Vermont: Wage Garnishment Limits

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)