What share of a Minnesota employee’s paycheck can a creditor actually reach? Since June 1, 2025, the answer depends on the employee’s weekly income. Under the graduated caps in Minn. Stat. § 571.922, a garnishment on an ordinary money judgment reaches anywhere from nothing at all to 25 percent of disposable earnings. In my collections practice, I advise both creditors pursuing wage levies and employers navigating compliance obligations under these rules.
How Do Minnesota’s Income-Based Garnishment Tiers Work?
Minnesota replaced its flat 25 percent cap with a graduated schedule that protects lower earners while preserving collection rights. Under Minn. Stat. § 571.922, paragraph (a), a garnishment on a judgment other than child support may not exceed the lesser of a tiered percentage of disposable earnings or the amount by which those earnings exceed 40 times the greater of the Minnesota or federal minimum hourly wage.
The percentage turns on weekly income measured against that same hourly wage. Garnishment is limited to 10 percent of disposable earnings when weekly income is more than 40 but not more than 60 times that wage, 15 percent when it is more than 60 but not more than 80 times, and 25 percent when it exceeds 80 times. In every band the garnishment may never exceed the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times that hourly wage, so a worker at or below the floor has nothing garnished at all.
Because the state comparator is the inflation-indexed rate in Minn. Stat. § 177.24, subdivision 1, paragraph (a), clause (4), the dollar thresholds move every January 1. The 2025 first special session repointed that cross-reference from the frozen $9.50 figure to the indexed rate, in Laws 2025, First Special Session, chapter 4, article 7, section 34. Minnesota’s minimum-wage rate was adjusted for inflation to $11.41 an hour for all employers in the state effective January 1, 2026. Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Minimum wage in Minnesota. At that rate the tier boundaries fall at weekly income of $456.40, $684.60, and $912.80, so 10 percent applies above $456.40, 15 percent above $684.60, and 25 percent above $912.80, and in every tier the garnishment may not exceed the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed $456.40. Minn. Stat. § 571.922, paragraphs (a) and (b). The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. 29 U.S.C. § 206(a)(1). Minnesota’s 90-day training wage for workers under age 20 is $9.31, a separate and lower figure than the general state minimum-wage rate. Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Minimum wage in Minnesota.
The graduated caps came from Laws 2024, chapter 114, article 3, section 101, signed by the governor on May 21, 2024. The Minnesota Attorney General’s office calls that debt package the Debt Fairness Act. That popular name appears nowhere in the enacted chapter, so use it in conversation and cite the chapter. A 2025 act moved the effective date from April 1 to June 1, 2025 and kept the applicability limit: the tiers reach only causes of action commenced on or after that date. Laws 2025, chapter 18, section 21. For a cause of action commenced earlier, the prior flat 25 percent cap still governs.
Everything in the calculation runs on disposable earnings, which means “that part of the earnings of an individual remaining after the deduction from those earnings of amounts required by law to be withheld.” Minn. Stat. § 571.921, paragraph (b). The federal definition is identical. 15 U.S.C. § 1672(b). Amounts required by law to be withheld come out first, and the statutory disclosure form tells the employer that those amounts do not include health insurance, charitable contributions, or other voluntary wage deductions. Minn. Stat. § 571.75, subdivision 2.
The base those deductions come out of is broad. “Earnings” covers compensation to an employee, independent contractor, or self-employed person, whether called wages, salary, commissions, bonus, profit-sharing distribution, severance payment, or fees, and includes periodic pension or retirement payments. Minn. Stat. § 571.921, paragraph (a). An “independent contractor” is an individual who receives or is owed earnings from an employer through periodic payments and is not treated by the employer as an employee for federal employment tax purposes. Minn. Stat. § 571.921, paragraph (e). Because “employer” means a person who owes or will owe earnings to an employee or independent contractor, a business paying an individual 1099 worker on a recurring schedule is an employer for purposes of sections 571.921 to 571.927. Minn. Stat. § 571.921, paragraphs (d) and (e).
Most workers are not paid weekly, and the statute supplies the conversion. The calculation must be based on the hourly wage in effect when the earnings are payable, times the number of work weeks in the pay period, and each day beyond the completed work weeks counts as a fraction equal to the excess workdays divided by the days in the normal work week. Minn. Stat. § 571.922, paragraph (b). A semimonthly payroll cannot run the math without that rule.
Child support sits outside the tiers entirely. Paragraph (a) opens “Unless the judgment is for child support,” and paragraph (c) sets a separate ladder: 50 percent of disposable income if the debtor supports a spouse or dependent child and the judgment is 12 weeks old or less, 55 percent if the debtor supports a spouse or dependent child and the judgment is older, 60 percent if the debtor supports neither and the judgment is 12 weeks old or less, and 65 percent if the debtor supports neither and the judgment is older. Minn. Stat. § 571.922, paragraph (c). Those figures track the federal ceiling, which turns on the same two variables: whether the obligor supports another spouse or dependent child, and whether the withholding enforces support owed for a period more than twelve weeks before the current workweek. 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b)(2). A support judgment also outlasts the ordinary 90-day garnishment when the judgment creditor is a county: it stays effective until the judgment is satisfied and the county notifies the employer. Minn. Stat. § 571.922, paragraph (c).
The caps bind the court, not just payroll. “No court may make, execute, or enforce an order or any process in violation of this section.” Minn. Stat. § 571.922, paragraph (d). That is the practical basis for challenging a garnishment that takes more than the statute allows.
The tiers also reach only one collection track. Unless the judgment is for child support, an execution levy on earnings may not exceed, for any pay period, the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times the greater of the Minnesota or federal minimum hourly wage, multiplied by the number of work weeks in the pay period. Minn. Stat. § 550.136, subdivision 3. The same limit governs an attorney’s summary execution on earnings. Minn. Stat. § 551.06, subdivision 3. A Minnesota Department of Revenue wage levy is measured against Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 571.922, the pre-tier flat cap, because the 2024 act froze that cross-reference. Minn. Stat. § 270C.69, subdivision 1.
Minnesota’s district courts publish no consumer debt case category, so no official count of consumer debt filings exists. The Judicial Branch reported 67,846 conciliation court filings, 33,946 transcript judgments, and 26,962 default judgments statewide in fiscal year 2025, with minor civil filings up 27 percent in one year. Minnesota Judicial Branch, 2025 Performance Measures Annual Report, Table 3. Pending major civil growth is driven by contract cases, which the Branch describes as including consumer credit contract cases, and those filings rose 34 percent to 8,791. No statistic tracks how many judgments produce garnishments, because a creditor may issue a garnishment summons at any time after entry of a money judgment in the civil action without any court order. Minn. Stat. § 571.71.
What Must an Employer Do When Served with a Garnishment Summons?
What arrives is creditor paper, not a court order. A garnishment summons “may be issued by a creditor and served upon the garnishee in the same manner as other summons in that court of record, except that service may not be made by publication.” Minn. Stat. § 571.72, subdivision 2. A creditor who seeks garnishment before judgment or default on the grounds listed in section 571.93 must apply to the court for an order. Minn. Stat. § 571.93. The summons can also arrive before any judgment: a creditor may issue one 45 or more days after service of the summons and complaint when a default judgment could have been entered and has not been. Minn. Stat. § 571.71.
Your first duty is to hold, not to pay. The summons directs the employer to retain earnings, money, or property of the debtor not in excess of 110 percent of the unpaid claim until the creditor serves a writ of execution, the debtor or the creditor authorizes release, a court orders otherwise, or the obligation ends by operation of law. Minn. Stat. § 571.72, subdivision 2. That retention obligation expires on its own after the period set by Minn. Stat. § 571.79. Two traps sit in the same subdivision: a wage assignment the employee made within ten days before the first garnishment summons is void, and the employer may not set off its own advance made in that window against the garnished earnings. Minn. Stat. § 571.72, subdivision 2.
The disclosure deadline has two settings. The employer must serve a written disclosure on both the creditor and the debtor within 20 days after service of the garnishment summons, but when the garnishment is on earnings and the employee has garnishable earnings, the employer serves the disclosure and the earnings disclosure worksheet within ten days after the last payday to occur within the 90 days after service. Minn. Stat. § 571.75, subdivision 1. The disclosure need not exceed 110 percent of the unpaid claim, it may be served personally or by first class mail, and a corporation’s disclosure must be made by an officer, managing agent, or other authorized person having knowledge of the facts. Minn. Stat. § 571.75, subdivision 1.
Subdivision 2 sets what the disclosure must state: the employee’s disposable earnings for the pay periods specified in Minn. Stat. § 571.921; any setoff, defense, claim, or lien the employer asserts, with the amount and the facts; any exemption or objection by the employee that the employer knows about; and the names and addresses of anyone else claiming those earnings. Minn. Stat. § 571.75, subdivision 2. Section 571.921 supplies the definitions that disclosure runs on, including disposable earnings. Minn. Stat. § 571.921.
The withholding runs on its own schedule between service and disclosure. For each payday falling within the 90 days after service, the employer computes the withholding on the earnings disclosure worksheet and withholds that amount, returns the worksheet and all money withheld to the creditor’s attorney (or the creditor, if unrepresented) after the 90 days, and delivers a copy of the disclosure and worksheet to the employee within ten days after the last payday in that period. Minn. Stat. § 571.75, subdivision 2. If the judgment is paid off or the employee leaves before the 90 days run, the employer completes the last disclosure and withholding within ten days of the last payday it withheld. Minn. Stat. § 571.75, subdivision 2.
The creditor does the tier math up front. Under the form effective June 1, 2025, the creditor must fill out the percentage chart before sending the form to the employer, and the employer uses that chart to know what percentage of earnings to withhold, taking the lesser of that percentage and the excess over 40 times the minimum wage. Minn. Stat. § 571.75, subdivision 2. The employer also owes the employee an explanation of those calculations on request. Minn. Stat. § 571.75, subdivision 2.
The employee’s own paperwork is likewise the creditor’s job, not yours. The creditor mails the employee a copy of the garnishment summons and all other papers served on the employer not later than five days after serving the employer, and where earnings are garnished the creditor must serve the earnings exemption notice ten or more days before the first garnishment summons. Minn. Stat. § 571.72, subdivisions 4 and 8. Serving that notice is the creditor’s act, not the employer’s. Minn. Stat. § 571.924, subdivision 1.
Getting the disclosure wrong carries real but bounded exposure. If the employer fails to serve the disclosure, the creditor may move for judgment against it, supporting the motion with an affidavit and serving both the employee and the employer, and the court “may render judgment against the garnishee … for an amount not exceeding 110 percent of the amount claimed in the garnishment summons” and “upon good cause shown may remove the default and permit the garnishee to disclose on just terms.” Minn. Stat. § 571.82, subdivision 1. That 110 percent is a ceiling on the whole judgment, with costs taxed and allowed inside it rather than added to it, and paying under the judgment discharges the employer from the claims of every party named in the process as to the money paid. Minn. Stat. § 571.82, subdivision 2. Chapter 571’s fee shifting runs the other direction: a creditor that serves a garnishment summons before entry of judgment outside the chapter’s authorizations, or that acts in bad faith in violation of the chapter, is liable to the debtor for $100, actual damages, and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Minn. Stat. § 571.90.
Returning the form does not always end the matter. Where the employer denies liability, the creditor may move to make it a party and file a supplemental complaint, with default judgment available, and any party may obtain an ex parte order requiring a company representative to appear for oral examination about the disclosure. Minn. Stat. § 571.75, subdivisions 3 and 4.
When two garnishments reach the same employee, you do not prorate. Except as otherwise provided in chapter 571 or section 518A.53, priority follows the order in which the garnishment summonses were served, and garnishments are effective no longer than 90 days from service, except a county’s wage garnishment on a child support judgment where the county notifies the employer when the judgment is satisfied. Minn. Stat. § 571.923. Two summonses served together go to the one issued on the first judgment entered; only when the judgments were also entered the same day, or when the garnishments are prejudgment, does the employer select the order. Minn. Stat. § 571.923.
Child support outranks the queue. An order for or notice of withholding for support has priority over an attachment, execution, garnishment, or wage assignment and is not subject to Minnesota’s statutory garnishment limits. Minn. Stat. § 518A.53, subdivision 9. Proration exists only among support orders. An employer facing several must comply with all of them up to the single federal Consumer Credit Protection Act ceiling, giving priority to current support and allocating the remainder to past-due support pro rata. Minn. Stat. § 518A.53, subdivision 5.
A tax levy does not sweep the board. Once the employer is served, the state’s claim has priority over garnishments and wage assignments that arrive afterward, and the levy’s withholding for each pay period must be decreased by amounts payable under a garnishment served before the notice of delinquency. Minn. Stat. § 270C.69, subdivision 1. The employer must report those prior garnishments and wage assignments to the commissioner within ten days of the notice, remit within ten days after each pay period ends, and file all wage levy disclosure forms and payments by electronic means. Minn. Stat. § 270C.69, subdivision 1.
Payroll systems that automate these calculations are worth the investment, because manual processing across multiple garnishment orders is where compliance errors most often occur.
How Does a Government Wage Levy Differ from a Judgment Creditor’s Garnishment?
A wage levy from the Minnesota Department of Revenue or the IRS does not require a prior court judgment. The Commissioner of Revenue may levy “whether or not the commissioner has commenced a legal action for collection of such taxes.” Minn. Stat. § 270C.67, subdivision 4.
It does require notice. Before any levy, notice and demand for payment must be given at least 30 days in advance, and the notice must state in simple and nontechnical terms the administrative appeals available and the alternatives that can prevent a levy, including an installment payment agreement. Minn. Stat. § 270C.67, subdivision 3. A wage levy adds conditions: the tax must be uncontested or the appeal period expired, and the commissioner may not proceed until 30 days after mailing the taxpayer notice of the amount due, a demand for payment, and the intention to require employer withholding. Minn. Stat. § 270C.69, subdivision 1. Once the employer is served, it withholds each pay period “until the notice is released by the commissioner under section 270C.7109.” Minn. Stat. § 270C.69, subdivision 1. The notice itself expires one year after mailing unless renewed, and a renewed notice reinstates the priority of the original claim. Minn. Stat. § 270C.69, subdivision 1.
The Department’s separate continuous levy is not a wage tool. That statute states that “payments” “does not include wages as defined in section 290.92,” and reaches recurring non-wage payments instead: independent contractor pay, dividends, rents, royalties, residuals, and other periodic payments. Minn. Stat. § 270C.68, subdivision 4. A continuous levy runs from the date the notice is received until the amount due stated on the notice has been withheld or the commissioner releases it. Minn. Stat. § 270C.68, subdivision 2.
Protections travel with a state levy. A levy is not enforceable against the personal property listed as exempt in Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 550.37, and in sections 550.38 and 550.39, and a taxpayer whose property has been seized may bring a claim for equitable relief in district court on 48 hours’ notice. Minn. Stat. § 270C.67, subdivisions 1a and 10. An employer that honors the levy is discharged from any obligation to the employee for the amount surrendered. Minn. Stat. § 270C.67, subdivision 13. The employer may not discharge the employee because the commissioner proceeded, and must notify the commissioner in writing of the termination date and the total withheld if the employee leaves before the amount is satisfied. Minn. Stat. § 270C.69, subdivision 2.
Federal levies run the same way and reach further. The IRS must notify the taxpayer in writing of its intention to levy on salary or wages no less than 30 days before the day of the levy. 26 U.S.C. § 6331(d). The levy is then continuous “from the date such levy is first made until such levy is released under section 6343,” so the employer keeps withholding without a new notice. 26 U.S.C. § 6331(e). The Internal Revenue Code exempts only a fixed dollar amount, computed from the standard deduction plus an inflation-adjusted $4,150 for each dependent, divided by 52 and prorated to the pay period. 26 U.S.C. § 6334. Everything above that floor goes to the IRS.
For employers, the key difference is procedural. A Chapter 571 garnishment carries formal disclosure timelines and exemption-claim periods, while a government levy arrives under its own notice rules and its own priority rule. A tax levy outranks garnishments that arrive after it, not one the employer is already honoring. Minn. Stat. § 270C.69, subdivision 1. The employer’s duty to surrender under a federal levy excepts property that is, at the time of the demand, “subject to an attachment or execution under any judicial process.” 26 U.S.C. § 6332(a). The withholding order that does outrank an existing garnishment is child support. Minn. Stat. § 518A.53, subdivision 9. For a detailed overview of how the Department of Revenue uses these tools, see Minnesota Department of Revenue General Levy Guidelines and Minnesota Wage Levies.
What Rights Does the Employee Have?
The floor comes first. On a judgment other than child support, a garnishment may not exceed the lesser of the tiered percentage of disposable earnings or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times the greater of the Minnesota or federal minimum wage. Minn. Stat. § 571.922, paragraphs (a) and (b). A child support judgment is not subject to that floor.
Exempt earnings do not depend on a form. “The disposable earnings exempt from garnishment are exempt as a matter of right, whether claimed or not by the person to whom due,” and the exemption may not be waived. Minn. Stat. § 550.37, subdivision 13.
Benefit income is broadly protected but not fully exempt. Retirement plan payments are exempt only up to a present value of $81,000 plus amounts reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any spouse or dependent, and not at all when the debt is owed under a support order. Minn. Stat. § 550.37, subdivision 24. The Revisor’s note published with that section records that the dollar cap is preempted as applied to ERISA-qualified plans. Minn. Stat. § 550.37, Revisor’s note. Benefits under a pension plan governed by ERISA may not be assigned or alienated, though they yield to a qualified domestic relations order. 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d). Workers’ compensation claims are exempt from seizure or sale for the payment of any debt or liability, up to a total amount of $10,000,000 per claim and subsequent award. Minn. Stat. § 176.175, subdivision 2. That $10,000,000 figure applies to dates of injury on or after October 1, 2025. Laws 2025, chapter 27, article 1, section 6. Unemployment benefits are exempt from levy, execution, attachment, and any other remedy provided for the collection of debt, and any waiver is void. Minn. Stat. § 268.192, subdivision 2. Even so, child support is deducted and withheld from unemployment benefits. Minn. Stat. § 268.155.
Federal protections carry their own carve-outs. Social Security benefits sit beyond ordinary creditor process under 42 U.S.C. § 407(a). Veterans’ benefits are exempt from the claim of creditors under 38 U.S.C. § 5301(a), though that exemption does not reach claims of the United States arising under the laws the Secretary of Veterans Affairs administers. Congress subjected Social Security benefits to withholding and other legal process for child support and alimony. 42 U.S.C. § 659(a). Veterans’ benefits reach that process only where a former servicemember waived a portion of retired or retainer pay to receive service-connected disability compensation. 42 U.S.C. § 659(h)(1)(B)(iii). The IRS may still levy, because nothing outside the statutory exempt list is exempt from levy. 26 U.S.C. § 6334(c). Social Security above a $9,000 exemption per 12 months is subject to Treasury offset for federal nontax debt such as a defaulted student loan. 31 U.S.C. § 3716(c)(3)(A). Federal law also requires states to withhold child support from unemployment compensation. 42 U.S.C. § 503(e).
Two forms carry two different lists. The wage garnishment exemption notice covers only three grounds: you are getting government assistance based on need, you got such assistance in the last six months, or you were an inmate of a correctional institution in the last six months. Minn. Stat. § 571.925. The longer benefit list belongs to the financial institution exemption notice. Minn. Stat. § 571.912.
The creditor must serve the earnings exemption notice no less than ten days before serving the garnishment summons, and the debtor may within that time serve on the creditor a signed statement asserting an entitlement to an exemption. Minn. Stat. § 571.924, subdivision 1. Missing the window does not forfeit the exemption: “Failure of the debtor to serve a statement does not constitute a waiver of any right the debtor may have to an exemption.” Minn. Stat. § 571.926. The same no-waiver rule applies to a sheriff’s execution levy. Minn. Stat. § 550.136, subdivision 8. It applies as well to the financial institution exemption form. Minn. Stat. § 571.913. A party in interest may also move the court for a ruling on the exemption claim. Minn. Stat. § 571.72, subdivision 9.
Filing the form does not stop the creditor by itself. The creditor may still cause a garnishment summons to issue, subject to sanctions. Minn. Stat. § 571.926. On receiving a claim of exemption, the creditor has six business days to return released funds or interpose an objection. Minn. Stat. § 571.72, subdivision 9. A creditor that ignores a valid claim in bad faith owes costs, reasonable lawyer fees, actual damages, and a fine up to $100. Minn. Stat. § 571.925.
Some protection is automatic at the bank. A financial institution must calculate and establish the protected amount from federal benefit payments deposited during the lookback period, and the account holder need not assert any right of garnishment exemption to reach it. 31 C.F.R. § 212.6. That automatic protection drops away when the order arrives with a Notice of Right to Garnish Federal Benefits. 31 C.F.R. § 212.4.
Exempt money keeps its character after deposit, for a while. Need-based assistance keeps its exemption for 60 days after deposit. Minn. Stat. § 550.37, subdivision 14. Retirement funds keep theirs after deposit if traceable to their exempt source, first in first out, with the burden of proof on the debtor. Minn. Stat. § 550.37, subdivision 20.
The least known protection is the largest. A worker returning to private employment or farming after need-based public assistance or incarceration has salary or earnings exempt from attachment, garnishment, or levy of execution for six months. Minn. Stat. § 550.37, subdivision 14.
Retaliation is barred, and the two governments enforce it differently. Federal law bars an employer from discharging an employee because his earnings “have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness.” 15 U.S.C. § 1674(a). The only federal penalty is criminal: a fine of not more than $1,000, imprisonment of not more than one year, or both, and only for a willful violation. 15 U.S.C. § 1674(b). Enforcement belongs to the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor. 15 U.S.C. § 1676. The Eighth Circuit “refuse[d] to imply a private right of action under 15 U.S.C. § 1674(a),” so a Minnesota worker’s own claim must rest on state law. McCabe v. City of Eureka, 664 F.2d 680, 683 (8th Cir. 1981). Congress expressly left that space open to the states. 15 U.S.C. § 1677.
Minnesota fills it. An employer “shall not discharge or otherwise discipline an employee or independent contractor as a result of an earnings garnishment authorized by this chapter.” Minn. Stat. § 571.927, subdivision 1. A court may order reinstatement and other relief it considers appropriate, and a worker who held the position before the violation recovers twice the earnings lost, on a civil action brought within 90 days of the prohibited action. Minn. Stat. § 571.927, subdivision 2. Those rights may not be waived or altered by contract, so no handbook acknowledgment or contractor agreement can bargain them away. Minn. Stat. § 571.927, subdivision 3. A parallel provision covers a sheriff’s execution levy on earnings. Minn. Stat. § 550.136, subdivision 13. Another covers an attorney summary execution on earnings. Minn. Stat. § 551.06, subdivision 13. A tax wage levy carries the same protection and borrows the same remedy. Minn. Stat. § 270C.69, subdivision 2.
Minnesota’s garnishment, execution, and levy forms were rewritten in plain language by Laws 2025, chapter 18, which amended the statutory forms in 20 provisions of Minnesota Statutes chapters 550, 551, and 571, took effect June 1, 2025, and required the updated forms to be posted on the state court website by that date. Governor Tim Walz signed the underlying 2024 debt legislation on May 21, 2024. As Attorney General Keith Ellison, who championed the bill, said after that signing, “Minnesotans facing debt, including medical debt, can rest easier in the knowledge that the law provides them with more protections than it did before.” The bank levy page covers related protections for funds held in deposit accounts.
How Should a Creditor Decide Between Wage Garnishment and Other Collection Tools?
Wage garnishment is a steady but slow collection method. On an ordinary judgment the take runs from zero to 25 percent of disposable earnings, so a creditor collecting at that pace may wait months or years to satisfy a judgment, especially on larger debts. Minn. Stat. § 571.922.
For that reason, I often recommend pairing wage garnishment with other enforcement tools. A bank levy under Minn. Stat. § 550.143 captures what the financial institution holds on deposit owing to the debtor, up to 110 percent of the amount remaining due on the judgment. If the sheriff fails to serve the notice, the instructions, and the exemption notices, the levy is void and the financial institution takes no action. Minn. Stat. § 550.143, subdivision 3. The bank levy section applies in addition to the general third-party levy provisions, not instead of them. Minn. Stat. § 550.143, subdivision 1.
A third-party levy under Minn. Stat. § 550.135, subdivisions 3 and 4, reaches money or other indebtedness a third party owes the debtor, but not an indebtedness that, at the time the writ of execution is served, is neither due absolutely nor free of any contingency. A third party that ignores the writ faces judgment for an amount not exceeding 110 percent of the amount claimed in the writ of execution. Minn. Stat. § 550.135, subdivision 9.
Post-judgment disclosure narrows the choice. Once a judgment has been docketed at least 30 days and remains unsatisfied, the creditor’s attorney as an officer of the court may order the debtor to mail information on the nature, amount, identity, and locations of all assets, liabilities, and personal earnings. Minn. Stat. § 550.011. The order must warn that failing to complete the form and mail it within ten days may result in a citation for civil contempt of court, and cash bail posted on that citation may be ordered payable to the creditor. Minn. Stat. § 550.011.
The choice depends on the debtor’s financial profile: a salaried employee with no significant bank balance is best reached through wage garnishment, while a self-employed debtor or business owner may have receivables or contract proceeds that a third-party levy can capture more efficiently. For a comprehensive guide to these options, see How to Collect Your Money After Winning a Lawsuit and How to Garnish a Debtor’s Account at a Financial Institution.
For guidance on wage levies and employer compliance, see Collections or email aaron@aaronhall.com.