Oklahoma Garnishments While on Short-Term Disability Laws

If you fall behind on your income tax payments, alimony, credit card debt and other financial obligations, you may find that your paycheck, bank account and other financial accounts will be garnished in order to pay your creditors what you owe. In Oklahoma, however, certain income is protected from garnishment, including short-term disability income.

Garnishment Basics

Wage or financial garnishment is the legal process of seizing your bank or other financial accounts or your pay. In order to garnish your money, your creditor must appeal to the court and request a judgment be held against you. If the court agrees, your creditor will be granted the right to legally seize at least a portion of your money without your consent.

Exemptions

In Oklahoma and in other states, certain types of income are protected from wage garnishment. In addition to income provided from short-term disability benefits you are eligible for, income from insurance benefits, veteran's benefits, alimony and child support payments and pension and other retirement benefits is protected from creditors and cannot be garnished.

Oklahoma Garnishment Threshold

If your paycheck is garnished in Oklahoma, your creditors cannot take everything you own. The state gives you certain rights. Your creditors can garnish up to 25 percent of your disposable income. Disposable income is money that remains after taxes, Social Security and other deductions have been taken out. There is one exception to this rule, however. If your wages are being garnished in order to collect child support payments you missed, you can have up to 60 percent of your disposable income garnished.

Oklahoma Statute of Limitations

In Oklahoma, a statute of limitations provides a certain time window for your creditors to seek a financial judgment against you. If your debt obligation involves missed payments on a credit card or a verbal promise to pay a debt, your creditor has three years from the date you default on your payments to seek judgment. If your debt is a result of a written contract, not including credit card debt, your creditor has five years to seek judgment against you.