavit can include the unpaid balance plus filing and service fees from earlier garnishment attempts on the same judgment, but it cannot exceed what the judgment actually supports.

2. File the affidavit of garnishment with the clerk

   The affidavit goes to the clerk of a court with jurisdiction over garnishments, which includes the magistrate court that entered a small claims judgment. The statutory affidavit form appears at O.C.G.A. § 18-4-71. Some courts allow electronic filing of the affidavit.

3. The clerk issues the summons of garnishment

   On the filing of a proper affidavit, the clerk issues a summons of garnishment directed at the garnishee. The summons, the affidavit, and a notice to the defendant of exemption rights are then served on the employer.

4. The garnishee answers and withholds

   The employer files an answer reporting the debtor’s earnings and pays the withheld amount into court. An employer that ignores a properly served summons can be held liable by default for the amount that should have been withheld.

The mandatory statutory forms for each step, including the affidavit, the summons, and the answer, are collected in Article 4 of Chapter 4. A creditor still weighing collection options can compare garnishment with the other post-judgment tools described in the guide to collecting a Georgia small claims judgment.

How long a wage garnishment lasts

The garnishment period depends on the type of garnishment, and the durations are set in O.C.G.A. § 18-4-4. The clock starts on the day the summons is served on the garnishee.

A continuing garnishment runs for the next 1,095 days, roughly three years, capturing earnings that accrue throughout that window from a single filing. An ordinary garnishment served on a financial institution reaches funds held at service plus the next five days, which is why bank garnishment takes a snapshot rather than a recurring cut. Any other garnishment runs for 29 days. A continuing garnishment for support lasts as long as the debtor stays employed by the garnishee and does not end until the arrearage is paid.

Earnings and funds that are exempt

Some money is off-limits to garnishment even when the debtor owes a valid judgment. O.C.G.A. § 18-4-6 sets out categories of exempt property and directs the Georgia Attorney General to publish a list of exemptions that each clerk of court must post and provide on request.

Funds in an individual retirement account or a pension or retirement program are exempt while they remain in the plan. Once those funds are paid out to the member, they are protected only to the same extent as other disposable earnings under the § 18-4-5 limit. Several federal benefits, including Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and most veterans’ benefits, are generally protected from garnishment for consumer debts under federal law, though the protection can require the debtor to identify the funds as exempt.

The statute is explicit that its list is not exhaustive: a debtor can claim an exemption that the Attorney General has not specifically identified. Money that originated as protected earnings can stay exempt even after it lands in a bank account, which matters when a creditor garnishes an account into which wages or benefits are deposited.

How a debtor stops or challenges a garnishment

A debtor is not automatically a party to a garnishment; the action runs between the creditor and the garnishee. To object, the debtor files a claim with the clerk of court. O.C.G.A. § 18-4-15 lets the debtor become a party at any time before the court enters judgment, orders funds disbursed, or distributes the property, whichever happens first.

The claim states the basis for the objection. Recognized grounds include the earnings limit in § 18-4-5, an exemption under § 18-4-6, the absence of a valid judgment, an erroneous amount claimed, or a superior third-party claim to the money. Filing the claim freezes disbursement: no further summons issues and no money is released until a hearing is held. The court must set that hearing within ten days of the filing, and the hearing is available to the debtor as a matter of right.

Challenging the underlying judgment is a separate matter. O.C.G.A. § 18-4-15(e) provides that the validity of the judgment behind a garnishment can be attacked only through a separate proceeding under Georgia’s Civil Practice Act, not inside the garnishment case. A debtor who believes the original magistrate court judgment was wrong looks to the appeal route for a Georgia small claims judgment, or to a motion to set aside in the court that entered it. A debtor who never received notice of the original suit may have grounds tied to how the magistrate court case was filed and served.