Garnishment is a legal process for collecting a monetary judgment on behalf of a plaintiff from a defendant. Garnishment allows the plaintiff (the "garnishor") to take the money or property of the debtor from the person or institution that holds that property (the "garnishee"). A similar legal mechanism called execution allows the seizure of money or property held directly by the debtor. Some jurisdictions may allow for garnishment by a tax agency without the need to first obtain a judgment or other court order. Wages Wage garnishment, the most common type of garnishment, is the process of deducting money from an employee's monetary compensation (including salary), usually as a result of a court order. Wage garnishments may continue until the entire debt is paid or arrangements are made to pay off the debt. Garnishments can be taken for any type of debt but common examples of debt that result in garnishments include: Child support Defaulted student loans Taxes Unpaid Court costs Court-ordered judgments When served on an employer, garnishments are taken as part of the payroll process. When processing payroll, sometimes there is not enough money in the employee's net pay to satisfy all of the garnishments. For example, in a case with federal tax, local tax, and credit card garnishments, the first garnishment taken would be the federal tax garnishments, then local tax garnishments, and, finally, garnishments for the credit card. Employers receive a notice telling them to withhold a certain amount of their employee's wages for payment and cannot refuse to garnish wages. Employers must correctly calculate the amount to withhold, and must make the deductions until the garnishment expires. Wage garnishment can negatively affect credit, reputation, and the ability to receive a loan or open a bank account. At present four U.S. states—Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas—do not allow wage garnishment at all except for tax-related debt, child support, federally guaranteed student loans, and court-ordered fines or restitution. The federal garnishment limit (with some exceptions like child support and student loans) on a weekly basis is the lower of (A) 25% of one's disposable earnings (what's left after mandatory tax deductions), or (B) the total amount by which one's weekly wage exceeds thirty times the federal hourly minimum wage. Several other states observe maximum thresholds that are lower than the maxima provided by federal law. States may also prohibit garnishment altogether in certain circumstances. For