Maine Wage Garnishment | ME Exemptions | Maximum Threshold | Writ of Garnishment

Wage garnishment in Maine is a remedy that allows creditors to collect from debtors who will not pay them. It’s when the creditor obtains the legal right to have part of the debtor’s wages or salary sent to the creditor to satisfy a legally recognized debt. (While wage garnishment is probably the best-known type of garnishment, any income or other money belonging to a debtor, which is in the control of a third party, can be garnished: bank accounts, pension benefits, money from structured settlements, etc.)

Many people incorrectly believe that a creditor can garnish wages on its own. (Creditors often say things contributing to this confusion.) However, that’s not the case; non-governmental creditors need a court order to garnish wages. The garnishment order is granted to enforce a judgment (a court determination of an obligation to pay), which means that get garnishment ordered, the creditor first has to sue the debtor in court and win, thereby establishing its right to the money.

Garnishment is available for any debt, whether it’s one commonly thought of as a “debt”—e.g. from a promissory note, a loan, a credit card bill, a sale of goods, or nonpayment of taxes—or not. For example, any lawsuit or legal action resulting in a monetary or judgment or obligation to pay, including family court determinations of alimony and child support, will result in a debt enforceable through garnishment.

Maine Garnishment Exemptions and Non-Exemptions

Not surprisingly, Social Security is mostly exempt (or protected) from garnishment. Under federal law, Social Security can only be garnished for certain debts, such as taxes, owed the federal government (the government, which makes the rules, wants to make sure it gets paid), or for child support and alimony.

Each state can also determine additional exemptions, establishing types or amounts of income which cannot be garnished. In Maine, several types of non-wage, non-salary income are exempt from garnishment.

Social Security: Maine goes one better than many states, and exempts social security entirely from garnishment.
Pensions and retirement benefits: Maine offers broad-based protection for retirement benefits as well as for state worker pensions.

Between the complete exemption of all Social Security payments from garnishment and the protections for retirement benefits, if you’re going to be a retiree deeply in debt and/or with judgments against you, Maine may be the place for you.

Many kinds of public benefits or assistance are protected, such as: workers’ compensation; unemployment benefits; aid to the needy (including needy families); crime victim’s compensation; and veteran’s benefits.
Main also offers protection for income from several kinds of annuities or insurance policies, such as: annuities, up to $450 per month; some kinds of life insurance (e.g. group life); and health (including group health) and disability benefits.
Alimony, support, and maintenance payments are protected to the extent they are actually necessary for the recipient’s support.

Note however that some of these exemptions or protections are not complete or absolute. Certain kinds of “domestic” obligations or debts can be funded by garnishment. For example, worker’s compensation payments may be garnished for child support.

Maine Maximum Threshold

Maine is slightly more protective of low-income debtors than is federal law. Under Maine law, the lesser of the following may be garnished:

25% of disposable income (same as federal law)
The amount by which a debtor’s weekly income exceeds 40 times the minimum wage (federal law only protects up to 30 times minimum wage)

The idea beyond both thresholds or criteria is the same: to allow the debtor something to live on.

Regardless of how it may be used in everyday conversation, for garnishment purposes, disposable income is income left after taking out only legally required deductions from the debtor’s paycheck. No deduction not mandated by law, including such common deductions as health insurance or 401(k) contributions, is considered. Since the legally required deductions are actually fairly few and modest—the principal one is FICA—most of a person’s income will be considered “disposable income.” In fact, for many people, the net effect is that 25% of around 90% of their income could be garnished.

There are a few debts taken especially seriously—taxes and child support. These debts can be paid or funded by garnishing significantly more than 25% of a debtor’s income. If a debtor is facing garnishment for taxes or child support, he or she could end up paying 50% of disposable income.

Maine Statute of Limitations

A statute of limitations is the time period to bring a legal action, such as a lawsuit or an action seeking garnishment. Before garnishing a debtor’s wages, a creditor first needs a judgment in its favor, which means it had to sue the debtor within the time provided for the type of claim it’s bringing. The limitation periods for some common consumer causes of action in Maine are:

Open accounts (credit cards): 6 years
Written contracts and promissory notes: 6 years
Written contracts or liabilities under seal, or promissory notes signed in the presence of an attesting witness: 20 years (This is a throwback to older contractual formalities that are rarely used any more; however, they are worth bearing in mind by anyone entering into contracts in Maine.)

The statute for contracts is in line with other states. The statute for credit cards is somewhat longer than most. Remember: if it’s too late to sue, then it’s also too late to garnish.

Once the creditor has a judgment in its favor, Maine gives it a LONG time to enforce the judgment—20 years, or essentially a generation! That gives the creditor the luxury of waiting until a down-on-his-or-her-luck debtor is earning more money before garnishing that income.

Writ of Garnishment in Maine

The debtor’s direct role or involvement in garnishment is usually minimal. That’s because garnishment comes after the creditor has already obtained a judgment in court, which means that the debtor already had the opportunity to defend him- or herself and dispute the debt.

The usual process of getting garnishment involves the creditor applying to the court for an order garnishing the debtor’s income. The basis for creditor’s application is the judgment which it previously obtained—it does not need to re-litigate the debt. Instead the creditor simply needs to state that money is due it but has not been paid, and that therefore garnishment is necessary to pay the debt and satisfy the judgment. The creditor will also identify a garnishee (e.g. debtor’s employer ) which is believed to have some of debtor’s money (e.g. debtor’s salary or wages) available for garnishment.

The court then serves papers on the garnishee. These papers will require it to verify the relevant facts of the situation (for example, that it has money owed to the debtor). The garnishee can correct or challenge incorrect facts, but it cannot dispute the creditor’s right to garnishment as remedy. Once a factual basis is established garnishment—garnishee’s possession of money belonging or owed to a debtor, against whom a creditor has a legitimate, unsatisfied judgment—garnishment will be ordered. More on Stopping Wage Garnishment in Maine.

Getting Legal Help

At first glance, it would seem that there is no way to fight garnishment—the creditor is simply enforcing a previously litigated judgment. However, with a lawyer’s help, there are ways to challenge, or at least reduce garnishment, such as:

Attack the judgment. The debtor cannot re-litigate the debt IF it had the opportunity to do so earlier; however, if the judgment was awarded improperly (for example, the debtor lost “by default” because it never even received notice that it was being sued), it may be possible to overturn the judgment or set it aside.

Attack the garnishment. While the basic right to garnishment to satisfy a valid judgment cannot be challenged, if the garnishment is being brought too late (statute of limitations), is not being brought in the correct way (procedural violations or errors), or contains a fundamental error (wrong debtor or wrong amount), there may be grounds to fight it.

Reduce what’s owed. If some of the debtor’s income comes from exempt sources—such as certain insurance proceeds, public benefits, or pensions—that income is not part of the debtor’s disposable income. The less disposable income, the less the debtor could be ordered to pay. Particularly for retirees, given the protection afforded to social security and other retirement benefits, this can be an important way to protect income.

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