Wage Garnishment Limits in West Virginia

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Maximum subject to execution

W. Va. Code § 38-5A-3(a) permits a suggestee execution against private-employment wages due within one year. It limits the levy to 20% of wages after state and federal taxes, and says payments cannot reduce the weekly amount payable to the debtor below 50 times the federal hourly minimum wage. At the $7.25 rate in 29 U.S.C. § 206(a)(1)(C), that floor is $362.50. If wages after those taxes are $400 for a week, the floor leaves only $37.50 available even though 20% of $400 is $80.

Multiple executions and support

Section 38-5A-3(a) allows one execution to be satisfied at a time. If the senior execution is paid off before the available garnishable amount for that pay period is exhausted, the balance goes to junior executions in priority order. Support collection has its own priority: § 48-14-417 says it outranks other legal process against the same income and is effective despite an otherwise applicable exemption.

Wage exemption and discharge protection

Section 38-8-1(c) confines the automatic wage exemption under the personal-property exemption statute to the amount allowed by § 38-5A-3. Section 46A-2-131 forbids discharge or other reprisal when a creditor tries to garnish earnings to pay a consumer-credit sale, lease, or loan judgment. The federal rule in 15 U.S.C. § 1674(a) forbids discharge because earnings were garnished for any one indebtedness.

What trips people up

West Virginia's percentage is stated against wages after state and federal taxes. Federal law uses “disposable earnings” and its own 25%/30-times test (15 U.S.C. § 1673(a)). Calculate under the applicable definition and apply the governing limit; the percentages alone do not tell the full amount that can be withheld from a particular paycheck.

Common questions

Must the creditor notify me before asking for a suggestee execution? Section 38-5A-3(a) permits the creditor to apply to the court without notice to the judgment debtor.

What identifying information goes in the execution? Section 38-5A-3(b) requires the debtor's current address and date of birth to the extent possible, so the wages being levied are matched to the right person.

Statutes and sources

• W. Va. Code § 38-5A-3 — “(a) A judgment creditor may apply to the court in which the judgment was recovered or a court having jurisdiction of the same, without notice to the judgment debtor, for a suggestee execution against any money due or to become due within one year after the issuance of such execution to the judgment debtor as salary or wages arising out of any private employment. If satisfactory proof shall be made, by affidavit or otherwise, of such facts and the fact that the amount due or to become due as salary or wages after the deduction of all state and federal taxes exceeds in any week fifty times the federal minimum hourly wage then in effect, the court, if not a court of record, or if a court of record the clerk thereof, shall issue a suggestee execution against the salary or wages of the judgment debtor and upon presentation of such execution by the officer to whom delivered for collection to the person or persons from which such salary or wages are due and owing or thereafter may become due and owing to the judgment debtor, the execution and the expenses thereof shall become a lien and continuing levy upon the salary or wages due or to become due to the judgment debtor within one year after the issuance of the same, unless sooner vacated or modified as hereinafter provided, to an amount equal to twenty percent thereof and no more, but in no event shall the payments in satisfaction of such an execution reduce the amount payable to the judgment debtor to an amount per week that is less than fifty times the federal minimum hourly wage then in effect. Only one such execution shall be satisfied, at one time, except that in the event two or more such executions have been served and satisfaction of the one having priority is completed without exhausting the amount of the salary or wages then due and payable that is subject to suggestion under this article the balance of such amount shall be paid in satisfaction, in the order of their priority, of junior suggestee executions against such salary or wages theretofore served. (b) The suggestee execution by the judgment creditor provided in this section shall include, to the extent possible, the present address and date of birth of the judgment debtor, which information shall be made available for the purpose of properly identifying the judgment debtor whose salary or wages are being levied upon.” https://code.wvlegislature.gov/38-5A-3/ (accessed 2026-10-07).
• W. Va. Code art. 38-5A — “ARTICLE 5A. SUGGESTIONS OF SALARY AND WAGES OF PERSONS ENGAGED IN PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT.” https://code.wvlegislature.gov/38-5A/ (accessed 2026-10-07).
• W. Va. Code § 38-8-1 — “(c) Wages or salary are automatically exempt from execution or other process but only to the extent set forth in section three, article five-a of this chapter. No person may file for an exemption of wages or salary pursuant to this section in an amount above that set forth in section three, article five-a of this chapter.” https://code.wvlegislature.gov/38-8-1/ (accessed 2026-10-07).
• W. Va. Code § 46A-2-131 — “No employer shall discharge or take any other form of reprisal against 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 or consumer loan.” https://code.wvlegislature.gov/46A-2-131/ (accessed 2026-10-07).
• W. Va. Code § 48-14-417 — “Support collection under the provisions of this section shall have priority over any other legal process under the laws of this state against the same income, and shall be effective despite any exemption that might otherwise be applicable to the same income.” https://code.wvlegislature.gov/48-14-417/ (accessed 2026-10-07).
• 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-2024-title15/USCODE-2024-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673 (accessed 2026-10-07).
• 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/app/details/USCODE-2024-title15/USCODE-2024-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1674 (accessed 2026-10-07).
• 29 U.S.C. § 206(a)(1)(C) — “(C) $7.25 an hour, beginning 24 months after that 60th day;” https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2024-title29/USCODE-2024-title29-chap8-sec206 (accessed 2026-10-07).