Tennessee Wage Garnishment Exemption

 

Wages are protected by federal non bankruptcy law, and by state wage garnishment laws, which are generally more generous than the Federal wage garnishment protection. There are typically exceptions to this exemption for things like child support, and other priority debts.

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Wage Exemptions -- State System

Tennessee Law Wage Garnishment Limits

Tennessee garnishment law protects the federal minimum (75% of wages or 30 times federal minimum wage), plus $2.50 per week for each dependent child under age 16.

Tennessee scored a "D" in the the NCLC grading of state wage garnishment protections, because it preserves more of a worker’s wages than the minimum required by federal law.

Federal Non-Bankruptcy Law
(available only if using State System)

Federal "non-bankruptcy" law also offers exemption protection for wages.

Wage Garnishment — Federal System § 522 (no exemption)

Can Tennessee debtors use the Federal Bankruptcy exemptions instead of Tennessee exemptions?

No. Tenn. Code Ann. § 26-2-112.

The Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions under 11 U.S.C. § 522(d) are available to you if

  • you haven't lived in any state longer than 180 days for a while,
  • or
  • if your state allows the Federal exemptions as a choice.
 Tennessee collections law and federal labor law (a federal non-bankruptcy exemption) set limits on what wages can be garnished.
 
The Wage Garnishment exemption in bankruptcy is for "earned by unpaid wages"... that is wages you'd earned as of the date you filed, but hadn't been paid for yet.
In a few states, the exemption protects earlier wages deposited in a bank account.
 
As the NCLC pointed out in a 2019 survey of state wage garnishment laws, some states fail to guarantee that a debtor can earn a poverty wage free of garnishment.

See also on LegalConsumer.com

From Elsewhere on the web:


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Jurisdictional relevance: ST

There are versions of this article for each State.