how much can be garnished 
the dollar amount that can be garnished will vary from situation to situation however there are some limits in some cases for example the information below relates specifically to wage garnishment the consumer credit protection act stipulates the amount of income that can be garnished from an individual s wage the garnishment amount is the lower of the following individuals who earn disposable income under 217 50 per week do not receive any wage garnishment individuals who receive a disposable income of between 217 50 and 290 per week can have any amount above 217 50 garnished for weekly disposable earnings above 290 a maximum of 25 can be garnished 1disposable income is defined as gross income minus legally required deductions such as federal state and local taxes and social security deductions 1special considerationsgarnishment limits set by the consumer credit protection act do not apply to unpaid tax debt child support bankruptcy orders student loans or voluntary wage allocations federal agencies and federal student loan holders can garnish up to 15 of an individual s wage 14sixty percent of wages can be garnished for child support payments if an individual has no other dependents to support federal and state garnishment limits may differ in which case the lower garnishment limit applies if an individual faces financial hardship due to wage garnishment they may be eligible to file a claim to reduce the garnishment amount 1example of garnishmentone famous example of wage garnishment involves the case of o j simpson the former nfl player and actor in 1997 simpson was ordered to pay 33 5 million in damages to the families of nicole brown simpson and ronald goldman in a civil wrongful death lawsuit following his acquittal in their criminal murder trial 5to enforce the judgment a portion of simpson s nfl pension and earnings from other ventures were subject to wage garnishment however the garnishment would be capped based on where mr simpson lived when granted parole for example simpon indicated he d in florida when paroled the state s garnishment limit is 25 5 it was supposedly reported that simpson had not willingly paid any money towards the court order 6