Massachusetts Claim of Exemption
Claim your Massachusetts wage exemption to stop a garnishment. Learn the 85 percent protection, the supplementary process hearing, and what income is exempt.
Introduction
A Massachusetts claim of exemption is how you protect some or all of your wages from garnishment, which Massachusetts calls trustee process. An exemption is money the law says a creditor cannot take. After a creditor wins a money judgment, it can reach your wages, but Massachusetts shields a large share of them. State law protects the greater of 85 percent of your gross wages or 50 times the higher of the federal or Massachusetts minimum wage each week, one of the strongest wage protections in the country. Rather than filing a separate claim form within a set number of days, you assert your exemptions in person at a supplementary process hearing, where a judge examines your ability to pay. Income like Social Security stays off limits no matter the debt. Because a hearing decides what you keep, prepare your financial details and act quickly. DocDraft prepares a Massachusetts claim of exemption from your details, and attorney review is available before you file.
Key Things to Know
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A Massachusetts claim of exemption is how you protect some or all of your wages from garnishment, which the state calls trustee process. It tells the court the money is exempt, meaning the law does not let a creditor take it.
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There is no separate claim-of-exemption form to file within a set number of days. In Massachusetts you assert your exemptions at a supplementary process hearing after the court summons you, so respond to that summons and appear.
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Massachusetts protects far more of your pay than federal law. Under Mass. Gen. Laws chapter 246, section 28, the greater of 85 percent of your gross wages, or 50 times the higher of the federal or Massachusetts minimum hourly wage each week, is exempt from attachment.
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Wage garnishment is limited here. Because the exempt floor is so high, a creditor can reach only a small slice of higher earnings, and many lower-wage workers have nothing that can be taken.
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Some income is exempt no matter the debt. Social Security, disability, veterans benefits, and many pensions and public benefits are protected, and claiming an exemption is how you free those funds if a bank has frozen them.
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Wages can be reached while the case proceeds. Because the court decides what you keep at the supplementary process hearing, prepare your income and expense details and appear promptly.
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The hearing is where you claim the exemption. The court examines your ability to pay, and if it finds you have no non-exempt property and cannot pay the judgment, the proceedings may be dismissed.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Claim of Exemption in Massachusetts, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Claim of Exemption guide walks through them.
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Massachusetts Requirements for Claim of Exemption
File the Massachusetts claim of exemption with the correct office, the court or the levying officer as Massachusetts 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Massachusetts claim of exemption is how you protect wages or bank funds from a garnishment, which the state calls trustee process. It tells the court that some or all of the money is exempt, meaning the law does not let a creditor take it. In Massachusetts you raise it at a supplementary process hearing rather than by filing a separate claim form, and the exempt share of wages is very large.
An objection challenges whether the garnishment itself is proper, such as a wrong amount, the wrong person, or a defective process. A claim of exemption accepts that the debt exists but says the specific wages or funds are legally protected. In Massachusetts you raise your exemptions at the supplementary process hearing, and you can point out a defect in the process at the same time.
Under chapter 246, section 28, the greater of 85 percent of your gross wages, or 50 times the higher of the federal or Massachusetts minimum hourly wage each week, is exempt. A creditor can reach only what is left above that floor. This shields far more of your pay than the federal limit, so many paychecks cannot be garnished at all.
Massachusetts does not use a separate claim-of-exemption form with a fixed filing deadline. Instead, you claim your exemptions at a supplementary process hearing after the court summons you. Respond to that summons and appear at the hearing, because that is where a judge decides what, if anything, you must pay. Missing the hearing can lead to an adverse order.
Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, disability, veterans benefits, and many pensions and public benefits are exempt from garnishment for ordinary debts, no matter how much you owe. A large share of ordinary wages, the greater of 85 percent of gross wages or 50 times the applicable minimum wage, is also protected. Frozen exempt benefits in a bank account are released by claiming the exemption.
Massachusetts does not add a separate head-of-household exemption, but its base wage protection is one of the strongest in the country. The greater of 85 percent of your gross wages or 50 times the higher of the federal or state minimum wage is already exempt each week. If support income comes from an exempt source like Social Security, you can claim that too at the hearing.
Massachusetts has no separate statewide claim-of-exemption form for wages. You raise your exemptions in person at the supplementary process hearing held in the court handling the case, where you may be asked to complete a financial statement. Bring proof of your income, expenses, and any exempt sources of the money to show what is protected.
At the supplementary process hearing the court examines your income, expenses, and property. You show that your wages fall within the exemption and that any funds come from protected sources. If the court finds you have no non-exempt property and cannot pay the judgment in full or by partial payments, it may dismiss the proceedings or order only what you can afford.