Garnishment of earnings: Limitations on amount.

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1. As used in this section:

(a) "Disposable earnings" means that part of the earnings of any person remaining after the deduction from those earnings of any amounts required by law to be withheld.

(b) "Earnings" means compensation paid or payable for personal services performed by a judgment debtor in the regular course of business, including, without limitation, compensation designated as income, wages, tips, a salary, a commission or a bonus. The term includes compensation received by a judgment debtor that is in the possession of the judgment debtor, compensation held in accounts maintained in a bank or any other financial institution or, in the case of a receivable, compensation that is due the judgment debtor.

2. The maximum amount of the aggregate disposable earnings of a person which are subject to garnishment may not exceed:

(a) Eighteen percent of the person’s disposable earnings for the relevant workweek if the person’s gross weekly salary or wage on the date the most recent writ of garnishment was issued was $770 or less;

(b) Twenty-five percent of the person’s disposable earnings for the relevant workweek if the person’s gross weekly salary or wage on the date the most recent writ of garnishment was issued exceeded $770; or

(c) The amount by which the person’s disposable earnings for that week exceed 50 times the federal minimum hourly wage prescribed by section 206(a)(1) of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq., in effect at the time the earnings are payable,

whichever is less.

3. The restrictions of subsection 2 do not apply in the case of:

(a) Any order of any court for the support of any person.

(b) Any order of any court of bankruptcy.

(c) Any debt due for any state or federal tax.

4. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the maximum amount of the aggregate disposable earnings of a person for any workweek which are subject to garnishment to enforce any order for the support of any person may not exceed:

(a) Fifty percent of the person’s disposable earnings for that week if the person is supporting a spouse or child other than the spouse or child for whom the order of support was rendered; or

(b) Sixty percent of the person’s disposable earnings for that week if the person is not supporting such a spouse or child,

except that if the garnishment is to enforce a previous order of support with respect to a period occurring at least 12 weeks before the beginning of the workweek, the limits which apply to the situations described in paragraphs (a) and (b) are 55 percent and 65 percent, respectively.

(Added to NRS by 1971, 1499; A 1985, 1430; 2005, 1020; 2017, 1982)


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