Montana Wage Garnishment Laws: The Statute Says Federal Minimum Wage, and That Changes the Math
Montana publishes a state minimum wage well above the federal one, so it is natural to assume the state’s garnishment floor rises with it. It does not. Mont. Code Ann. 25-13-614(2)(a) puts the word federal inside the same limb that carries the thirty-times multiplier, and nothing anywhere in the section refers to the Montana minimum wage. The section’s only cross-reference points outward, to 15 U.S.C. 1672, for the definitions of earnings, disposable earnings and garnishment. Pairing the twenty-five percent from limb (2)(b) with a state wage base is a mistake with no statutory support, and it is the single most consequential thing a Montana reader can get wrong. This page works through the formula limb by limb, the support-order percentages and the twelve-week rule that raises them, why Montana’s own minimum wage is context rather than input, what is exempt outright and what is exempt only above a value limit, why the homestead ceiling is a rule rather than a number, and how a 120-day levy on earnings actually runs.
The Short Version
- MCA 25-13-614(2) caps garnishment at the lesser of two limbs: (a) disposable earnings above 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage, or (b) 25 percent of disposable earnings.
- The word federal is in the statute, inside limb (2)(a). Montana’s own minimum wage never enters the formula, and 25-13-614 contains no reference to it.
- Support orders escape the caps entirely under 25-13-614(3) and get their own ladder in (4): 50 or 60 percent, rising to 55 or 65 percent for arrears older than the twelve-week period ending with the workweek.
- Definitions are borrowed, not written: 25-13-614(5) adopts 15 U.S.C. 1672 for earnings, disposable earnings and garnishment.
- A levy on earnings runs 120 days or until the judgment is satisfied under MCA 25-13-402(6)(a), and competing levies rank by the date and time each was served on the employer.
- The homestead ceiling in MCA 70-32-104(3) is not a fixed figure. The Department of Revenue sets it by administrative rule; the statute gives a 2021 base of $350,000 and a 4 percent annual escalator.
The Montana Rule: One Statute, Two Limbs, a Federal Base
Take the smaller of twenty-five percent and the excess over thirty federal minimum wages. Nothing in the section is indexed to Montana’s own wage rate.
Montana did not write its own garnishment arithmetic. Section 25-13-614 restates the federal ceiling, borrows the federal definitions by express cross-reference, and mirrors the federal support-order ladder including the twelve-week rule. That makes the Montana file unusually predictable for a creditor and unusually easy to get wrong for anyone who assumes a state statute must use state numbers. Where Montana genuinely diverges from the federal template is not in the percentage at all — it is in the exemption schedule at 25-13-608 and 25-13-609, in the per-item sub-cap inside the household allowance, and in a homestead ceiling that the Legislature delegated to an agency rather than fixing in the code.
Watch: Montana Wage Garnishment, Explained
The 25 percent cap, the no-continuous-garnishment rule, and the escalating homestead.
Watch Overview
The Formula, and Which Minimum Wage It Uses
MCA 25-13-614(1), (2) and (5), quoted.
Here is the operative text as the Montana Code Annotated prints it. Read where the word “federal” sits:
“25-13-614. Earnings of judgment debtor. (1) Earnings of a judgment debtor that are not subject to garnishment, as provided in this section, are exempt. (2) Except as provided in subsections (3) and (4), the maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of a judgment debtor for any workweek that is subjected to garnishment may not exceed the lesser of: (a) the amount by which the debtor’s disposable earnings for the week exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are payable; or (b) 25% of the debtor’s disposable earnings for that week.”
The adjective “federal” is not in a note, a comment or an annotation. It is inside limb (2)(a), in the same clause that carries the thirty-times multiplier, and it is the only minimum wage the section mentions. Search the whole of 25-13-614 for a reference to the Montana minimum wage and there is none. The section’s single outward cross-reference runs the other way, into federal law: subsection (5) provides that “the definitions of earnings, disposable earnings, and garnishment are as set forth in 15 U.S.C. 1672“. The section was last amended by Ch. 56, L. 2009.
Why this matters more in Montana than almost anywhere
In a state whose published minimum wage equals the federal one, the distinction is invisible. Montana is not such a state: the Department of Labor and Industry publishes a rate meaningfully above $7.25, and a reader who assumes the garnishment floor tracks it will compute a protected amount far larger than the one the statute produces. That error appears in circulation, including on pages about neighbouring states, and it always takes the same shape — the twenty-five percent is lifted correctly out of limb (2)(b) and then paired with a state wage base that limb (2)(a) never mentions. There is no statutory support for that pairing.
Working the two limbs
The federal minimum hourly wage under 29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)(C) is $7.25 an hour, the last step of the phased increase in that subsection, so limb (2)(a)’s threshold is thirty times $7.25, or $217.50 of weekly disposable earnings. Below that figure, limb (2)(a) yields nothing and nothing is garnishable. Above it, the two limbs are compared and the smaller controls:
- Weekly disposable earnings of $200: limb (2)(a) gives $0 (below the floor); limb (2)(b) gives $50. The lesser is $0.
- $260: limb (2)(a) gives $42.50; limb (2)(b) gives $65. The lesser is $42.50.
- $290: limb (2)(a) gives $72.50; limb (2)(b) gives $72.50. They cross here — at exactly four-thirds of the floor.
- $600: limb (2)(a) gives $382.50; limb (2)(b) gives $150. The lesser is $150.
- $1,200: limb (2)(a) gives $982.50; limb (2)(b) gives $300. The lesser is $300.
Above roughly $290 a week the percentage limb always controls, which is why most Montana garnishments settle at a flat quarter of disposable earnings and why limb (2)(a) only bites on low or irregular pay. That is also exactly where a state-wage-base error would do its damage: it would raise the floor and wipe out garnishability for a band of workers the statute does not protect.
Primary text: Mont. Code Ann. 25-13-614. The federal restriction it mirrors is at 15 U.S.C. 1673, and this page owns the extended treatment of that formula for our state set; see the wage garnishment laws by state overview for how other states depart from it.
Support Orders Change the Percentage, and the 12-Week Rule Changes It Again
MCA 25-13-614(3) and (4).
Subsection (3) does not raise the cap for a support order — it removes the cap. “The restrictions of subsection (2) do not apply in the case of an order or judgment for the maintenance or support of any person, issued by a court of competent jurisdiction or pursuant to an administrative procedure that is established by state law, affords substantial due process, and is subject to judicial review.” Note the qualification: an administrative support order counts, but only if the procedure that produced it is established by state law, affords substantial due process, and is subject to judicial review. A collection agency’s demand is not an order within (3).
Subsection (4) then supplies a separate ceiling that applies only to those orders, and it turns on the debtor’s other dependants rather than on the size of the debt:
- (4)(a)(i) — 50 percent of disposable earnings for the week if the debtor is supporting a spouse or dependent child other than the one for whom the order was issued.
- (4)(a)(ii) — 60 percent if the debtor is not supporting such a spouse or dependent child.
- (4)(b) — 55 and 65 percent respectively, “if the earnings are being garnished to enforce an order for maintenance or support for a period prior to the 12-week period that ends with the beginning of the workweek.”
The twelve-week rule is the part that gets dropped from summaries, and it is a five-point swing decided by the age of the arrears rather than by anything about the debtor. Read it carefully: the reference period is the twelve weeks that end with the beginning of the workweek being garnished, and the higher figure applies to the portion of the obligation attributable to a period before that window. It is a look-back on the debt, not on the paycheck.
These four numbers match 15 U.S.C. 1673(b)(2) exactly, which is unsurprising given subsection (5)’s adoption of the federal definitions, and it means a Montana employer running payroll for an out-of-state support order is applying the same ladder it would apply anywhere.
Every Limb of 25-13-614, and What It Yields
The whole section on one screen, with the base each limb uses.
| Limb | What it says | Base it measures against | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| (2)(a) | Disposable earnings above 30 x the minimum hourly wage | Federal minimum hourly wage | Ordinary judgments; the lesser of (a) and (b) controls |
| (2)(b) | 25% of disposable earnings | The week’s disposable earnings | Ordinary judgments; the lesser of (a) and (b) controls |
| (3) | The subsection (2) restrictions do not apply | None — it disapplies the caps | Maintenance and support orders meeting the due-process conditions |
| (4)(a)(i) | 50% ceiling | The week’s disposable earnings | Support orders where the debtor supports another spouse or dependent child |
| (4)(a)(ii) | 60% ceiling | The week’s disposable earnings | Support orders where the debtor does not |
| (4)(b) | 55% and 65% respectively | The week’s disposable earnings | Arrears for a period before the 12-week window ending with the workweek |
| (5) | Definitions adopted wholesale | 15 U.S.C. 1672 | “Earnings”, “disposable earnings”, “garnishment” |
Montana’s Own Minimum Wage, and Why It Is Context Rather Than Input
MCA 39-3-409 and the rate the Department of Labor and Industry publishes.
Montana has a real, independently adjusted minimum wage, and it is worth understanding precisely so that it can be set aside with confidence when the garnishment is calculated.
How the state rate is set
MCA 39-3-409(1) provides that the minimum wage “must be the greater of either: (a) the minimum hourly wage rate as provided under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)) … or (b) $6.15 an hour“. The $6.15 is the statutory base voters set by I.M. No. 151, approved 7 November 2006 — not a live figure, and not a number an employer should ever pay. Subsection (2)(b) is the escalator: “No later than September 30 of each year” the amount must be adjusted “based upon the increase, if any, from August of the preceding year to August of the year in which the calculation is made in the consumer price index, U.S. city average, all urban consumers, for all items”. Subsection (2)(c) requires the result to be “rounded to the nearest 5 cents” and makes it effective “on January 1 of the following year”. Subsection (3) sets a separate $4-an-hour rate for a business whose annual gross sales are $110,000 or less.
The rate the Department currently publishes
The Employment Standards Division of the Department of Labor and Industry publishes the operative figure on its Montana minimum wage page, where it currently reads $10.85 per hour, with the note that the wage “is to be the greater of the federal or current Montana minimum wage” and that no tip credit, meal credit or training wage is allowed under Montana’s wage and hour laws. We are quoting that page as it stands rather than attaching an effective date to the figure: the page itself carries no effective-date label, and the Department’s determination letter is published as a compressed PDF whose text we could not extract to confirm one. Treat $10.85 as the rate DLI currently publishes and check the page before relying on it.
The seam the sibling error falls through
Section 39-3-409 adjusts the minimum wage. It does not adjust any exemption figure, and it is not referenced by 25-13-614, by 25-13-608 or by 25-13-609. Two separate mechanisms run on two separate calendars: the wage rate moves on a September calculation effective each 1 January, while the garnishment floor moves only if Congress moves 29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1) — which it has not since the third step of that subsection took effect. A page that quietly substitutes one for the other produces a protected amount roughly half again too large. Montana’s rate belongs on a wage-and-hour page and on a payroll checklist; it does not belong in the garnishment calculation.
Statutory text: Mont. Code Ann. 39-3-409.
What a Garnishment Cannot Reach at All
MCA 25-13-608, exempt without any dollar limitation — and its carve-out.
Section 25-13-608(1) lists thirteen categories, lettered (a) through (m), that are exempt from execution with no value ceiling at all. Counted as the Code prints them: (a) professionally prescribed health aids for the debtor or a dependant; (b) federal social security and local public assistance benefits; (c) veterans’ benefits; (d) disability or illness benefits; (e) individual retirement accounts and Roth accounts, on the timing rule set out below; (f) benefits paid or payable for medical, surgical or hospital care to the extent used or to be used to pay for that care; (g) maintenance and child support; (h) a burial plot for the debtor and the debtor’s family; (i) benefits from a retirement system or plan within Title 19, chapters 3, 5 through 9, and 13, as provided by 19-2-1004; (j) benefits from a plan within Title 19, chapter 20, as provided by 19-20-706; (k) the debtor’s interest in unmatured life insurance contracts the debtor owns; (l) a medical care savings account under Title 15, chapter 61, a health savings account under 26 U.S.C. 223 or a medical savings account under 26 U.S.C. 220, to the extent of contributions made before the suit resulting in judgment was filed and the earnings on them; and (m) payments from the end-of-watch trust provided in 2-15-2040 through 2-15-2045. Last amended Sec. 10, Ch. 669, L. 2023.
The retirement-account timing rule is stricter than it looks
Limb (1)(e) does not exempt an IRA. It exempts an IRA under 26 U.S.C. 408(a) “to the extent of deductible contributions made before the suit resulting in judgment was filed and the earnings on those contributions”, a Roth under 408A to the extent of qualified contributions made before that same moment and their earnings, and rollover contributions as defined in 408(d)(3). The cut-off is the filing of the suit that produced the judgment — not the judgment, not the levy, and not a bankruptcy petition. Contributions made after the complaint was filed sit outside the exemption along with the earnings attributable to them, which makes the date-stamped contribution history a live issue in a Montana collection in a way it is not under the bankruptcy-style look-back periods other states use. The same “before the suit resulting in judgment was filed” cut-off governs limb (1)(l)’s savings accounts.
Subsection (2): four of these evaporate against support
Section 25-13-608(2) is the carve-out, and it is the reason the exemption schedule and the support percentages have to be read together. Veterans’ and social security benefits based upon remuneration for employment, disability benefits, and the assets of individual retirement accounts “are not exempt from execution if the debt for which execution is levied is for: (a) child support; or (b) maintenance to be paid to a spouse or former spouse.” So an obligation that already escapes the subsection (2) percentage caps under 25-13-614(3) also reaches into a pool that no ordinary judgment creditor can touch.
Text: Mont. Code Ann. 25-13-608. What a judgment creditor can reach on the property side, outside bankruptcy, is the subject of our Montana asset exemptions page; what a debtor keeps in a bankruptcy case is answered separately on our Montana bankruptcy exemptions page.
What It Can Reach Only Above a Limit
MCA 25-13-609, including the per-item sub-cap inside the household allowance.
Section 25-13-609 has exactly three subdivisions, and the first of them contains a second, smaller ceiling that is easy to read past:
“(1) the judgment debtor’s interest, not to exceed $7,000 in aggregate value, to the extent of a value not exceeding $1,250 in any item of property, in household furnishings and goods, appliances, jewelry, wearing apparel, books, firearms and other sporting goods, animals, feed, crops, and musical instruments; (2) the judgment debtor’s interest, not to exceed $4,000 in value, in one motor vehicle; and (3) the judgment debtor’s interest, not to exceed $4,500 in aggregate value, in any implements, professional books, and tools, of the trade of the judgment debtor or a dependent of the judgment debtor.”
The $1,250 per-item sub-cap inside the $7,000 aggregate is the part that decides cases. A debtor whose household goods total well under $7,000 can still have a single item — a piece of jewellery, a firearm, an instrument, a horse — whose value exceeds $1,250, and that item is protected only up to $1,250 no matter how much aggregate headroom is left. The exemption is not a pot the debtor may allocate freely; it is a pot with a hole in it at $1,250 per object. Note also the breadth of the list: animals, feed and crops sit in the same subdivision as appliances and books, which matters on an agricultural file.
Subdivision (2) covers one motor vehicle at $4,000 of the debtor’s interest, so a second vehicle is exposed in full, and subdivision (3) protects trade implements and professional books up to $4,500 in the aggregate, extending to the tools of the trade of a dependant as well as the debtor. The section was last amended Sec. 1, Ch. 539, L. 2021.
Text: Mont. Code Ann. 25-13-609. Where a married debtor’s property is held jointly, how Montana characterises that property affects what a one-spouse creditor can execute against.
The Homestead Limit Is a Rule, Not a Number
MCA 70-32-104(3), and why this page prints no current figure.
Most sources will hand you a single dollar amount for the Montana homestead. The statute does not contain one. Here is 70-32-104 in full on the point:
“70-32-104. Limitation on value. (1) A homestead may not exceed the value provided in subsection (3) … (3) (a) The department of revenue shall adopt administrative rules setting the homestead value limit. (b) In 2021, the homestead value limit is $350,000. (c) The homestead value limit must increase by 4% every calendar year after 2021.“
Three things follow, and the third is the reason this page stops short of a figure.
First, $350,000 is a 2021 base, not a current amount. Any page that prints it flat is publishing a five-year-old number. Second, the escalator is a fixed 4 percent per calendar year, not a consumer-price adjustment, so the ceiling rises whether or not Montana property values or the cost of living do — a structural difference from the CPI mechanism that governs the state minimum wage two sections up this page. Third, and decisively, subsection (3)(a) delegates the operative figure to the Department of Revenue by administrative rule. The compounded arithmetic from the 2021 base and the limit the Department has actually adopted are two different things, and only the second is the law. We attempted to retrieve the Department’s rule from the Administrative Rules of Montana gateway and received a shell page rather than rule text, so we do not publish a current dollar figure here. Anyone relying on a specific number should read the Department’s adopted rule directly.
Two further points from the same section. Subsection (1) makes the assessed value of the land, appurtenances and dwelling house “as it appears on the last-completed assessment roll preceding the institution of the proceeding” prima facie evidence of value in a proceeding to determine it — a useful evidentiary default for a creditor weighing whether a forced sale can clear the exemption. And subsection (2) provides that a claimant who owns an undivided interest “is limited to an exemption amount proportional to the claimant’s undivided interest”, so a co-owner does not get the whole ceiling. Amended Sec. 1, Ch. 442, L. 2021.
Text: Mont. Code Ann. 70-32-104.
How a Montana Levy on Earnings Actually Runs
MCA 25-13-402, 25-13-404, 25-13-211 and 25-13-212 — the machinery the percentage sits inside.
Section 25-13-614 says how much. It does not say how, and Montana reaches wages through the writ of execution rather than through a standalone continuing wage order. The mechanics are in 25-13-402, and one subsection of it is written specifically for earnings.
120 days, and what the levy captures inside them
MCA 25-13-402(6)(a): “A levy upon the earnings of a judgment debtor continues in effect for 120 days or until the judgment is satisfied, whichever occurs first. The levy applies to earnings due on or after the date of service through the expiration of the writ. Earnings withheld from a judgment debtor must be remitted to the sheriff or levying officer within 5 days of the day the earnings are withheld.” So it behaves like a garnishment inside its window, capturing every pay period at the 25-13-614 cap, and then it stops. Subsection (6)(b) requires the sheriff or levying officer to “clearly mark the expiration date upon all served copies of the writ and notice”, which means the expiry is on the face of the document the employer holds — there is no excuse for either side to be surprised by it.
Competing levies rank by the clock
Subsection (6)(c) provides that multiple levies served under subsection (6) “have priority according to the date and time of service upon the employer“, subject to subsection (8)’s reservation that the section does not supersede state or federal priority rules for particular levies — support and tax levies keep their own precedence. Time of day, not date of judgment, decides which of two commercial creditors gets paid first, which puts a premium on serving a correct, current employer without delay.
The rest of the writ
Under 25-13-402(1)(a) the sheriff or levying officer must execute the writ “not later than 120 days after receipt of the writ”, and 25-13-402(5) lets the officer levy “from time to time and as often as necessary, within the 120 days until the judgment is satisfied or the writ expires”. Section 25-13-404(1) makes the execution returnable “at any time not less than 10 or more than 120 days” after receipt of the recovery following imposition of the levy. For a third party holding property rather than earnings — a bank, credit union or other financial institution — subsection (3) makes the response a snapshot: the third party “shall respond to the levy based on the assets held at the time of levy”, within 10 business days. Subsection (4) requires the officer to hold levied property or money for 10 days, excluding weekends and holidays, following notification to the judgment debtor.
The debtor’s notice and the exemption clock
MCA 25-13-211 requires a notice of seizure to be served on the judgment debtor within 5 days of seizure, stating the case name, the date of judgment and the creditor’s name, advising that the debtor may be entitled to claim an exemption under part 6, and stating the procedure for doing so. MCA 25-13-212 then sets the debtor’s deadline: a written request for a hearing, a statement describing the property claimed exempt and the reasons, and supporting documentation, all filed with the issuing court and copied to the creditor and the levying officer “within 10 days, excluding weekends and holidays” of personal receipt of the notification or of the date it was mailed. Miss it and 25-13-212(2) is unforgiving: “the judgment debtor may not claim an exemption in the seized property.” Where a request is filed, subsection (3) requires the court to hold the hearing within 10 days, again excluding weekends and holidays. Note that this is the section that carries the exemption clock — not 25-13-614, which some summaries cite for it.
How long the judgment lasts
MCA 27-2-201(1) gives an action upon a judgment or decree of a court of record 10 years, and subsection (2) applies the same 10 years to a judgment from a court not of record, with the cause of action treated as accruing when final judgment was rendered. Past-due child support that accrued after 1 October 1993 has its own rule in subsections (3) and (4), measured from whichever falls later, the end of the support obligation or entry of a lump-sum judgment for arrears. A commercial creditor therefore has a decade in which to run successive 120-day earnings levies. Recording, priority against other lienholders and the debtor examination are handled in our Montana judgment collection guide, and locating the reachable property behind the levy is the subject of our asset search for judgment collection page.
Text: Mont. Code Ann. 25-13-402 and Mont. Code Ann. 25-13-212.
What a Montana File Usually Needs Found
The facts each step of the writ depends on.
The Payroll to Serve Before the 120 days start Second Vehicles 25-13-609(2) protects only one Deposit Relationships A 25-13-402(3) snapshot Real Property Records For the homestead question Current Address 25-13-211 notice must reach it Employment Changes Before the next writ issues All six of those facts are researched for one purpose only: executing a Montana money judgment that already exists. That is public-records work, and it produces no consumer report. People Locator Skip Tracing is not a consumer reporting agency. Nothing in a Montana execution file – the payroll a sheriff or levying officer will reach under MCA 25-13-402, the depositary answering for what it holds, the second vehicle standing outside the 25-13-609(2) allowance, the parcel behind a 70-32-104 homestead question – is an eligibility record, and none of it may be used to decide a tenancy, an offer of work, or credit or insurance. A request framed that way belongs with an FCRA-regulated provider and is sent there instead of being opened as a writ file. Where Montana Garnishments Go Wrong Six errors, five of them arithmetic.
Using the State Minimum Wage in Limb (2)(a)
The word “federal” is inside 25-13-614(2)(a) and the section never mentions Montana’s rate. Substituting the state figure inflates the protected floor and wrongly zeroes out garnishability on modest paychecks.
Publishing a Flat Homestead Figure
MCA 70-32-104(3) gives a 2021 base, a 4 percent annual escalator, and a delegation to the Department of Revenue. The operative ceiling is whatever the Department adopted by rule, which is not the same as compounding the base.
Reading the $7,000 Allowance as a Free Pot
25-13-609(1) caps any single item at $1,250 inside the $7,000 aggregate. One valuable object is protected only to $1,250 however much aggregate headroom the debtor has left.
Treating an IRA as Simply Exempt
25-13-608(1)(e) exempts only contributions made before the suit resulting in judgment was filed, plus their earnings, and 25-13-608(2) removes IRA assets from exemption entirely against child support or spousal maintenance.
Letting the 120 Days Lapse Unnoticed
25-13-402(6)(a) expires the earnings levy at 120 days and (6)(b) requires the expiration date to be marked on every served copy. Withholding simply stops; nobody sends a reminder.
Serving Second and Assuming You Share
Under 25-13-402(6)(c) competing earnings levies rank by the date and time each was served on the employer. The later levy waits; it does not split the non-exempt share.
The Montana Sequence, Step by Step
Where each statutory clock starts and stops.
Confirm the Judgment Is Still Actionable
MCA 27-2-201 gives 10 years on a judgment of a court of record and the same on one from a court not of record, with support arrears on their own timetable under subsections (3) and (4).
Fix the Garnishee and the Service Method
25-13-402(1)(b) allows personal service on an officer or supervising employee of a corporate third party, or service by mail where that entity has consented in writing, with the writ treated as served no later than 5 business days after mailing.
Levy, and Calendar the Expiration on the Face of the Writ
The earnings levy runs 120 days or until satisfaction under 25-13-402(6)(a), with the expiry marked on every served copy under (6)(b) and withheld earnings remitted within 5 days of withholding.
Expect the Exemption Hearing, Then Re-Levy
Notice of seizure goes out within 5 days under 25-13-211; the debtor has 10 working days to claim an exemption under 25-13-212 and the court hears it within 10 working days. When the writ expires, issue another within the 10-year window. The Boundaries on a Montana Execution File What this desk will not do is as settled as what it will. No Montana private investigator license is held here and none is claimed, this is not a private detective agency, and no surveillance or undercover assignment is offered on an execution file or any other. Nobody working a file adopts a false identity or misstates the reason for the enquiry, so an employer, a bank officer or a clerk of court is told plainly that public records are being researched for judgment enforcement and nothing else. And a subject who appears to have left because of abuse, or who is protected by a Montana order of protection, is not located for a creditor on any writ, however valid the writ may be.
Frequently Asked Questions
Montana wage garnishment, answered from the Code.
Does Montana garnishment use the state or the federal minimum wage?
The federal one. MCA 25-13-614(2)(a) says “30 times the federal minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are payable”, and the word federal is inside that limb. The section makes no reference to Montana’s minimum wage at all, and its only cross-reference is subsection (5), which adopts the definitions in 15 U.S.C. 1672.
How much can a creditor garnish in Montana?
The lesser of two figures under MCA 25-13-614(2): the amount by which disposable earnings for the week exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage, or 25 percent of disposable earnings for that week. Above roughly $290 of weekly disposable earnings the 25 percent limb is always the smaller of the two and therefore controls.
Why does Montana’s $10.85 minimum wage not raise the garnishment floor?
Because MCA 39-3-409 adjusts the minimum wage and nothing else. It is not referenced by 25-13-614, and 25-13-614 fixes its floor to the federal rate. The two run on separate calendars: the state wage is recalculated by September 30 each year and takes effect the following January 1, while the garnishment floor moves only if Congress changes 29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1).
What are the Montana limits for a child support garnishment?
MCA 25-13-614(3) disapplies the ordinary caps for a maintenance or support order, and (4) substitutes its own: 50 percent of disposable earnings if the debtor supports another spouse or dependent child, 60 percent if not, rising to 55 and 65 percent respectively where the earnings are garnished for a period before the 12-week period ending with the beginning of the workweek.
How long does a Montana levy on wages last?
120 days or until the judgment is satisfied, whichever comes first, under MCA 25-13-402(6)(a). The levy reaches earnings due on or after the date of service through the expiration of the writ, withheld earnings must be remitted within 5 days, and the levying officer must mark the expiration date on every served copy of the writ and notice.
What is the Montana homestead exemption amount?
MCA 70-32-104(3) does not state a current amount. It directs the Department of Revenue to adopt administrative rules setting the homestead value limit, records that the limit was $350,000 in 2021, and requires it to increase by 4 percent every calendar year after 2021. The operative figure is the one the Department has adopted by rule, so check that rule rather than compounding the 2021 base.
How long does a Montana debtor have to claim an exemption?
Ten days excluding weekends and holidays, under MCA 25-13-212(1), running from personal receipt of the notification of execution or from the date it was mailed under 25-13-211(2). Missing that window forfeits the claim entirely: 25-13-212(2) says the judgment debtor may not then claim an exemption in the seized property.
Which Montana property cannot be garnished or levied at all?
MCA 25-13-608(1) exempts thirteen categories without any dollar limit, including health aids, social security and public assistance, veterans’ benefits, disability benefits, maintenance and child support, a burial plot, unmatured life insurance and certain retirement plans. Subsection (2) removes several of them, including IRA assets, where the debt being enforced is child support or spousal maintenance.
Serve the Right Payroll Before the Writ Expires
A Montana earnings levy is a 120-day instrument with its expiry printed on the face of the writ, and rival levies rank by the minute each one reached the employer. That makes a stale payroll the costliest error on a Montana file: the writ spends its whole window on a job the debtor has left. Send us what you already hold on the debtor and our research team returns the employer to levy, the institution that would have to answer for assets held at that moment, and the titled property sitting outside 25-13-608 and 25-13-609. Lawful, documentary work, generally finished within 24 hours. Contact us to open a file, or see what our skip tracing services include.
Order a Debtor Locate →Related Guides
Continue with how to find a judgment debtor’s employer, how to find a debtor’s bank account, what assets can be seized on a judgment, the debtor’s examination guide, and what to do when a judgment debtor has disappeared. Comparing states? See our guides to neighboring Idaho, Washington, Colorado, and Wyoming wage garnishment laws. For background on the federal rules these state procedures sit on top of, see the Legal Information Institute on garnishment and the writ of execution.
