Can They Garnish My Husband's Wages?

Whether a person can have his wages garnished depends on a number of factors. The person must be declared by a civil judge to be legally in debt to another party. Second, the debtor must not be eligible for exemptions that would protect him from income garnishment. Third, the debtor's income stream cannot be protected from garnishment under the law. A husband's wages cannot be garnished for his wife's debts, because they are not his debts.

Lawsuit

To begin collection actions such as garnishment, a creditor must secure a legal judgment that specifies how much he is owed by the debtor and precisely who the debtor is. If there is some legal confusion about who is responsible for the debt, the judge clarifies this in his ruling. Only the parties named liable for the debt in a lawsuit can be subject to garnishment.

Exemptions

Even if a person is found liable for a debt, this does not necessarily mean a garnishment of his wages is legal. Some people have too little income to have their wages garnished, based on a means test a state applies to the garnishment order. The chances that a person can have his wages garnished decreases if he has dependents, such as a spouse or child, to support.

Incomes

Several types of income are not eligible for garnishment by creditors not associated with a government agency. For example, nearly all federal benefits cannot be garnished, except by a federal agency. If a person's only source of income is federal benefits or another kind of protected income stream, obtaining a garnishment order on the debtor may be difficult. In such a case, a creditor cannot try to garnish a spouse's wages instead.

Spouses

A spouse cannot be held liable for his partner's debts unless it can be shown that he shares responsibility for these debts. This means that all collection actions, including garnishment, can only be aimed at the debtor and not his spouse. However, although a spouse's wages cannot be garnished, the wages may be frozen and seized if they are deposited in an account that is controlled jointly by both partners.