Alabama: Wage Garnishment Limits
The short answer
Alabama runs the ordinary judgment-creditor case through two separate statutes that land on the same practical number. For consumer credit debt (credit cards, retail installment contracts, personal loans), § 5-19-15 directly restates the federal formula: the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage. For every other private debt -- an unpaid invoice, a tort verdict, anything not arising from a consumer credit transaction -- § 6-10-7 exempts 75% of wages outright, leaving 25% reachable, with the same federal minimum-wage floor layered on top as an independent nationwide protection under the Consumer Credit Protection Act. Either way, the practical cap and floor end up identical to the federal rule; Alabama isn't more protective than federal law here, just organized differently. Child support gets its own, much higher cap and its own priority rule.
| Governing law | Ala. Code § 5-19-15 (consumer credit transactions -- directly restates the federal formula); § 6-10-7 (general/non-consumer debts and tort judgments -- 75% wage exemption); § 30-3-67, § 30-3-70 (child support withholding priority and anti-discharge, Title 30) |
|---|---|
| Maximum that can be garnished | For consumer credit debt: the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage, stated directly in § 5-19-15. For non-consumer debt and tort judgments: § 6-10-7 exempts 75% of wages (leaving 25% reachable), with the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act's 30x-minimum-wage floor applying independently as a nationwide baseline on top -- so both tracks produce the same practical number even though only one track's own text mentions the wage floor |
| State rule vs. federal floor | Effectively identical to the federal CCPA formula on both tracks, not more protective. Section 5-19-15 restates the federal 25%/30x-minimum-wage rule directly for consumer debt; § 6-10-7's 75%-exemption for other debts matches the federal 25% prong exactly, and the federal minimum-wage floor (15 U.S.C. § 1673, which applies nationwide regardless of state law) supplies the second prong Alabama's own non-consumer-debt statute doesn't separately state |
| Minimum-wage protected floor | 30 times the FEDERAL minimum hourly wage ($7.25), the same figure used nationwide -- $217.50/week. Section 5-19-15 states this floor directly for consumer debt; for non-consumer debt under § 6-10-7, the same floor still applies, but through the independently-operating federal Consumer Credit Protection Act rather than through Alabama's own statutory text |
| Support, tax & student loan debts | Child/spousal support: withholding under Title 30, Ch. 3, Art. 3 may exceed § 6-10-7's ordinary statutory maximum, capped instead at 'the maximum statutory amounts prescribed under federal law for garnishments issued to enforce support obligations' -- the familiar 50-65% CCPA support tiers (§ 30-3-67). Federal tax and student-loan collection proceed under independent federal authority (IRS administrative levy; 15% of disposable pay under 20 U.S.C. § 1095a for defaulted federal student loans), outside Alabama's court-garnishment statutes entirely |
| Head-of-household/family exemption | None. Neither § 5-19-15 nor § 6-10-7 gives a debtor supporting dependents any additional wage protection beyond the standard formula. Alabama's separate $7,750 personal-property exemption (§ 6-10-6) is a different fund entirely and doesn't apply to wages |
| Multiple garnishments at once | Child/spousal support withholding automatically outranks an ordinary garnishment: § 30-3-67 gives a support withholding order priority over any writ of garnishment or other state legal process against the same income 'whether the writ of garnishment or other process was served prior or subsequent to the order,' and if a debtor faces both a support order and an ordinary garnishment or more than one support order, 'the current month's support payments shall be satisfied before any arrearages are satisfied.' For competing ordinary (non-support) garnishments, Alabama runs continuing garnishments, effectively a first-in-time queue rather than a shared-percentage split among simultaneous creditors |
| Protection from being fired | Matches the federal one-debt floor for ordinary garnishment (15 U.S.C. § 1674) with no independent state-law extension found for consumer or non-consumer creditor garnishment. Child support withholding gets its own, separate state anti-discharge rule: § 30-3-70 bars firing an employee or refusing to hire someone 'because of the entry of an order of withholding or service of the same,' backed by contempt-of-court liability for a violating employer -- broader than the federal one-debt limit and specific to support withholding |
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The short answer
Alabama splits ordinary wage garnishment into two statutes depending on what kind of debt is behind the judgment, but both land on the same practical number. If the debt is a consumer credit sale, loan, lease, or rental-purchase agreement, § 5-19-15 caps garnishment at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage -- a direct restatement of the federal formula. If the debt is anything else -- an unpaid invoice, a tort judgment, a personal loan between individuals -- § 6-10-7 exempts 75% of wages outright, and the same federal minimum-wage floor still applies on top of that as an independent, nationwide protection under the Consumer Credit Protection Act. Either way, a creditor generally can't take more than 25% of disposable earnings, and can't touch anything below 30 times the federal minimum wage per week. Child and spousal support runs on its own, much higher cap and automatically outranks an ordinary garnishment on the same paycheck.
Requirements one by one
Governing law
Alabama doesn't have one dedicated wage-garnishment chapter; the rule depends on the kind of debt. Section 5-19-15, in the consumer finance title, governs garnishment for consumer credit transactions specifically. Section 6-10-7, in the general Civil Practice exemptions chapter, governs everything else -- "debts contracted or judgments entered in tort." Child and spousal support withholding runs through its own separate article, §§ 30-3-60 through 30-3-71.
Maximum that can be garnished
For consumer debt, § 5-19-15 states the cap directly: the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage. For every other kind of private debt, § 6-10-7 exempts 75% of wages from garnishment outright -- meaning a creditor can reach at most the remaining 25%. Section 6-10-7's own text doesn't mention a minimum-wage floor the way § 5-19-15 does, but that doesn't leave non-consumer debtors less protected: the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act's 30-times-minimum-wage floor applies automatically nationwide, regardless of what a particular state statute says, so it fills that gap for the non-consumer track too.
State rule vs. federal floor
Alabama tracks federal law closely rather than exceeding it. The consumer-debt statute restates the federal formula word for word in substance. The non-consumer-debt statute's 75%-exempt/25%-reachable split matches the federal 25% prong exactly, and the federal minimum-wage floor fills in the rest. Unlike California or Colorado, which cut the percentage or raise the wage multiplier beyond what federal law requires, Alabama doesn't go further than the federal baseline on either track.
Minimum-wage protected floor
Thirty times the FEDERAL minimum hourly wage -- $7.25, so $217.50 per week -- applies on both tracks. For consumer debt, § 5-19-15 states this directly. For non-consumer debt, Alabama's own statute is silent on a wage floor, but the same $217.50 protection still applies because the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act operates as an independent nationwide floor regardless of state law.
Support, tax & student loan debts
Child and spousal support withholding is deliberately allowed to cut deeper than the ordinary rule: § 30-3-67 says a support withholding order "may exceed the statutory maximum amounts prescribed in Section 6-10-7," capped instead at "the maximum statutory amounts prescribed under federal law for garnishments issued to enforce support obligations" -- the familiar federal 50-65% tiers. Federal tax debt and defaulted federal student loans run on independent federal authority outside Alabama's garnishment statutes entirely; student-loan administrative wage garnishment is capped at 15% of disposable pay under 20 U.S.C. § 1095a.
Head-of-household/family exemption
There isn't one. Neither the consumer-debt statute nor the general-debt statute gives a debtor supporting a family any extra wage protection on top of the standard formula. Alabama's separate $7,750 personal-property exemption is a different pool of assets and doesn't extend to garnished wages.
Multiple garnishments at once
Support withholding always wins. Section 30-3-67 gives a support withholding order priority over any garnishment or other state legal process against the same income, regardless of which was served first, and if a debtor faces multiple support-related withholdings at once, current support gets paid before any arrears. Among ordinary (non-support) garnishments, Alabama uses continuing garnishment orders that function largely as a first-in-time queue rather than splitting a shared percentage among simultaneous creditors.
Protection from being fired
For an ordinary garnishment, Alabama doesn't extend the federal rule -- an employee is protected from discharge only for a single garnishment, the same as everywhere else under 15 U.S.C. § 1674. Child support withholding gets a separate, dedicated state protection instead: § 30-3-70 bars firing an employee or refusing to hire someone because of a withholding order, backed by contempt-of-court liability for a violating employer.
What trips people up
It's easy to read § 6-10-7's 75%-exemption language and think non-consumer debtors get NO minimum-wage-floor protection at all, since the statute itself never mentions one. In practice they do -- the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act's 30-times-minimum-wage floor applies to every garnishment nationwide regardless of what a specific state statute says, so it fills that gap automatically. The two Alabama tracks end up producing essentially the same result even though only one of them spells out both halves of the formula in its own text. It's also worth flagging which track applies before assuming the answer: whether a debt counts as a "consumer credit transaction" under § 5-19-15 or falls into § 6-10-7's broader "debts contracted or judgments entered in tort" category can matter for other procedural details even when the practical dollar amount comes out the same.
Common questions
Does Alabama protect more of my paycheck than federal law requires?
No -- both of Alabama's garnishment statutes land on essentially the same result as the federal CCPA formula (25% of disposable earnings, or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is less).
If I'm sued over an unpaid medical bill instead of a credit card, does a different rule apply?
Yes, technically -- an unpaid medical bill usually isn't a "consumer credit transaction" under § 5-19-15, so it falls under § 6-10-7's general 75%-exemption rule instead. But because the federal minimum-wage floor fills in for § 6-10-7 automatically, the practical amount reachable ends up the same either way.
Does supporting a family reduce how much can be garnished in Alabama?
No -- Alabama has no head-of-household exemption for wage garnishment; the same formula applies whether or not you support dependents.
Statutes and sources
- Ala. Code § 5-19-15 — "the amount of unpaid earnings of the debtor subject to garnishment shall not exceed the lesser of: (1) Twenty-five percent of the debtor's disposable earnings for that week; or (2) The amount by which the debtor's disposable earnings for that week exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage in effect when payable." — https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-5/chapter-19/section-5-19-15/ (accessed 2026-07-05)
- Ala. Code § 6-10-7 — "The wages, salaries, or other compensation of laborers or employees... shall be exempt from levy under writs of garnishment or other process for the collection of debts contracted or judgments entered in tort in an amount equal to 75 percent of such wages... and the levy as to such percentage... shall be void." — https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-6/chapter-10/section-6-10-7/ (accessed 2026-07-05)
- Ala. Code § 30-3-67 — "Any order to withhold income... shall have priority over any writ of garnishment or any other state legal process against the same income... Any order for income withholding... may exceed the statutory maximum amounts prescribed in Section 6-10-7... but... may not exceed the maximum statutory amounts prescribed under federal law for garnishments issued to enforce support obligations." — https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-30/chapter-3/article-3/section-30-3-67/ (accessed 2026-07-05)
- Ala. Code § 30-3-70 — "No employer shall discharge an employee or refuse to hire a person because of the entry of an order of withholding or service of the same under this article. Any employer who violates this section may be held to be in contempt of court." — https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-30/chapter-3/article-3/section-30-3-70/ (accessed 2026-07-05)
- 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) — "the maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subjected to garnishment may not exceed (1) 25 per centum of his disposable earnings for that week, or (2) the amount by which his disposable earnings for that week exceed thirty times the Federal minimum hourly wage... whichever is less." — https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title15/USCODE-2011-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673 (accessed 2026-07-05)
- 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b) — "The maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subject to garnishment to enforce any order for the support of any person shall not exceed— (A)... 50 per centum... and (B)... 60 per centum." — https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title15/USCODE-2011-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673 (accessed 2026-07-05)
- 20 U.S.C. § 1095a(a)(1) — "the amount deducted for any pay period may not exceed 15 percent of disposable pay, except that a greater percentage may be deducted with the written consent of the individual involved." — https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title20-section1095a&num=0&edition=prelim (accessed 2026-07-05)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.