Delaware does two things differently from most states, and both matter the moment a creditor wins a judgment against you. First, Delaware shields 85% of your wages from attachment under 10 Del. C. § 4913 — meaning a judgment creditor can reach only about 15% of your earnings, far less than the 25% allowed under federal law. Second, Delaware is one of the few states with no general homestead exemption: there is no statute that automatically protects a fixed dollar amount of equity in your primary residence from ordinary judgment creditors. Instead, married homeowners rely heavily on a different doctrine — tenancy by the entirety — to keep the family home out of reach. Understanding which of your assets are protected, and which are exposed, is the difference between weathering a judgment and losing essentials.
Delaware's wage protection is unusually strong
Wage garnishment is the tool creditors use most often, and here Delaware law favors the debtor. Under 10 Del. C. § 4913, 85% of your wages for any work period are exempt from both mesne attachment (before judgment) and execution attachment (after judgment). In practical terms, a creditor with a money judgment can garnish no more than 15% of your earnings.
Compare this to the federal baseline. The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act caps most garnishments at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage. Because Delaware's 85% protection is more generous to debtors, Delaware's rule controls for ordinary consumer debts. The federal limits remain the ceiling, but Delaware's 15% cap is what most wage earners will actually face.
Some debts override these limits. Court-ordered child support and alimony, federal student loans, and unpaid federal taxes follow their own collection rules and can reach a larger share of your pay than the 15% consumer cap. If your garnishment involves one of these, the ordinary exemption math does not apply.
The home: no homestead exemption, but other protections exist
This is the most important point for Delaware homeowners to grasp. Unlike states that protect tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of home equity, Delaware has historically provided no general homestead exemption against judgment creditors. A creditor who records a judgment can create a lien against real estate you own.
Two things soften this. First, tenancy by the entirety: when a married couple owns their home together as tenants by the entirety, a creditor of only one spouse generally cannot force a sale to satisfy that one spouse's debt. The property is treated as owned by the marital unit, so an individual creditor of one spouse is largely blocked while both spouses live. This is the workhorse protection for married Delaware homeowners. Second, if you file bankruptcy, Delaware provides a separate set of exemptions under 10 Del. C. § 4914 that can include protection for a primary residence up to a statutory amount. Because that figure and its conditions are set by statute and can change, confirm the current bankruptcy homestead amount with the statute or a Delaware bankruptcy attorney before relying on it.
Retirement accounts
Retirement savings are well protected. Under 10 Del. C. § 4915, funds in qualified retirement plans — including 401(k)s, pensions, and IRAs — are generally exempt from attachment by creditors. This mirrors strong federal protection: ERISA-governed employer plans are shielded under federal law, and IRAs receive substantial protection in bankruptcy under federal exemption caps. The practical takeaway is to leave retirement money where it is. Once you withdraw funds into a regular checking account, they can lose their exempt character and become vulnerable to a bank levy.
Public benefits: Social Security, unemployment, and workers' compensation
Several income streams are off-limits to ordinary creditors:
- Social Security and SSI: Protected by federal law (42 U.S.C. § 407), which bars most creditors from attaching these benefits. Federal banking rules also require banks to automatically protect a chunk of directly deposited federal benefits when a levy arrives.
- Unemployment compensation: Delaware exempts unemployment benefits from attachment under 19 Del. C. § 3374.
- Workers' compensation: Benefits are exempt from creditor claims under 19 Del. C. § 2355.
These protections follow the money into your bank account, but only if you can trace the funds to an exempt source. Keeping benefit deposits in a dedicated account — separate from wages and other deposits — makes it far easier to prove the money is exempt if a creditor levies the account.