Wyoming Claim of Exemption
File a Wyoming claim of exemption to protect wages from garnishment. Learn the 10-day deadline, the Objection and Hearing form, and what pay is exempt.
Introduction
A Wyoming claim of exemption is a form you file 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 judgment, it can garnish your wages and take a share of each paycheck. In Wyoming you file an Objection to Garnishment and Request for Hearing with the clerk of the court that entered the judgment, and you have 10 days to file it after your wages or property are seized. The court then sets a hearing. Wyoming follows the federal wage limit, letting a creditor take no more than the lesser of 25 percent of your disposable earnings or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage. Exempt income like Social Security is off limits no matter the debt. Money is withheld while the objection is decided, so act quickly. DocDraft prepares a Wyoming claim of exemption from your details, and attorney review is available before you file.
Key Things to Know
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A Wyoming claim of exemption is how you tell the court that some or all of the wages or funds being garnished are exempt, meaning the law does not let a creditor take them. In Wyoming you raise it by filing an Objection to Garnishment and Request for Hearing.
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The deadline is 10 days. You must file your objection with the court within 10 days after your wages, funds, or property are seized, so file as soon as you learn of the garnishment to avoid losing protected pay.
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Wyoming follows the federal wage limit. Under Wyo. Stat. section 1-15-511 a creditor can take no more than the lesser of 25 percent of your disposable earnings for the week, 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 objection is decided. Because your pay is garnished until the court resolves your objection, filing quickly limits what you lose.
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Filing gets you a prompt hearing. When you file the objection, the court sets a hearing not more than 10 business days after the filing date, where you show the money is protected.
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You file with the court that entered the judgment. Deliver your Objection to Garnishment and Request for Hearing to the clerk of that court, using the case number on your garnishment papers.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Claim of Exemption in Wyoming, 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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Wyoming Requirements for Claim of Exemption
File the Wyoming claim of exemption with the correct office, the court or the levying officer as Wyoming 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 Wyoming claim of exemption is how you protect wages or bank funds from a garnishment. You file an Objection to Garnishment and Request for Hearing with the clerk of the court that entered the judgment, telling the court that some or all of the money is exempt, meaning the law does not let a creditor take it. Filing it gets you a hearing to show the money is protected.
An objection challenges whether the garnishment is proper, such as a wrong amount or a defect in the paperwork. A claim of exemption accepts that the debt exists but says the specific wages or funds are legally protected. In Wyoming the Objection to Garnishment and Request for Hearing lets you do both at once, and you file it within 10 days of the seizure.
Under Wyo. Stat. section 1-15-511 a creditor can take the lesser of 25 percent of your disposable earnings for the week, or the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage, which is 217.50 dollars a week. Disposable earnings are what is left after legally required deductions. This matches the federal wage-garnishment limit.
You have 10 days to file your Objection to Garnishment and Request for Hearing with the court after your wages, funds, or property are seized. Because the window is short and money is withheld in the meantime, file as soon as you learn of the garnishment. Missing the 10-day deadline can cost you wages the law would have protected.
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 baseline share of ordinary wages is also protected under the federal limit that Wyoming follows. If exempt benefits are frozen in a bank account, a claim of exemption is how you get them released.
Wyoming does not add a separate head-of-household exemption that raises the protected share of wages above the standard limit. Your pay is generally protected at the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage. Exempt income such as Social Security and disability stays protected regardless, and you can explain hardship at your hearing.
You file the Objection to Garnishment and Request for Hearing with the clerk of the court that entered the judgment, using the case number on your garnishment papers. That is the same court handling the garnishment. File within 10 days of the seizure, and the court will set a hearing not more than 10 business days after your filing date.
After you file your objection, the court sets a hearing not more than 10 business days after the filing date. At the hearing you show that the money is exempt, and the creditor must justify the amount being taken. Until the objection is decided the garnished money is generally held, and if the court agrees the funds are protected it releases them and stops or reduces the garnishment.