Wage Garnishment Limits in Missouri

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

RSMo § 525.030 states the wage limits and employment protection; § 525.040 ranks writs that otherwise have equal priority. The separate head-of-family property exemption is in § 513.440.

Maximum garnishment amount

For $400 of weekly disposable earnings, the ordinary 25% branch is $100 and the amount above the $217.50 federal-wage floor is $182.50. A qualifying head of family has a third branch of $40, so § 525.030.2(1) permits at most $40. On a paycheck just above the floor, the excess-over-the-floor branch could be smaller than 10%.

Federal floor comparison

The 25% and 30-times-federal-wage branches correspond to 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a). Missouri's additional 10% branch can lower the amount available to an ordinary creditor when the worker is both a resident and head of a family.

Minimum wage protection floor

Section 525.030.2(1)(b) uses the federal hourly wage in 29 U.S.C. § 206(a)(1)(C), currently $7.25, not Missouri's own wage rate. Subsection 2(3) specifies how to multiply the federal floor for longer pay periods.

Priority debt exceptions

Section 525.030.2(2) excludes support orders, Chapter XIII bankruptcy orders, and state or federal tax debts from these ordinary limits. Federal support percentages appear in 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b), and federal student-loan administrative garnishment has its own 15% rule in 20 U.S.C. § 1095a(a)(1).

Head-of-household exemption

The 10% branch requires both Missouri residency and head-of-family status under § 525.030.2(1)(c). The court's Form CV96 asks the worker to state that they substantially support a spouse or dependents, then instructs them to file the affidavit with the issuing court, serve the employer, and mail the garnisher. Section 513.440 separately exempts specified family property but excepts 10% of wages from that property exemption.

Multiple garnishments priority

RSMo § 525.040.2 ranks writs by date of service on the employer when they would otherwise have equal priority. The employer must tell a later garnisher the case numbers of senior writs. A continuous wage garnishment under subsection 1 remains until the judgment is paid or the job ends.

Employee termination protection

Under § 525.030.5, an employer may not discharge an employee because earnings were garnished for one indebtedness; subsection 6 makes a willful violation a misdemeanor. The federal discharge rule in 15 U.S.C. § 1674(a) also refers to one indebtedness.

What trips people up

The three branches can change which number controls. The head-of-family branch is a 10% ceiling, not a promise that exactly 10% is always reachable: the federal-wage floor may leave less. The court's posted affidavit has older personal-property figures, so use § 513.440 for those figures.

Common questions

Do commissions and bonuses count as earnings? Yes. Section 525.030.2(5) expressly includes commissions, bonuses, and periodic pension or retirement payments.

Does a judgment dated earlier automatically have priority? Section 525.040.2 uses service on the employer to rank writs that otherwise have equal priority.

Does the 10% branch apply to a worker who lives outside Missouri? The text of § 525.030.2(1)(c) requires Missouri residency as well as head-of-family status.

Statutes and sources

• RSMo § 525.030.2(1) — “The maximum part of the aggregate earnings of any individual for any workweek, after the deduction from those earnings of any amounts required by law to be withheld, which is subjected to garnishment may not exceed (a) twenty-five percentum, or, (b) the amount by which his aggregate earnings for that week, after the deduction from those earnings of any amounts required to be withheld by law, exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage prescribed by section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 in effect at the time the earnings are payable, or, (c) if the employee is the head of a family and a resident of this state, ten percentum, whichever is less.” Source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=525.030 (accessed 2026-10-06).

• RSMo § 525.030.2(2) — “The restrictions on the maximum earnings subjected to garnishment do not apply in the case of any order of any court for the support of any person, any order of any court of bankruptcy under chapter XIII of the Bankruptcy Act or any debt due for any state or federal tax.” Source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=525.030 (accessed 2026-10-06).

• RSMo § 525.030.5-6 — “5. No employer may discharge any employee by reason of the fact that his earnings have been subjected to garnishment or sequestration for any one indebtedness. 6. Whoever willfully violates the provisions of subsection 5 of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.” Source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=525.030 (accessed 2026-10-06).

• RSMo § 525.030.5 — “5. No employer may discharge any employee by reason of the fact that his earnings have been subjected to garnishment or sequestration for any one indebtedness.” Source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=525.030 (accessed 2026-10-06).

• RSMo § 525.030.6 — “6. Whoever willfully violates the provisions of subsection 5 of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.” Source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=525.030 (accessed 2026-10-06).

• RSMo § 525.040.2 — “Writs of garnishment which would otherwise have equal priority shall have priority according to the date of service on the garnishee. If the employee's wages have been attached by more than one writ of garnishment, the employer shall inform the inferior garnisher of the existence and case number of all senior garnishments.” Source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=525.040 (accessed 2026-10-06).

• RSMo § 513.440 — “Each head of a family may select and hold, exempt from execution, any other property, real, personal or mixed, or debts and wages, not exceeding in value the amount of one thousand two hundred fifty dollars plus three hundred fifty dollars for each of such person's unmarried dependent children under the age of twenty-one years or dependent as defined by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, determined to be disabled by the Social Security Administration, except ten percent of any debt, income, salary or wages due such head of a family.” Source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=513.440 (accessed 2026-10-06).

• 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) — “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. In the case of earnings for any pay period other than a week, the Secretary of Labor shall by regulation prescribe a multiple of the Federal minimum hourly wage equivalent in effect to that set forth in paragraph (2).” Source: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title15/html/USCODE-2024-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673.htm (accessed 2026-10-06).

• 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) where such individual is supporting his spouse or dependent child (other than a spouse or child with respect to whose support such order is used), 50 per centum of such individual's disposable earnings for that week; and (B) where such individual is not supporting such a spouse or dependent child described in clause (A), 60 per centum of such individual's disposable earnings for that week; except that, with respect to the disposable earnings of any individual for any workweek, the 50 per centum specified in clause (A) shall be deemed to be 55 per centum and the 60 per centum specified in clause (B) shall be deemed to be 65 per centum, if and to the extent that such earnings are subject to garnishment to enforce a support order with respect to a period which is prior to the twelve-week period which ends with the beginning of such workweek.” Source: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title15/html/USCODE-2024-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673.htm (accessed 2026-10-06).

• 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” Source: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title20/html/USCODE-2024-title20-chap28-subchapIV-partG-sec1095a.htm (accessed 2026-10-06).

• 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.” Source: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title15/html/USCODE-2024-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1674.htm (accessed 2026-10-06).

• Missouri Courts Form CV96, Judgment Debtor’s Claim for Exemption — “FOR THIS EXEMPTION TO TAKE EFFECT, IT: 1. MUST BE FILED WITH THE CIRCUIT COURT ISSUING THE WRIT OF GARNISHMENT, 2. SERVED UPON YOUR EMPLOYER, AND 3. MAILED TO THE GARNISHOR.” Source: https://stlcountycourts.com/forms/associate-civil/affidavit-for-head-of-family-exemption-of-wages-garnishment/ (accessed 2026-10-06).

• 29 U.S.C. § 206(a)(1)(C) — “$7.25 an hour, beginning 24 months after that 60th day;” Source: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title29/html/USCODE-2024-title29-chap8-sec206.htm (accessed 2026-10-06).