All posts

Wage Garnishment in Maryland: What They Can Take, What They Can't, and How to Stop It \| iFightDebt.com

iFightDebt · Maryland Consumer Defense

Wage Garnishment in Maryland: What They Can Take, What They Can’t, and How to Stop It

❖

A Maryland consumer’s plain-English guide to writs of garnishment, exemption claims, and the bankruptcy automatic stay.

By Amir Guerami, The Guerami Law Firm, LLC  ·  Posted May 27, 2026

The Wage Garnishment Trap

You opened your paycheck Friday, and a chunk of it is gone. Not “less than you expected.” Gone. The pay stub says “Withholding Order” or “Writ of Garnishment,” and your rent is due Tuesday.

That paper your employer received is not a mistake. It is a court order. And if you do nothing, the same amount will come out of every paycheck — plus interest, attorney’s fees, and court costs — until the debt is paid in full. For most Maryland consumers, that is years. For some, it is the difference between keeping a home and losing one.

This article walks through how wage garnishment works in Maryland, exactly what creditors are and are not allowed to take, and the realistic options on the table once a writ is served. Read it carefully. The clock is already running.

“If you were sued and threw the papers in a drawer, this is how the story ends.”

How a Garnishment Reaches Your Paycheck

In Maryland, a regular creditor — a credit card company, a medical provider, a debt buyer, a landlord — cannot simply pick up the phone, call your employer, and start taking money out of your check. The law requires a judgment first.

That means the creditor sued you in District Court or Circuit Court. A judge entered a written order finding that you owe the debt. Only then can the creditor file a “Request for Writ of Garnishment of Wages.” The court issues the writ. The sheriff or a process server delivers it to your employer. From that day forward, your employer is legally required to withhold money from each paycheck and send it to the court.

The single most common reason Marylanders end up garnished is not that the debt was real. It is that the consumer never showed up to fight. Maryland court files are full of default judgments — judgments entered because the defendant did not respond. The lawsuit papers got tossed in a drawer, addressed to an old apartment, or buried under hospital bills. The result is the same. The court enters judgment, and the garnishment follows.

⚠

DO NOT IGNORE A LAWSUIT, even if you think the debt is not yours. The clock starts the day you are served. Failing to file a written response is the single most common path to wage garnishment in Maryland. If a summons arrives, call a Maryland consumer attorney _that_ week.

The Maryland Math

Federal law — the Consumer Credit Protection Act — sets a floor on how much of your wages can be garnished. For most ordinary consumer debts, a creditor can take the lesser of:

• 25% of your disposable earnings for the workweek, _or_
• The amount by which your disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($217.50 per week at current rates).

“Disposable earnings” means gross wages minus required withholdings — federal income tax, state income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and similar. It is not what is left after your rent, your car payment, your groceries, or your kids’ daycare.

Run the math with a real number. If your disposable weekly wages are $800: 25% of $800 is $200. $800 minus $217.50 is $582.50. The smaller number wins. The creditor takes $200, every week, every payday, until the debt is satisfied.

For most Maryland families, $200 a week is the difference between making rent and not. And the garnishment does not pause for an emergency room visit, a layoff, or a tax bill.

Maryland sits on top of the federal rule. A handful of counties — Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Worcester — apply slightly different historical formulas. The Maryland Department of Labor publishes current limits. Your specific paycheck deserves a specific calculation, not a guess from a coworker.

Debts That Ignore the 25% Cap

Not every debt plays by the same rules. Some debts can take a much bigger bite — and some do not require a court judgment at all.

• Child support and alimony — Federal law allows 50% to 65% of disposable income, depending on whether you support another spouse or child and whether you are behind on payments.
• Federal student loans — The U.S. Department of Education can administratively garnish up to 15% of disposable wages without filing a lawsuit and without a judge.
• Federal and state taxes — The IRS and Comptroller of Maryland use separate, far harsher collection rules based on household size and standard deductions, not the 25% cap.
• Other federal debts — Many federal agencies have administrative garnishment authority that bypasses the state court process entirely.

If your garnishment falls in one of these categories, the playbook is different. Treating a child support garnishment like a credit-card garnishment will only make things worse. So will assuming bankruptcy will discharge a tax debt or a student loan — most will not.

“The math is unforgiving — $200 every week, every payday, until the debt is satisfied.”

Three Real Options When the Writ Arrives

A wage garnishment is not a permanent sentence. Maryland law gives consumers tools to fight. The trick is that these tools have short deadlines, and most defenses are surrendered if you sleep on them.

1\. Challenge the garnishment itself

Maryland gives a debtor a window — typically thirty days from service — to file a Motion to Quash the Garnishment or to claim exemptions. Common grounds for a successful challenge include:

• The wages being garnished are exempt under federal or Maryland law.
• The judgment underlying the garnishment is defective — improper service, lack of jurisdiction, expired statute of limitations.
• The debt was discharged in a prior bankruptcy.
• The amount being withheld exceeds what the law allows.

This is paperwork the court takes seriously — but only if it is filed correctly and on time.

2\. Test the underlying judgment

Many garnishment judgments — especially those held by debt buyers who purchased portfolios of old accounts — have weak foundations. Did the original creditor sue within Maryland’s statute of limitations? Was the debt buyer properly substituted as plaintiff? Were you actually served, or did service get posted to a building you moved out of two years ago? Is this debt even yours, or did identity theft put a stranger’s name on your credit report?

A successful motion to vacate the judgment makes the garnishment evaporate. The creditor may refile the lawsuit, but you get a fair fight on the merits this time — often with the statute of limitations now in your favor.

★

The Automatic Stay The moment a bankruptcy case is filed in federal court, an order called the “automatic stay” takes effect. The garnishment stops. Your employer must stop withholding. The creditor cannot call, sue, or collect. This is federal law, and it overrides any state court writ. For Maryland families facing garnishment, the automatic stay is often the only tool that stops the bleeding fast enough to save the household.

3\. Use the bankruptcy code

Filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy case triggers the automatic stay described above. It applies the moment the petition is filed — not when the case is finished, not when the creditor is notified. Your employer is legally bound to stop the garnishment as soon as the case number is delivered to payroll.

What happens next depends on the chapter:

• Chapter 7 wipes out most unsecured consumer debt — credit cards, medical bills, deficiency balances, most old judgments — in roughly four to five months. For consumers who qualify under Maryland’s means test, it is the fastest, cleanest exit.
• Chapter 13 is a court-supervised repayment plan over three to five years. It is often the right tool when a consumer wants to keep a house, catch up on a car loan, or address tax debt that Chapter 7 cannot touch.

Bankruptcy is not the right answer for every Maryland consumer. It carries real costs, real consequences, and real eligibility rules. But for a family already losing 25% of every paycheck, it is often the only tool that arrives fast enough to matter.

What To Do Today

A wage garnishment is not the end of the story. It is the moment you stop waiting and start fighting. Read the writ. Count the days. Pull out every piece of paper the creditor and the court have sent you. Then call a Maryland consumer attorney who handles these cases every week — and call this week, not next.

This article is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Maryland law changes, and every case turns on its own facts. If you or someone you love needs honest guidance on bankruptcy, debt settlement, creditor harassment, and collection defense, speak with a Maryland consumer attorney about your specific situation before making any decisions.

Contact The Guerami Law Firm, LLC through www.ifightdebt.com for a confidential consultation with Amir Guerami and his team.