He's a liar.
No court is going to do that. You would be unable to pay rent, utilities and have food.
The Federal Law limits child support garnishments to 50% (if you're remarried) and 60% (single) or 5% more than that if there is an arrearage of more than 3 months. Most states have similar statutes and some have even tried to push garnishment to 75% of disposable earnings (pretax earnings).
The law regarding child support falls under the Consumer Credit Protection Act, Section
15 USC 1673(b)(2). It says:
2) The maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subject to garnishment to enforce any order for the support of any person shall not exceed -
- (A) where such individual is supporting his spouse or dependent child (other than a spouse or child with respect to whose support such order is used), 50 per centum of such individual's disposable earnings for that week; and
- (B) where such individual is not supporting such a spouse or dependent child described in clause (A), 60 per centum of such individual's disposable earnings for that week; except that, with respect to the disposable earnings of any individual for any workweek, the 50 per centum specified in clause (A) shall be deemed to be 55 per centum and the 60 per centum specified in clause (B) shall be deemed to be 65 per centum, if and to the extent that such earnings are subject to garnishment to enforce a support order with respect to a period which is prior to the twelve-week period which ends with the beginning of such workweek.
With respect to wage garnishment, US CODE: Title 15, Subsection 1673 Restriction on Garnishment states:
(a)
Maximum allowable garnishment Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section and in section
1675 of this title, the maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subjected to garnishment may not exceed
(1) 25 per centum of his disposable earnings for that week, or
(2) the amount by which his disposable earnings for that week exceed thirty times the Federal minimum hourly wage prescribed by section
206 (a)(1) of title
29 in effect at the time the earnings are payable, whichever is less. In the case of earnings for any pay period other than a week, the Secretary of Labor shall by regulation prescribe a multiple of the Federal minimum hourly wage equivalent in effect to that set forth in paragraph (2).
(b)
Exceptions (1) The restrictions of subsection (a) of this section do not apply in the case of (A) any order for the support of any person issued by a court of competent jurisdiction or in accordance with an administrative procedure, which is established by State law, which affords substantial due process, and which is subject to judicial review.
With all that said, I really don't think BBAG is lying. He has no reason too. The child support system is really complex and in serious need of reform. And before anyone makes any further judgements let me just say this, my ex-husband IS a deadbeat dad. He has an arrearage of over 57k, but my kids are teenagers now and it does no one any good to throw him in prison over a civil debt. Someone please tell me the logic in my tax dollars being used to house my ex husband in a correctional facility?
Stupid.
