Wage Garnishment Limits in Vermont

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Vermont's ordinary judgment-creditor garnishment rules sit in 12 V.S.A. §§ 3167 through 3172, under the heading "trustee process against earnings." The exemption formula is in § 3170, the motion-and-hearing procedure that has to happen before any order issues is in §§ 3168-3169, and the anti-discharge protection is in § 3172.

Maximum that can be garnished

Under § 3170(b)(1), a debtor's earnings are exempt up to the greater of 75% of weekly disposable earnings or 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage — whatever is left after that exemption is what a creditor can actually reach. That's the same test as the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act formula, just phrased as an exemption instead of a cap. But a genuinely different feature comes first: none of this can happen automatically. The creditor has to move the court for trustee process (§ 3168), the court has to hold a hearing and find the debtor neglected or refused to pay (§ 3169), and only then does an order issue setting the specific amount.

State rule vs. federal floor

For ordinary debt, Vermont's formula is mathematically identical to the federal 25%/30x rule (15 U.S.C. § 1673(a)) — it protects exactly the same amount, just stated the other way around. Vermont goes further for one category: if the underlying debt came from a consumer credit transaction, § 3170(b)(2) exempts 85% of disposable earnings or 40 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater, meaningfully more protective than federal law for that kind of debt specifically.

Minimum-wage protected floor

Both multipliers in § 3170(b) — 30 times for ordinary debt, 40 times for consumer credit debt — are pegged to the federal minimum hourly wage, not Vermont's own state minimum wage, which is considerably higher. Unlike states that tie their floor to the local or state minimum wage, a Vermont debtor's protected floor doesn't rise along with Vermont's minimum wage.

Support, tax & student loan debts

Child support wage withholding runs entirely outside this framework. Under 15 V.S.A. § 789(a), a support withholding order isn't subject to the Chapter 121 court-motion procedure or § 3170's exemption formula at all — it follows its own expedited process (§ 782) and only the federal CCPA support cap. A support order automatically outranks any other legal process against the same wages, and if a creditor also seeks to collect a support arrearage on top of current support, that add-on can't exceed 25% of the current support obligation (§ 789(d)). Separately, unpaid state taxes are collected through their own administrative wage garnishment (32 V.S.A. § 3208), which uses an even more protective 80%/40x exemption and bypasses the ordinary court-motion process — the Department of Taxes can garnish directly after giving notice and an opportunity for a hearing, without a judgment creditor's motion.

Head-of-household/family exemption

Vermont doesn't use a head-of-household label. Instead, § 3170(b)(3) lets the court order a bigger exemption than the standard formula if it finds the debtor's reasonable weekly expenses for supporting themselves and their dependents exceed it — available to any debtor with proven need, not tied to a specific family-head status. Separately, § 3170(a) bars any trustee process order at all against a debtor who received public assistance from the Vermont Department for Children and Families or the Department of Vermont Health Access in the two months before the hearing.

Multiple garnishments at once

Chapter 121 doesn't contain a dedicated rule ranking competing ordinary trustee-process orders against the same debtor. Because each creditor has to separately move for its own order and get its own hearing under §§ 3168-3169 — at which the court determines the debtor's current weekly disposable earnings — a later creditor's motion would necessarily be heard against the debtor's actual remaining earnings at that time, but no statute sets an explicit first-in-time or combined-cap rule the way many other states do.

Protection from being fired

§ 3172 bars firing an employee because of trustee process against their earnings, and goes well beyond the federal rule (15 U.S.C. § 1674, which only protects against discharge for a single garnishment): a discharge within 60 days of the trustee summons being served is rebuttably presumed to be because of it, and a wrongfully discharged employee can sue for reinstatement, back wages, damages, costs, and reasonable attorney's fees.

What trips people up

Because Vermont requires a motion and a hearing before any withholding order issues, a Vermont paycheck can't be garnished the moment a judgment is entered the way it can in many other states — there's an extra court step first, and the court has to actually find the debtor neglected or refused to pay, not just that a debt exists. Also, the consumer-credit 85%/40x exemption in § 3170(b)(2) only applies if the underlying debt fits the federal definition of a "consumer credit transaction" — an ordinary business debt or a judgment not tied to consumer credit still falls under the plain 75%/30x rule.

Common questions

Can a creditor garnish my wages the day after winning a judgment? No — the creditor first has to file a motion for trustee process and the court has to hold a hearing and find that you neglected or refused to pay before any order can issue.

Does Vermont protect more of my paycheck than federal law? For ordinary debt, no — the formula works out to the same amount as federal law. For debt from a consumer credit transaction specifically, yes: more of your paycheck (85%, or 40 times the federal minimum wage) is protected.

What if I'm already behind on child support and get sued by another creditor too? The support withholding order automatically outranks the ordinary creditor's trustee process and follows its own separate rules, not this chapter's exemption formula.

Statutes and sources

• 12 V.S.A. § 3170 — "(a) No order approving the issuance of trustee process against earnings shall be entered against a judgment debtor who was, within the two-month period preceding the hearing provided in section 3169 of this title, a recipient of assistance from the Vermont Department for Children and Families or the Department of Vermont Health Access. The judgment debtor must establish this exemption at the time of hearing. (b) The earnings of a judgment debtor shall be exempt as follows: (1) 75 percent of the debtor's weekly disposable earnings, or 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is greater; or (2) if the judgment debt arose from a consumer credit transaction, as that term is defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1602 and implementing regulations of the Federal Reserve Board, 85 percent of the debtor's weekly disposable earnings, or 40 times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is greater; or (3) if the court finds that the weekly expenses reasonably incurred by the debtor for his or her maintenance and that of dependents exceed the amounts exempted by subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection, such greater amount of earnings as the court shall order." — https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/121/03170 (accessed 2026-07-06)
• 12 V.S.A. § 3168 — "(a) Whenever a judgment debtor has neglected or refused to pay or make reasonable arrangements to pay a money judgment in any civil action, the judgment creditor may move the court which rendered the judgment to issue trustee process against the earnings of the judgment debtor. The motion shall describe in detail the grounds for requesting issuance of trustee process, the amount of judgment alleged to be unpaid, and the source of earnings of the judgment debtor. (b) Upon receipt of the motion of the judgment creditor, the court shall give notice thereof to the trustee and to the judgment debtor as provided by Rule 4.2 of the Rules of Civil Procedure and shall hold a hearing on the motion." — https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/121/03168 (accessed 2026-07-06)
• 12 V.S.A. § 3169 — "(a) At the hearing on the motion the court shall determine on the basis of the motion and any affidavit of the judgment creditor, the record in the civil action and any testimony offered by either party, and by the trustee whether the judgment debtor has neglected or refused to pay or make reasonable arrangements to pay the money judgment in question. If the court so finds, it shall also determine: (1) the amount of the judgment unpaid; (2) the amount of the judgment debtor's weekly disposable earnings; (3) whether the judgment debtor has been a recipient of assistance from the Vermont Department for Children and Families or the Department of Vermont Health Access within the two months preceding the date of the hearing; and (4) the weekly expenses reasonably incurred for maintenance of the debtor and dependents, and it shall enter an order approving the issuance of trustee process against earnings in accordance with, and subject to the provisions of section 3170 of this title." — https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/121/03169 (accessed 2026-07-06)
• 12 V.S.A. § 3172 — "No employee may be discharged from employment on account of trustee process issued to an employer against earnings. Discharge of an employee from employment within 60 days of service of a trustee process summons upon an employer shall be rebuttably presumed to be on account of the issuance of trustee process. Any employee discharged in violation of this section may sue in Superior Court for reinstatement of employment, back wages, and damages and, if that employee prevails, the court shall award costs and may award reasonable attorneys' fees to the employee." — https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/121/03172 (accessed 2026-07-06)
• 15 V.S.A. § 789 — "(a) A wage withholding order for a current support obligation or an obligation to pay support arrearages shall not be subject to Rule 4.2(j) of the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure or 12 V.S.A. §§ 3167, 3169, 3170(a), (b) and (d). It shall be subject to section 303(b) of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. § 1673(b)). (b) A wage withholding order under this chapter shall have priority over other legal process against the same wages and shall be at least in the amount of the current support order. ... (d) If wage withholding is sought for repayment of outstanding arrearages in addition to support previously ordered, the additional amounts withheld for repayment shall not exceed twenty-five percent of the obligor's support obligation existing at the time of issuance of the wage withholding order." — https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/15/011/00789 (accessed 2026-07-06)
• 32 V.S.A. § 3208 — "(a) Notwithstanding other statutes that provide for levy or execution, trustee process, or attachment, the Commissioner may garnish a taxpayer's earnings pursuant to this section to satisfy amounts collectible by the Commissioner under this title, subject to the exemptions provided in 12 V.S.A. § 3170(a) and (b)(1). ... (g) At a hearing under this section, the taxpayer may raise any relevant issue relating to the unpaid tax or the proposed attachment: ... (2) whether the garnishment exceeds the exemption amount, which shall be 80 percent of the debtor's weekly disposable earnings or 40 times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is greater." — https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/32/103/03208 (accessed 2026-07-06)
• 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 2026-07-06)