Wage Garnishment Limits in South Carolina

At a glance

How ordinary creditors collect without wage garnishment

S.C. Code § 15-39-410 lets a judge apply nonexempt property to a judgment but expressly excepts a debtor's earnings for personal services. Section 37-5-104 separately prohibits attaching unpaid earnings for a consumer credit sale, lease, loan, or rental-purchase agreement. The ordinary private judgment therefore has no wage percentage to calculate; collection must use property that the law permits the creditor to reach.

Section 15-39-420 also addresses a creditor using a garnishment from another state. It requires a South Carolina judgment before an employer here may withhold a resident employee's wages under the foreign proceeding, and subsection (2) still says personal-service earnings may not be garnished regardless of where the debt arose.

Separate withholding routes

Support withholding under § 63-17-1460 directs payors to withhold current support and specified arrears within the federal support limits in 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b). Current support has priority when several support notices apply, and subsection (H) places support withholding ahead of other state-law process against the same wages.

For government liabilities, § 12-4-580 gives the Department of Revenue the collection powers of a government claimant under an agreement; the Department's Revenue Ruling 15-13 expressly identifies wage garnishment as one of those tools. Federal student-loan administrative garnishment has a separate 15% disposable-pay limit in 20 U.S.C. § 1095a(a)(1).

What trips people up

The consumer-credit prohibition is narrower than the general earnings bar. Section 37-5-104 names consumer transactions; § 15-39-410 is the provision that protects personal-service earnings in judgment execution generally. Also, § 37-5-106 bars discharge for a creditor's attempted garnishment on the listed consumer debts; the federal single-debt discharge rule appears in 15 U.S.C. § 1674(a).

Common questions

Does a judgment from another state let my employer withhold wages? Section 15-39-420 requires a South Carolina judgment for the same debt before withholding under an out-of-state garnishment; it also preserves the personal-service-earnings bar.

Do two child-support notices split the available wages equally? Section 63-17-1460(D) instead gives current support priority, subject to the federal aggregate limit.

Did the 2025 bill allowing some ordinary wage execution pass? S 277 ended at referral to Senate Judiciary in the 2025–2026 session; current § 15-39-410 still contains the complete personal-service-earnings exception.

Statutes and sources

• S.C. Code § 15-39-410 — “The judge may order any property of the judgment debtor, not exempt from execution, in the hands either of himself or any other person or due to the judgment debtor, to be applied toward the satisfaction of the judgment, except that the earnings of the debtor for his personal services cannot be so applied.” Source: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c039.php (accessed 2026-10-06).

• S.C. Code § 37-5-104 — “With respect to a debt arising from a consumer credit sale, a consumer lease, a consumer loan, or a consumer rental-purchase agreement, regardless of where made, the creditor may not attach unpaid earnings of the debtor by garnishment or like proceedings.” Source: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t37c005.php (accessed 2026-10-06).

• S.C. Code § 37-5-106 — “No employer shall discharge an employee for the reason that a creditor of the employee has subjected or attempted to subject unpaid earnings of the employee to garnishment or like proceedings directed to the employer for the purpose of paying a judgment arising from a consumer credit sale, consumer lease, consumer loan, or a consumer rental-purchase agreement.” Source: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t37c005.php (accessed 2026-10-06).

• S.C. Code § 15-39-420 — “(1) No employer in this State shall withhold any portion of the wages of any employee residing in this State as a result of any garnishment proceedings brought in any court outside of this State unless the creditor first obtains a judgment against such employee growing out of the same indebtedness for which the garnishment proceedings were instituted in a court of competent jurisdiction in South Carolina. The burden of proving the competent jurisdiction of the court shall rest upon the creditor. (2) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any debt incurred outside the State of South Carolina by such employee nor shall there be any garnishment of earnings for personal services rendered by the employee regardless of where the debt was incurred.” Source: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c039.php (accessed 2026-10-06).

• S.C. Code § 63-17-1460 — “(B) The notice to withhold shall: ... (2) direct any payor to withhold an additional amount toward any arrearage until the arrearage is paid in full; however, amounts to be withheld under this item and item (1) may not exceed the limits set forth by the Federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. Section 1673(b)). ... (D) If there is more than one notice to withhold on a single obligor, the payor must comply with the notices by withholding the amounts designated in the notices to the extent possible pursuant to the Federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. Section 1673(b))... Priority must be given to current support obligations. ... (H) Withholding of income from an obligor under this article has priority over any other legal process under state law against the same wages. ... (I) No payor may discharge, refuse to hire, or otherwise penalize any obligor because of the duty to withhold income.” Source: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t63c017.php (accessed 2026-10-06).

• S.C. Code § 12-4-580 — “(A) The department and another governmental entity may contract to allow the department to collect an outstanding liability owed the governmental entity. In administering the provisions of those agreements, the department has all the rights and powers of collection provided pursuant to this title for the collection of taxes and all the rights and powers authorized the governmental entity to which the liability is owed.” Source: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t12c004.php (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).

• S.C. Revenue Ruling 15-13 — “Through these collection tools, the Department may garnish South Carolina income tax refunds or wages, file tax liens, levy on bank accounts or revoke a debtor’s business license.” Source: https://www.dor.sc.gov/administrative-process-procedures-debt-setoff-and-gear-procedures (accessed 2026-10-06).

• S 277 (2025–2026) — Proposed to amend § 15-39-410; last listed action was referral to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Source: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/277.htm (checked 2026-10-06).