In Tennessee, a creditor with a court judgment can garnish the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings or the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage. Because Tennessee has no separate state minimum wage, that federal floor controls: at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour (the rate in effect as of 2026), the first roughly $217.50 of weekly disposable earnings is fully protected, and only the dollars above that line are reachable, capped at one-quarter of the total. Tennessee does not give ordinary consumers a lower percentage cap than the federal rule, but it adds a protection most states do not: an extra exemption for each of your dependent children. That dependent exemption, explained below, can meaningfully shrink what a creditor actually collects.
Tennessee Follows the Federal Cap, Plus a Dependent Exemption
The core formula comes from federal law. The Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) sets a nationwide ceiling: a creditor cannot take more than 25% of your disposable earnings, and cannot touch earnings up to 30 times the federal minimum wage. Tennessee adopts this standard in its garnishment statute (Tennessee Code Annotated 26-2-106). So far, Tennessee is the same as the federal baseline and the same as many other states.
Where Tennessee is different is the dependent-child exemption. Under Tennessee Code Annotated 26-2-107, a judgment debtor is entitled to an additional exemption of $2.50 per week for each dependent child under the age of 16 who lives in the state and is supported by the debtor. This amount is subtracted from the earnings that would otherwise be garnishable, on top of the standard 25% / 30x protection. To claim it, you generally must file a written statement with the court identifying your dependent children. The figure is small per child, but for a parent supporting several children it adds up week after week, and it is a protection many debtors never claim simply because they do not know it exists.
"Disposable earnings" is the key phrase. It means what is left after legally required deductions are taken out, such as federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, and state and federal withholding. It is not your gross pay, and it is not your take-home pay after voluntary deductions like a 401(k) contribution or health insurance you elected. The garnishment percentage is always applied to the disposable figure, which is why the protected amount is larger than it first appears.
How a Wage Garnishment Starts in Tennessee
For ordinary consumer debts, a creditor cannot garnish your wages on its own. It must first sue you, win a money judgment, and then ask the court to issue a garnishment. Once a garnishment is issued and served on your employer, the employer is legally obligated to withhold the allowed amount from each paycheck and forward it to the court or creditor.
Tennessee uses a continuing garnishment. Rather than forcing the creditor to file a fresh garnishment every payday, a single garnishment generally operates as a lien on your wages for up to six months (Tennessee Code Annotated 26-2-214), or until the judgment is paid, whichever comes first. After six months, the creditor can renew it. This means a garnishment is not a one-time event; it keeps pulling from your paycheck until the debt is satisfied or the garnishment expires and is not renewed.
Your employer cannot fire you because your wages are garnished for one debt. The CCPA prohibits termination based on a single garnishment, and protections also exist for multiple garnishments, though those rules are narrower. If you believe you were fired solely because of a garnishment, that is worth raising with an attorney or the U.S. Department of Labor.
What Income Is Exempt From Garnishment
Several categories of income are protected from ordinary creditors entirely, not just capped at 25%. These exemptions come from a mix of federal and Tennessee law:
- Social Security and SSI benefits are protected by federal law from garnishment by ordinary creditors.
- Veterans' benefits, federal civil service and military retirement, and similar federal payments are generally exempt.
- Unemployment compensation and workers' compensation benefits are protected under Tennessee law.
- Most pensions and retirement accounts receive protection, with rules that vary by plan type.
- Public assistance and certain other need-based benefits are exempt.
An important practical point: when exempt funds like Social Security are deposited into a bank account, they can still be protected, but you may have to prove their source if a creditor tries to levy the account. Keeping benefit deposits in a separate account, or being ready to trace the funds, makes it far easier to assert the exemption. Federal rules require banks to protect a portion of directly deposited federal benefits automatically, but you should still watch your account closely.
Higher Garnishment for Child Support and Taxes
The 25% cap protects you from ordinary creditors, but it does not apply to every kind of debt. For child support and alimony, federal law allows up to 50% to 60% of disposable earnings to be withheld, plus an extra 5% if you are more than 12 weeks behind. For unpaid federal taxes, the IRS uses its own formula based on your filing status and exemptions rather than the 25% rule, and for federal student loans, the Department of Education can garnish up to 15% of disposable pay administratively, without first going to court. If your garnishment is for one of these obligations, do not assume the 25% ceiling applies.
How to Claim an Exemption or Reduce the Garnishment
You are not powerless once a garnishment is served. Tennessee gives debtors several tools:
- File a claim of exemption. When a garnishment is issued, you should receive notice of your right to assert exemptions. If the money being taken is exempt income (such as Social Security) or exceeds the lawful amount, file a written claim with the court promptly. There are short deadlines, so act as soon as you get the notice.
- Claim the dependent-child exemption. File the statement identifying your dependent children under 16 so the additional $2.50-per-child weekly exemption is applied.
- File a slow-pay motion. Tennessee Code Annotated 26-2-216 lets a judgment debtor ask the court for permission to pay the judgment in reasonable installments instead of by garnishment. If granted, this can suspend the wage garnishment while you make the agreed payments.
- Challenge the underlying judgment. If you were never properly served with the original lawsuit, or the debt is not yours, you may be able to ask the court to set aside the judgment. A garnishment built on a defective judgment can fall with it.
Because deadlines are tight and the paperwork is technical, many debtors benefit from contacting a local legal aid organization or a consumer attorney. Filing the right motion quickly is often the difference between stopping a garnishment and watching it drain paychecks for six months.
Where to Verify and Get Help
Wage garnishment rules, exemption amounts, and the federal minimum wage can change, so confirm the current figures before you rely on them. The Tennessee Attorney General's Division of Consumer Affairs is the state's consumer-protection office and publishes guidance and complaint resources for Tennessee residents. The garnishment and exemption statutes themselves are found in Title 26, Chapter 2 of the Tennessee Code Annotated, which is the authoritative source for the exact language and any amendments. For the federal cap and the current federal minimum wage, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division is the official source. When the numbers matter to your paycheck, check the statute and the official agency rather than relying on a general summary.
Official Tennessee Sources
This page is based on Tennessee law. Limits and deadlines change — verify the current details directly with the official Tennessee 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 Tennessee’s own 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.
