When a person doesn't pay back a debt, he may eventually be subject to the garnishment of his wages. Garnishment, while usually applied to the money that a debtor receives in a paycheck, may also be applied to certain other income streams, such as federal benefits. However, most federal benefits are protected from garnishment by private creditors, although not from federal government agencies.
Garnishment
Garnishment will seldom take someone by surprise. A person who is subject to garnishment will generally have a significant amount of advanced warning. This is because all garnishments must be authorized by a court judge who has already issued a judgment in a civil case against the debtor. A judge will not authorize the garnishment of any debt that she believes to be illegal, including the illegal garnishment of federal benefits.
Social Security Benefits
Although most garnishment laws are made at the state level, federal law provides protection to certain types of benefits from being garnished. This includes most federal benefits, including Social Security benefits of all types, such as disability. This means that most creditors cannot touch them. A judge will never authorize the garnishment of a federal benefit payment by a private creditor, only by a government agency.
Private Creditors
Private creditors -- meaning all individuals and parties who are not part of the government -- are forbidden from garnishing a person's Social Security disability benefits because federal law prohibits it. Even if the debtor owes the creditor money, the creditor will neither be able to receive an order of garnishment from a job for federal benefits nor would the Social Security Administration, which administers benefits, honor such an order were it mistakenly issued.
Government Agencies
While private creditors are not allowed to garnish a person's wages, some federal government agencies are. If the government agency is owed money by the debtor, the agency may be allowed to receive a garnishment order from a judge. For example, a person who owes back taxes may have his disability payments subject to garnishment. However, if the person was too poor to support himself, he may be immune from garnishment, even by the government.
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