Washington LawHelp

If you are sued on a debt and you lose, read this. The court will enter a money judgment against you.  The plaintiff (also known as the creditor or judgment creditor) can collect on the judgment. 

Even if there is a judgment against you, some or all of your personal property may be protected (exempt) from creditors. That means it cannot be taken to collect on a judgment (satisfy a judgment) against you.

These exemptions may not protect you from

• Collection for child support debts.

• Tax debts.

• Certain types of insurance claims by the State.

• Judgments for any part of the sale price of the personal property.

• Collection for federal student loan debts.

Property (something you own) is exempt if a creditor cannot legally take it to collect on a judgment against you.

The main exemptions are:

• Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Benefits

• Social Security Disability, Retirement and Survivor benefits

• Veterans benefits

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits

• Aged, Blind, or Disabled (ABD) benefits

• Unemployment benefits

• Child Support you receive

• Federal student loans

• Retirement pensions

• The home you live in. Your home is exempt if you have up to $125,000 equity in your home OR you can claim the median sale price of a single family home in your county the previous calendar year, if that is more than $125,000. 

Automatic Exemption: Even though some or all the money in your account may be exempt from garnishment, the bank may not take the money from your account above the following amounts:

• $1,000 is automatically exempt if your only judgment is for private student loan debt

• $1,000 is automatically exempt if the judgment you are being garnished for is consumer debt

• $500 in your bank account is exempt for all other debts (and $1,000 additional cash, for a total exemption of up to $1,500)

*Example:  You have $1,700 in your bank account. The bank gets a writ of garnishment from the creditor for consumer debt. The bank will freeze $700 because $1,000 is automatically protected. (This means $1,000 will remain in your account and is available to you.) The remaining $700 is still exempt because $2,000 in a bank account is protected.  However, you must file an exemption claim form to get the extra $700 released to you. Read How to Claim Personal Property Exemptions.

 

• Money in your bank account

  • $2,500 is exempt if your only judgment is for private student loan debt

  • $2,000 is exempt if the judgment you are being garnished for is consumer debt (see below)

  • $500 in your bank account is exempt for all other debts (plus $1,000 cash, for a total exemption of $1,500)

    *Most garnishments of wages and bank accounts are judgments for consumer debt.  These include debts from credit cards, doctor and hospital bills, utility bills, phone bills, personal loans from a bank or credit union, debts owed to a landlord or former landlord, or any other debt for personal, family, or household purposes.

• Wages (pay from your job)—The amount of exempt wages depends on how much you earn and what the judgment was for.

• Consumer judgments (for consumer debt):
  
  If you earn less than any of these amounts, all of your wages are exempt

  • $479.15 weekly (35x the state minimum hourly wage)

  • $958.30 every 2 weeks

  • $1,030.18 twice a month

  • $2,060.35 monthly
  • Even if you earn more than these amounts, you may still keep 35x the state minimum hourly wage or 80% of your net pay, whichever is more.

• Private student loan judgments
  
  If you earn less than any of these amounts and your only judgment is for a private student loan, all of your wages are exempt.

  • $828.50 weekly (50x the highest minimum hourly wage in the state)

  • $1,657.00 every 2 weeks

  • $1,781.28 twice a month

  • $3,562.55 monthly
    
    Even if you earn more than these amounts, you may still keep 50x the highest minimum hourly wage in the State or 85% of your net pay, whichever is more

• Other judgments (not consumer or private loan judgments)
  • If you earn less than any of these amounts, all of your wages are exempt.

    • $253.75 weekly

    • $507.50 every 2 weeks

    • $549.79 twice a month

    • $1,099.58 monthly

    • Even if you earn more than these amounts, you may still keep 35x the federal minimum wage or 75% of your net pay, whichever is more.
• Clothing and jewelry —up to $3,500 in value.
• Books and digital media—up to $3,500 in value.
• All “professionally prescribed health aids” for you and your dependents. Examples: wheelchairs and motorized scooters, if your doctor wrote a note or prescription for them.
• Household goods, appliances, furniture,  food/groceries (provisions) and fuel, up to $6,500 in value for 1 person, and $13,000 for a married couple. (No one (1) thing can be more than $750.)
• Equity in 1 motor vehicle used for personal transportation, valued at up to $3,250 for 1 person. For married couples, 2 such vehicles with a combined value up to $6,500.
• Tools and instruments needed for your trade, up to $10,000 in value.
• Money paid or owed to you for bodily injury (not including for pain & suffering or money you lost) of yourself or dependents, up to $20,000.
• Compensation for lost future earnings, to the extent reasonably necessary to support you and your dependents.

Its value is what it would sell for (its fair market value) at the time you claim it as exempt.
 

If a third party, like a bank or employer, has your property (including money in a bank account), the creditor can go to court and get a “writ of garnishment” (formal written order of garnishment) that goes to the third party. The creditor must mail or serve on you both of these:

• A Notice of Garnishment and Your Rights.  See Sample #1.

• An Exemption Claim Form.  See Samples #2 and #3.

If you get the writ within 7 days of the date of its issuance, you must fill out form #2 or #3 and hand-deliver one (1) copy to the court clerk and mail or hand-deliver one (1) to the creditor or creditor’s lawyer (whoever signed the writ of garnishment), within 28 days after the date on the writ of garnishment.

If the creditor serves the writ more than 7 days from the date of the writ’s issuance, you have 21 days to fill out form #2 or #3 and mail or hand-deliver one (1) copy to the court clerk and mail or hand-deliver one (1) to the creditor or their lawyer. RCW 6.27.160 (1).

The creditor has 7 days after getting your exemption claim form to object to it.

If the creditor does not object, the creditor must direct the garnishee to give back (release) the exempt property to you no more than 10 days after the creditor gets your claim form.

If the creditor objects, they must file a statement explaining why and schedule a court hearing within 14 days after getting your exemption claim form.

If the judge at the hearing orders the release of your exempt property, or the creditor did not object, the creditor must deliver an order releasing the exempt property to the garnishee holding your property. If the creditor does not do this, see a lawyer. You can sue the creditor for any damages you suffer, plus a $50 penalty, if they do not take steps to timely release your exempt property.

Visit Northwest Justice Project to find out how to get legal help.