Utah Claim of Exemption
File a Utah claim of exemption to protect wages from garnishment. Learn the 14-day deadline, the Reply and Request for Hearing form, and what pay is exempt.
Introduction
A Utah 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 from every paycheck. In Utah your employer mails or delivers a Notice of Garnishment and Exemptions along with a Reply and Request for Hearing form. You have 14 days from the date that notice is sent to file the Reply and Request for Hearing with the court that issued the judgment, and the court then schedules a hearing. Utah protects the same baseline share of pay as federal law, and exempt income like Social Security is off limits no matter the debt. Money is withheld while the claim is pending, so act quickly. DocDraft prepares a Utah claim of exemption from your details, and attorney review is available before you file.
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Key Things to Know
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A Utah claim of exemption is how you tell the court that some or all of the wages or bank funds being garnished are exempt, meaning the law does not let a creditor take them. In Utah you raise it by filing a Reply and Request for Hearing.
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The deadline is 14 days. Under Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 64D you have 14 days from the date the garnishee mailed or delivered the Notice of Garnishment and Exemptions to file your Reply and Request for Hearing, and missing it can forfeit protected pay.
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Utah follows the federal wage limit. A creditor can take no more than the lesser of 25 percent of your disposable earnings for the pay period, or the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage.
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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 a claim of exemption is how you free those funds if a bank has frozen them.
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Money is withheld while the claim is pending. Because each paycheck is garnished until the court resolves your Reply, filing quickly limits what you lose.
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Filing gets you a hearing. When you file the Reply and Request for Hearing, the court schedules a hearing and notifies you, and the creditor has to justify the amount being taken.
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Your employer sends the paperwork. The garnishee is responsible for serving you with the Notice of Garnishment and Exemptions and two copies of the Reply and Request for Hearing form, which you file with the court that issued the judgment.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Claim of Exemption in Utah, 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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Utah Requirements for Claim of Exemption
Utah Filing Deadline and Office
File the Utah claim of exemption with the correct office, the court or the levying officer as Utah 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.