Kentucky Claim of Exemption
File a Kentucky claim of exemption to protect wages from garnishment. Learn the Affidavit to Challenge Garnishment, the 13-day window, and what pay is exempt.
Introduction
A Kentucky claim of exemption is a request you file with the court to protect some or all of your wages or bank funds from a garnishment. An exemption is money the law says a creditor cannot take. After a creditor wins a money judgment, it can serve a garnishment on your employer and pull a share of every paycheck. In Kentucky you assert your exemption by completing and filing an Affidavit to Challenge Garnishment at the Circuit Clerk's office, and you have only 13 days from the date of the payroll check the money was withheld from. Kentucky caps garnishment at the federal level, so a baseline share of your earnings is protected, and income like Social Security stays off limits. Because money comes out of each check while your challenge is pending, act quickly. DocDraft prepares a Kentucky claim of exemption from your details, and attorney review is available before you file.
0/5000
Key Things to Know
- 1
A Kentucky claim of exemption is a request you file with the court to protect some or all of your wages or bank funds from garnishment. It tells the court the money is exempt, meaning the law does not let a creditor take it.
- 2
You have 13 days to act. To challenge withheld wages you must go to the Circuit Clerk's office and file an Affidavit to Challenge Garnishment within 13 days of the date on the payroll check the money was taken from.
- 3
Kentucky caps wage garnishment at the federal level. Under Kentucky Revised Statutes section 427.010(2) a creditor can take no more than the lesser of 25 percent of your weekly disposable earnings, or the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage.
- 4
The affidavit is how you claim your exemption. Kentucky raises the exemption through the court's Affidavit to Challenge Garnishment rather than a separate claim-of-exemption form, filed with the clerk who issued the garnishment.
- 5
Some income is exempt no matter the debt. Social Security, disability, veterans benefits, and many pensions and public benefits are protected, and a claim of exemption is how you free those funds if a bank has frozen them.
- 6
Money is withheld while your challenge is pending. Because each paycheck is garnished until the court resolves the claim, filing your affidavit quickly limits what you lose.
- 7
Filing gets you a hearing. After you file the affidavit, the clerk sets a hearing for you to appear and show the wages are protected, and the creditor must justify the garnishment to keep it.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Claim of Exemption in Kentucky, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Claim of Exemption guide walks through them.
Open the Claim of Exemption guideCustomize your Claim of Exemption Template with DocDraft
Kentucky Requirements for Claim of Exemption
Kentucky Filing Deadline and Office
File the Kentucky claim of exemption with the correct office, the court or the levying officer as Kentucky directs, within the state's window after the garnishment is served. Money is usually held until the claim is decided, so filing late can forfeit wages the law would otherwise protect.