How Much of Your Paycheck Can Be Garnished in Arizona?

How much of your paycheck can be garnished in Arizona?

For an ordinary judgment debt, no more than 10 percent of your disposable earnings for the workweek. Almost every source online quotes 25 percent. That is the federal ceiling, and Arizona sits well below it. The cap is actually the lesser of two figures, and for lower earners the second one can reduce it to nothing.

If a creditor has told you that a quarter of your wages is going, that is worth checking against the statute rather than accepting.

What counts as disposable earnings?

Not your take-home pay, and the difference usually works against the debtor.

A.R.S. § 33-1131(A) defines disposable earnings as the remaining portion of wages, salary, or compensation for personal services, including bonuses and commissions, and including payments made under a pension or retirement program or a deferred compensation plan, after deducting the amounts the law requires to be withheld.

The operative phrase is "required by law to be withheld." Taxes and other mandatory withholding come out first. Voluntary deductions do not. Health premiums you elected, retirement contributions you chose, union dues, a parking deduction: none of those reduce disposable earnings, even though they all reduce the number at the bottom of the pay stub.

So disposable earnings usually sits above net pay, and the percentage is measured against the larger figure.

How is the cap actually calculated?

Two figures, and the smaller one governs.

"Applicable minimum hourly wage" is defined in the statute as the minimum wage required by federal, state, or local law, whichever is highest. That matters in Arizona, where the state minimum exceeds the federal one and some cities set a higher figure again.

We are not turning that into a dollar amount here. Arizona's minimum wage is adjusted annually, and a city minimum can be higher still, so any figure printed on a page goes stale quietly. Run the formula against the minimum that actually applies where you work.

Bottom line: the second figure is a floor protection. A worker whose weekly disposable earnings barely exceed 60 times the applicable minimum wage has very little that is reachable, and a worker below that line has nothing reachable at all under this subsection.

Which debts are not limited to 10 percent?

Three categories sit outside it, and they are the ones people are most often facing.

Support orders. Subsection C says the exemptions in subsection B do not apply in the case of any order for the support of any person. Instead, one-half of disposable earnings for the pay period is exempt. That leaves far more available to a support order than to an ordinary creditor, which is a deliberate policy choice rather than an oversight. Support arrears are usually a family law question rather than a creditor one.

State and federal taxes. Subsection D removes the exemptions for any debt due for any state or federal tax. Tax collection runs on its own authority.

Chapter XIII bankruptcy orders. The same subsection excludes orders of a bankruptcy court under chapter XIII of the federal bankruptcy act.

Everything else, the credit card judgment, the medical debt, the old car loan deficiency, is an ordinary debt and lives under the 10 percent ceiling.

What money cannot be touched at all?

Separately from the wage percentage, Arizona exempts certain money outright. A.R.S. § 33-1126 makes the following exempt from execution, attachment, or sale on any process:

• Child support or spousal maintenance you receive under a court order, in full
• The earnings of your minor child, where the debt was not contracted for that child's special benefit
• Money payable to a surviving spouse or child on the life of a deceased spouse, parent, or legal guardian, up to $20,000
• Health, accident, or disability insurance benefits, whether paid as a lump sum or periodically, with exceptions for premiums on the policy and for certain secured obligations

The distinction matters when a creditor goes after a bank account rather than a paycheck. Money that was exempt when it was paid to you does not automatically lose that character once it lands in an account, which is one of the things an objection can raise.

How long does a garnishment last?

Until the judgment is satisfied, not until one payday passes.

A.R.S. § 12-1598.10 provides that where the court orders nonexempt withheld earnings transferred to the judgment creditor, it also orders that the garnishment is a continuing lien against the judgment debtor's nonexempt earnings. The writ reaches earnings owed when it was served and earnings that would be owed within sixty days after.

People expect a single deduction and then the matter closing. What actually happens is a standing claim on every paycheck until the balance is gone.

Can you object to a garnishment?

Yes, and the statute builds the right in rather than leaving it to be invented.

Section 12-1598.10 conditions the creditor's order on there being no timely written objection, and preserves the judgment debtor's right to objection and hearing. Where a timely objection is filed, the court holds a hearing and determines, among other things, whether the writ is valid against the judgment debtor and the amount outstanding on the judgment when the writ was served.

The word doing the work is timely. Garnishment deadlines are short and they start running from service, so the packet that arrives with the writ is the thing to read the day it arrives. An objection filed late is a different conversation from one filed on time.

When do people get a lawyer involved?

Most often once the writ has already been served, which is later than ideal but still useful.

Three situations come up repeatedly. The percentage being taken does not match the statute. The money being reached looks like it falls under one of the exemptions above. Or the judgment itself is one the person never knew about, which happens more than people expect with default judgments on old debts.

All three are objection material, and all three run on the short timeline above. A single creditor with a judgment is a consumer law question. Where the debts are broad enough that garnishment is only one symptom, bankruptcy is the lens people look through instead, and it carries its own exemption rules distinct from the ones on this page.

What this page cannot tell you is whether the amount coming out of your pay is correct. That depends on your actual disposable earnings, on the minimum wage that applies where you work, and on which category your debt falls into.

Frequently asked questions

How much can a creditor garnish from your wages in Arizona?

For an ordinary judgment debt, no more than ten percent of disposable earnings for the workweek, or the amount by which disposable earnings for that week exceed sixty times the applicable minimum hourly wage, whichever of those two is less. The widely quoted twenty-five percent figure is the federal ceiling and is not what Arizona allows.

What are disposable earnings in Arizona?

The statute defines them as the remaining portion of a debtor's wages, salary, or compensation for personal services, including bonuses and commissions, and including payments made under a pension or retirement program or a deferred compensation plan, after deducting the amounts the law requires to be withheld. It is not the same as the net figure on a pay stub, because voluntary deductions are not subtracted.

Can child support take more than 10 percent of your paycheck in Arizona?

Yes. The statute says the ordinary exemptions do not apply in the case of any order for the support of any person. In that situation one-half of the debtor's disposable earnings for the pay period is exempt, which is a much larger share available to the order than the ten percent ceiling that applies to ordinary judgment debts.

Can the IRS or the state garnish more than 10 percent in Arizona?

The statutory exemptions do not apply to any debt due for any state or federal tax, nor to an order of a bankruptcy court under chapter XIII of the federal bankruptcy act. Tax collection runs on its own rules rather than on the Arizona wage exemption.

Is a wage garnishment in Arizona a one-time deduction?

No. Where the court orders a garnishment of earnings, the statute provides that the garnishment is a continuing lien against the nonexempt earnings of the judgment debtor, so it keeps applying to future pay rather than being satisfied by a single withholding.

Can you fight a wage garnishment in Arizona?

The statute preserves the judgment debtor's right to object and to a hearing. Where a timely objection is filed, the court holds a hearing and determines matters including whether the writ is valid against the judgment debtor and the amount outstanding on the judgment when the writ was served. Because the deadlines are short, the paperwork served with the writ is worth reading immediately rather than later.

Is child support you receive protected from garnishment in Arizona?

Yes. Arizona exempts from execution, attachment, or sale all monies received by or payable to a person entitled to receive child support or spousal maintenance under a court order. The same section exempts the earnings of a debtor's minor child in most circumstances, and money payable to a surviving spouse or child on the life of a deceased spouse, parent, or legal guardian up to twenty thousand dollars.

Does garnishment apply to a pension or retirement payment in Arizona?

Those payments are inside the definition of disposable earnings for this section, which expressly includes payments made pursuant to a pension or retirement program or a deferred compensation plan. Being inside the definition means the same percentage limits are measured against them, not that they are freely available to a creditor.

Sources

• A.R.S. 33-1131, definition; wages; salary; compensation · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-14
• A.R.S. 33-1126, money benefits or proceeds; exception · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-14
• A.R.S. 12-1598.10, continuing lien on earnings; order · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-14

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