Georgia law protects some of your property from a judgment creditor — but which exemptions you get depends on how the creditor is coming after you. If your wages or bank account are being garnished, your protections come from O.C.G.A. Title 18, Chapter 4 (§§ 18-4-5, 18-4-6 and 18-4-53). If you file bankruptcy, a different and much longer list applies: O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100, whose homestead exemption rose to $50,000 on July 1, 2026. Mixing the two up is the most common and most costly mistake, because the bankruptcy exemptions — the car, the household goods, the wildcard — are not available to stop an ordinary garnishment.
If You Are Being Garnished: The Exemptions That Actually Apply
A garnishment defendant's exemptions are the ones listed in O.C.G.A. § 18-4-15(a): "the limitations on garnishment as provided in Code Sections 18-4-5 and 18-4-53, exemptions as provided in Code Section 18-4-6, the plaintiff not having a judgment against the defendant, the amount claimed due by the plaintiff being erroneous... or other legal or statutory defenses." Section 44-13-100 is not on that list.
Georgia's Attorney General publishes the official catalogue of garnishment exemptions, free, at law.georgia.gov/garnishment-exemption. That is the document to work from when you fill out your claim form. It includes:
Social Security — retirement, SSDI, SSI and survivor benefits (42 U.S.C. § 407).
Retirement savings — IRAs under Internal Revenue Code §§ 408 and 408A, pension and retirement programs, sixteen named Georgia public pension systems (state employees, teachers, school employees, municipal employees, firefighters, sheriffs, peace officers and others), the federal Thrift Savings Plan and railroad retirement.
Veterans' and military benefits — including military pensions, retirement pay and disability payments (38 U.S.C. § 5301).
Public assistance — Medicaid payments, old-age assistance, aid to the blind, aid to the disabled, and FEMA disaster assistance.
Crime-victim compensation funds, life insurance proceeds and annuity contracts, and disability insurance benefits up to $250 per month (O.C.G.A. § 33-29-15).
Note what is not there: no homestead exemption, no motor-vehicle exemption, no household-goods exemption, no wildcard. Claiming those on a garnishment answer gets the claim denied. The list is also not a closed set — § 18-4-15(a) says property may be exempt "including, but not limited to" the listed grounds, so a valid exemption you find elsewhere can still be raised.
25% of your disposable earnings for that week — or just 15%, if the judgment arose from a private student loan; or
the amount by which your disposable earnings for that week exceed $217.50 (30 hours at the $7.25 federal minimum wage; § 18-4-5(a)(3) prorates this for non-weekly pay).
The 15% private-student-loan cap is the one most people miss. A "private student loan" is defined in § 18-4-5(a)(1) as an educational loan not guaranteed under 20 U.S.C. § 1070 et seq. And here is why you have to speak up: under § 18-4-5(a)(5), your employer is only bound by the lower 15% cap "if the summons of garnishment served by the plaintiff on such garnishee states such information conspicuously on its face" or the employer is served with a court order saying so. If the creditor's paperwork does not flag it, your employer will keep withholding 25% — lawfully, as to them — until you file a claim and get an order.
"Disposable earnings" means what is left after legally required deductions like taxes and Social Security. Some debts do escape the 25% ceiling: under 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b), child support and alimony orders can reach 50% to 65% of disposable earnings, and the cap does not apply to bankruptcy-court orders or to state and federal tax debts. But federal student loans are not collected under a higher cap — 20 U.S.C. § 1095a(a)(1) limits administrative wage garnishment to "15 percent of disposable pay," which is lower than the ordinary rule.
Retirement Accounts and Bank Accounts
In a garnishment, your IRA and your pension are not subject to a "do you really need it" test. The Attorney General's official exemption list protects funds and benefits from an IRA or from a pension or retirement program outright while the money remains in the account. Employer plans governed by federal ERISA law — most 401(k)s and traditional pensions — carry strong federal anti-alienation protection on top of that. Protection is weakest once the money is withdrawn and sitting in an ordinary checking account mixed with other funds. Different rules apply in a continuing garnishment for support (O.C.G.A. § 18-4-53), which the wage cap in § 18-4-5 is expressly made "subject to."
A federal rule protects benefits inside your bank account automatically. Under 31 C.F.R. Part 212, when Social Security, SSI, VA or certain other federal benefits arrive by direct deposit, the bank that receives a garnishment order must review the account and protect an amount equal to the benefits deposited in the preceding two-month lookback period. That money stays available to you even while the rest of the account is frozen. Keeping benefit money in a separate account makes the protection cleaner.
How to Claim Your Exemptions — and the Deadline You Actually Have
Exemptions are not applied automatically. You must assert them. The good news is that Georgia's deadline is far more forgiving than most people assume, and no one should give up because they think they have missed it.
You file a "claim," not a "traverse." Under O.C.G.A. § 18-4-15(a), the defendant becomes a party by "filing a claim with the clerk of court," using the statutory form in § 18-4-82. A traverse is what the plaintiff files against the garnishee's answer (§ 18-4-16) — asking a clerk for a traverse form as a debtor sends you to the wrong document.
The deadline: any time before the money is gone. Section 18-4-15(a) lets you file "at any time before a judgment is entered, an order to disburse funds is issued, or before money or other property subject to garnishment is distributed by the court, whichever occurs first." There is no short day-count. Section 18-4-8(b)(3) also blocks any distribution until 10 days after the plaintiff's certificate of compliance and 20 days after the garnishee's answer. Even a late claim is not automatically dead: § 18-4-15(h) says a court "may decline" to hear one — it is discretionary, so file anyway.
A hearing is your right, within 10 days. On filing, § 18-4-15(d) requires a judge to "order a hearing to be held not more than ten days from the date the claim is filed." The hearing is "available to the defendant as a matter of right," and nothing may be disbursed until it is held.
State the ground and attach proof. Say which exemption applies — the funds are Social Security, the wages are below the protected floor, the 15% student-loan cap applies — and attach bank statements or benefit award letters.
Winning means fast return. If the court finds the property exempt, § 18-4-19(c)(3) requires it to order the money restored to you "within 48 hours."
Bankruptcy: The § 44-13-100 List (Homestead Now $50,000)
Georgia has opted out of the federal bankruptcy exemption list, so Georgia filers use the state list in O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100 — as the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia instructs. That statute is titled "exemptions for purposes of bankruptcy and intestate insolvent estates," and it is the one that changed this year.
House Bill 1024 (Act 480, 2026), signed by the Governor, rewrote § 44-13-100(a)(1) to raise the homestead exemption from $21,500 to $50,000 of aggregate interest in real or personal property that you or a dependent use as a residence (or in a cooperative, or a burial plot). Where title is in one of two spouses and the property is the primary residence of both, the exemption is $100,000 (up from $43,000). The Act also provides that "beginning July 1, 2031, and annually thereafter, such exemption shall be revised by being multiplied by the inflation rate of the prior year." The Georgia Office of Legislative Counsel's official 2026 summary confirms the effective date: July 1, 2026.
Section 44-13-100 also carries exemptions for a motor vehicle, household goods and furnishings, jewelry, tools of the trade, health aids, and a "wildcard" that can cover any property (including unused homestead). We are not printing dollar figures for those categories. Georgia's codified statute is served through a paid portal, and the only places those specific amounts appear for free are commercial aggregator sites that routinely mirror stale, superseded text — which is exactly how an out-of-date number spreads. HB 1024 reproduces only paragraph (a)(1), so it does not prove the others. Get the current amounts for those categories from the statute itself or from a Georgia bankruptcy attorney or legal-aid office before you rely on any number you find online.
Where to Verify and Get Help
Work from the primary sources. The Attorney General's official garnishment exemption list is free and is the document a garnishment defendant should use. The garnishment procedures themselves — the claim, the hearing, the caps — are in Title 18, Chapter 4, whose current text was enacted by Senate Bill 443 (2020). The current homestead figure is in HB 1024 (2026). At the federal level, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act limits how third-party collectors may contact you, and the Georgia Department of Law's Consumer Protection Division handles complaints about abusive collection — though it does not file your exemption claim for you. If a large amount is at stake or a garnishment is already underway, a Georgia consumer-law or bankruptcy attorney, or a local legal-aid office, can help you file the right claim.
This article is general information about Georgia law, not legal advice for your specific situation.
Official Georgia Sources
This page is based on Georgia law. Limits and deadlines change — verify the current details directly with the official Georgia sources below. This is general legal information, not legal advice.
Federal law also applies. Federal laws like the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act protect you nationwide, on top of Georgia’s own rules.
Frequently asked questions
Can a creditor garnish my wages in Georgia?
Yes, after a creditor obtains a judgment. Under O.C.G.A. § 18-4-5(a)(2), the maximum is the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings for that week, or the amount by which those earnings exceed $217.50 (30 hours at the $7.25 federal minimum wage). If the judgment arose from a private student loan, the cap is only 15%. Child support and alimony orders can reach 50-65% under 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b), but federal student loans are capped at 15% - lower than the ordinary rule, not higher.
How much home equity can I protect from creditors in Georgia?
In bankruptcy, $50,000. HB 1024 (Act 480, 2026) raised Georgia's homestead exemption in O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100(a)(1) from $21,500 to $50,000 effective July 1, 2026, and to $100,000 where title is in one of two spouses and the property is the primary residence of both. Beginning July 1, 2031 the figure is indexed to inflation annually. Note this is a bankruptcy exemption - it is not one of the exemptions you can claim to defeat an ordinary garnishment.
Is my Social Security safe from a Georgia bank levy?
Yes. Social Security retirement, SSDI, SSI and survivor benefits are protected by federal law (42 U.S.C. § 407) and appear on the Georgia Attorney General's official garnishment exemption list. Under 31 C.F.R. Part 212, a bank served with a garnishment order must automatically protect an amount equal to the benefits direct-deposited in the prior two-month lookback period. Keep benefit money in a separate account, and still file a claim of exemption for any frozen funds.
How do I claim an exemption when a creditor garnishes me in Georgia, and what is the deadline?
You file a claim with the clerk of court, using the statutory form in O.C.G.A. § 18-4-82 - not a 'traverse,' which is what the plaintiff files against the garnishee's answer. The deadline is generous: § 18-4-15(a) lets you file at any time before a judgment is entered, an order to disburse funds is issued, or the money is distributed by the court, whichever comes first. Once you file, a judge must set a hearing within 10 days, and it is yours as a matter of right. Even a late claim is only discretionarily refused, so do not assume you have missed your chance.
Are my retirement accounts protected from creditors in Georgia?
In a garnishment, yes - and without any 'reasonably necessary for support' test. The Attorney General's official exemption list protects funds in an IRA (IRC §§ 408, 408A), pension and retirement programs, sixteen named Georgia public pension systems, the federal Thrift Savings Plan and railroad retirement, so long as the money remains in the account. Most 401(k)s and pensions also carry federal ERISA anti-alienation protection. The protection weakens once funds are withdrawn into an ordinary bank account, and a continuing garnishment for support (§ 18-4-53) follows different rules.
This article is general legal information, not legal advice, and may not reflect the most current law or the law in your jurisdiction. Laws vary by state and change over time. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed attorney.
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