How many people can take money out of your paycheck at a time?
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How many people can take money out of your paycheck at a time?
My dad pays a lot of money into child support every month from his paychecks. His last landlord sued him for damage to the house he was living in that was no fault of my dad. He ended up owing the guy anywhere between $7,000-$13,000. The landlord now gets a bunch of money from my dad that is also taken out of his paychecks everymonth. He now can’t even afford to pay his own bills. I just wanted to know if it was legal for that much money to be taken out of his paychecks at one time?
Asked on June 26, 2012 under Bankruptcy Law, California
Answers:
Cameron Norris, Esq. / Law Office of Gary W. Norris
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
California follows the Federal rules on wage garnishment. Child support arrears can have other implications, such as the loss of a drivers license and a writ of execution (where they literally take away assets). Here are the limits on garnishment (which you can read more about here: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs30.pdf). The lesser of the following two amounts is the sum you are allowed to take out of someone's check:
(1)The amount by which a debtor’s weekly income is greater than 30 times the minimum wage. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, making the 30 hour weekly total $217.50. This leaves the debtor with something to live on, though it clearly can be less than is needed to meet minimum obligations.
(2) 25% of disposable income. Disposable income is defined as the income that is left after all legally required deductions are taken from a person’s paycheck. This include Federal and State Taxes, FICA, State Unemployment and Disability Taxes , with “disposable income” defined as income left after legally required deductions from a person’s paycheck, such as FICA. Other obligations, such as voluntary contributions to retirement accounts, deductions for medical, dental or vision insurance, or contribution to a Medical Savings Account are not exempt and will be considered part of the disposable income.
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