Michigan: Wage Garnishment Limits

The short answer

Michigan doesn't write its own percentage into its garnishment law. Instead,
its garnishment rule points straight to the federal formula: an ordinary
judgment creditor — a credit card company, a hospital, a personal-loan
lender — can take no more than the lesser of 25% of your weekly disposable
earnings, or the amount those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum
hourly wage. Since a 2015 overhaul, a periodic wage garnishment also no
longer expires every 182 days — it now runs until the judgment is paid in
full. Child support and alimony are different: withholding for those is
capped lower, at a flat 50% of disposable earnings, and a support order or
a state tax levy always jumps ahead of an ordinary garnishment no matter
which one a garnishee received first.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Michigan's garnishment authority sits in the Revised Judicature Act, MCL §§
600.4011 and 600.4012, which set out who can be garnished, how priority
among multiple garnishments works, and the procedural mechanics. The
day-to-day process — how a writ is served, how withholding is computed and
disclosed — is spelled out in Michigan Court Rule 3.101. Child support and
alimony withholding runs on an entirely separate statute, the Support and
Parenting Time Enforcement Act, MCL 552.601 et seq., with its own cap in §
552.608 and its own priority rule in § 552.611.

Maximum that can be garnished

Neither MCL 600.4011 nor 600.4012 states a Michigan-specific percentage.
Instead, MCR 3.101(B)(1)(c) points directly to federal law, describing "the
maximum that could be withheld by law" for an earnings garnishment as the
amount set by 15 U.S.C. § 1673: the lesser of 25% of weekly disposable
earnings, or the amount those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum
hourly wage. In effect, Michigan simply applies the federal ceiling rather
than adopting a different number of its own.

State rule vs. federal floor

For an ordinary garnishment, Michigan matches the federal floor exactly
rather than raising or lowering it — there's no independent Michigan
formula to compare. Where Michigan does set its own number is child
support: § 552.608 caps support withholding at a flat 50% of disposable
earnings, which is more protective than the federal ceiling that would
otherwise allow up to 60%, or 65% if the obligor is 12 or more weeks
behind.

Minimum-wage protected floor

The multiplier is 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage — the same
number the federal formula itself uses, with no separate Michigan
multiplier and no substitution of a (higher) state minimum wage in the
calculation.

Support, tax & student loan debts

Child support and alimony withholding is capped at a flat 50% of
disposable earnings under § 552.608, regardless of arrears or whether the
obligor supports another family — Michigan doesn't step the percentage up
to the higher figures federal law would otherwise permit. Both a support
income-withholding order and a state or governmental-unit tax levy outrank
an ordinary garnishment "regardless of the order in which they are
received" (MCL 600.4012(2)). Federal tax levies and federal student loan
administrative wage garnishment — up to 15%, without a court judgment —
reach Michigan paychecks independently of any of this, because those
processes come from federal law.

Head-of-household/family exemption

Michigan doesn't have one. Its ordinary garnishment cap is exactly the
federal 25%/30x formula, with no additional exemption for a debtor who
supports a family or qualifies as head of household layered on top of it,
the way some other states add.

Multiple garnishments at once

MCL 600.4012(2) resolves this directly: a support income-withholding order
and a state or governmental-unit tax levy both outrank an ordinary
garnishment no matter which arrived first. Among garnishments of the same
priority level, the one the garnishee received earliest controls, and the
garnishee owes nothing on a later, same-or-lower-priority garnishment until
the earlier one stops being effective. There's one wrinkle for earnings
specifically: MCR 3.101(B)(1)(c) requires the garnishee to still withhold
under the lower-priority garnishment to the extent the higher-priority
order is taking less than the full amount the federal ceiling would allow
— so a support order that isn't using the whole 25%/30x cushion doesn't
necessarily block a second garnishment entirely.

Protection from being fired

No Michigan-specific statute barring discharge over a garnishment turned up
in the garnishment law itself, the court rule, or the state's wage-payment
act. Michigan relies on the federal rule alone: 15 U.S.C. § 1674 bars
firing an employee because their earnings were garnished for a single
debt.

What trips people up

The 2015 overhaul (Public Act 14) changed more than the math — before it,
a periodic garnishment lapsed after 182 days and had to be reissued;
now it simply runs until the judgment, interest, and costs are paid off,
which matters if you're trying to track when a garnishment against your
pay will actually end. And the priority rule cuts both ways: a support
order or tax levy doesn't just outrank a competing garnishment, it can
still leave room for a lower-priority garnishment to take a partial bite
if the higher-priority order isn't using the full amount the law would
otherwise allow.

Common questions

Can a credit card company take more than 25% of my paycheck in
Michigan?
No — Michigan applies the federal cap directly: the lesser of 25% of your
disposable earnings, or the amount those earnings exceed 30 times the
federal minimum hourly wage.

If I'm already paying child support and a credit card company also gets
a judgment against me, which garnishment wins?
The child support withholding order wins automatically — MCL 600.4012(2)
gives it priority over an ordinary garnishment no matter which one your
employer received first.

Does my old wage garnishment expire after six months?
Not anymore. Since a 2015 change to MCL 600.4012, a periodic garnishment
stays in effect until the judgment, interest, and costs are fully paid,
rather than expiring every 182 days.

Statutes and sources

• Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.4012 — "(1) A garnishment of periodic payments
  remains in effect until the balance of the judgment is satisfied. (2) A
  garnishee is not liable for a garnishment of periodic payments under
  subsection (1) to the extent that the garnishee is required to satisfy
  another garnishment against the same defendant having a higher priority
  or having the same priority but received at an earlier date. ... Both of
  the following have priority over a garnishment, regardless of the order
  in which they are received: (a) An order of income withholding ... (b) A
  levy of this state or a governmental unit of this state to satisfy a tax
  liability." —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-600-4012
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.4011 — "Subject to sections 4061 and 4061a, and
  the conditions in subsections (2) to (10), the court has power by
  garnishment to apply the following property or obligation, or both, to
  the satisfaction of a claim ... (5) A garnishment proceeding shall not
  be commenced against a person for money owing to a defendant on account
  of labor performed by the defendant until after the plaintiff's claim
  has been reduced to judgment." —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-600-4011
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Michigan Court Rule 3.101(B)(1)(c) — "If a writ of periodic garnishment
  is served on a garnishee who is obligated to make periodic payments to
  the defendant while another order that has priority under MCL
  600.4012(2) is in effect ... the garnishee is not obligated to withhold
  payments pursuant to the lower priority writ until the higher priority
  writ ceases to be effective ... However, in the case of garnishment of
  earnings, the garnishee shall withhold pursuant to the lower priority
  writ to the extent that the amount being withheld pursuant to the
  higher priority order is less than the maximum that could be withheld
  by law pursuant to the lower priority writ (see, e.g., 15 USC 1673)." —
  https://www.courts.michigan.gov/siteassets/rules-instructions-administrative-orders/michigan-court-rules/court-rules-book-ch-3-responsive-html5.zip/Court_Rules_Book_Ch_3/Court_Rules_Chapter_3/Court_Rules_Chapter_3.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Mich. Comp. Laws § 552.608 — "The total amount of income withheld under
  this act under all orders to withhold income for current support, past
  due support, fees, and health care coverage premiums effective against
  a payer shall not exceed 50% of the payer's disposable earnings as that
  term is defined in 15 USC 1672." —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-552-608
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Mich. Comp. Laws § 552.611 — "An order of income withholding entered
  under this act is binding upon a source of income 7 days after service
  ... The order of income withholding remains in effect until further
  order of the court. An order of income withholding has priority over
  all other legal process under state law against the same income." —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-552-611
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• 15 U.S.C. § 1673 — "Except as provided in subsection (b) and in section
  1675 of this title, 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
  prescribed by section 206(a)(1) of title 29 in effect at the time the
  earnings are payable, 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. § 1674 — "No employer may discharge any employee by reason of
  the fact that his earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any
  one indebtedness." —
  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title15/html/USCODE-2024-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1674.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-05)