Can You Garnish Social Security Disability Payments?

Creditors facing the challenge of debtors who refuse to pay what they owe can take a number of different tactics to attempt collection. One of the most effective is garnishment. When a debtor's wages or other income is garnished, it means that the person paying the debtor must set aside a portion of the income and hand it over the creditor. Social Security Disability payments, however, are immune from garnishment by private creditors.

Garnishment

All garnishments must first be approved by a judge in a civil court before they can be executed. Although a creditor may attempt to get a debtor to agree to a garnishment in a settlement, all garnishments, even those to which a debtor agrees, must first be approved by a judge. If a garnishment is not legal, then a judge will not approved the garnishment order and it cannot be put into effect.

Social Security Disability

A number of different forms on income, particularly a number of different types of government benefits, are immune from garnishment under federal law. Social Security Disability benefits are payments made to individuals who previously participated in the work force but sustained an injury that prevented them from continuing to work. These benefits cannot be seized by private creditors through garnishment under any circumstances: The Social Security Administration will not honor any garnishment order presented to it.

Bank Account Seizure

In addition, Social Security payments cannot be seized once they have been deposited in a debtor's bank account. Even if the bank account is frozen and the creditor is attempting to seize funds, all deposits that originated from these benefits cannot be touched. According to federal law, a debtor is allowed to go to court to compel his bank to prohibit the seizure of these funds.

Government Debts

Although Social Security Disability payments cannot be seized by private creditors, certain government agencies can garnish them if the person owes money to the agency. For example, if a person has defaulted on his student loan payments; is in arrears on his child support payments; or owes money to the Internal Revenue Service for back taxes, then government benefits issued to the debtor may be subject to garnishment or seizure from his bank account.