Is it a garnishment, a bank levy or a setoff?

SettleADebt.com — S_KS, PASS-20

Kansas ordinary unsecured consumer-debt wage garnishment and earnings exemptions

Fresh research date: October 26, 2026, Pacific / October 26, 2026, UTC Actual model: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro Review character: Continuation in this original authorized Chat; not an independent review Component boundary: Postjudgment garnishment of wages and other earnings for ordinary unsecured consumer money judgments in Kansas Chapter 60 and Chapter 61 proceedings, together with the applicable Kansas exemptions, federal CCPA ceiling, employer procedure, debtor objections, continuing-order mechanics, and anti-discharge protection.

PASS-17, PASS-18, and PASS-19 remain saved but unreviewed and are not adopted as premises. The narrow judgment-enforcement prerequisites needed here were freshly read.

This pass does not complete garnishment of bank accounts, deposited benefits or wages, nonwage personal property, tax refunds, support, tax, federal-agency, student-loan, bankruptcy, secured-debt, medical, government, tribal, local, or foreign-country enforcement.

Executive determination

Kansas ordinary wage garnishment is a postjudgment court process. It does not begin merely because a debt exists, a consumer enrolls in debt relief, a collector sends a demand, or a creditor obtains an arbitration award without a court judgment. Under both Chapter 60 and Chapter 61, an earnings garnishment may ordinarily be requested only after 14 days have passed following judgment; no prior writ of execution and no creditor bond are required. Kansas prohibits prejudgment garnishment of wages earned by the defendant. (kslegislature.gov)

An ordinary Kansas earnings order is continuing. Once properly served, it attaches nonexempt earnings for pay periods ending while the order remains effective. It generally continues until:

• The judgment is paid;
• The creditor releases the garnishment;
• The court orders otherwise;
• A statutory exemption defeats it;
• Priority liens consume all available withholding capacity;
• The employer establishes that the debtor was never employed or employment ended; or
• The employer uses the statutory balance-request procedure after the creditor fails to respond. (kslegislature.gov)

For an ordinary debt, the aggregate amount withheld for a pay period is the least of:

Plain text

25% of aggregate disposable earnings;

the amount by which disposable earnings exceed
30 × the federal minimum wage, adjusted for the pay period;

the amount remaining on the plaintiff’s claim stated in the order.

At the current federal minimum wage of $7.25, no ordinary garnishment is available when disposable earnings are $217.50 or less weekly, $435 or less biweekly, $471.25 or less semimonthly, or $942.50 or less monthly. The cap applies across all ordinary garnishments in aggregate, not separately to each creditor. (kslegislature.gov) (dol.gov)

Kansas has two material protections beyond a simple “25% rule”:

1. If illness of the debtor or a family member prevents the debtor from working at the debtor’s regular occupation for more than two weeks, and the debtor proves that fact by affidavit, wage garnishment is unavailable until two months after recovery. Kansas appellate authority treats the exemption as beginning no earlier than the affidavit and ending two months after the debtor returns to work. (law.justia.com)
2. If an ordinary account is sold or assigned, the seller and its assignees generally lose access to wage garnishment for that account. This restriction is specific to earnings; it does not itself prohibit every other lawful judgment-enforcement method. Statutory exceptions exist for support, specified governmental receivables and taxes, restitution, and debts owed to district courts. (kslegislature.gov)

Kansas does not recognize a general head-of-household, sole-support, dependent-child, necessary-expenses, or hardship exemption from an ordinary wage garnishment. A court cannot reduce the statutory amount simply because the debtor is the sole support of a family. The specific illness exemption and other enacted protections control. (law.justia.com)

The employer must answer the initial order within 14 days, identify all competing garnishments and priority liens, calculate withholding under the Judicial Council instructions, pay amounts as required, and continue withholding without filing a new answer each pay period. Failure to answer or pay can expose the employer to a court judgment, contempt, expenses, and attorney fees, but only through the statutory motion and notice process—not automatically. (kslegislature.gov)

Kansas prohibits an employer from discharging an employee because the employee’s earnings have been subjected to wage garnishment. Unlike the federal CCPA provision, the Kansas text contains no “one indebtedness” limitation. The Kansas section itself does not specify a private cause of action, damages formula, or enforcement forum, and no controlling current Kansas appellate decision resolving those remedial questions was located in this pass. (kslegislature.gov)

A. Route, court, and initiation

A1. Ordinary postjudgment routes

Chapter 60 and Chapter 61 both require the creditor to file a request identifying whether it seeks earnings or other property. If the request concerns support, Chapter 13 bankruptcy, or state or federal taxes, that special category must be designated. Those special categories are excluded from the ordinary-debt calculations in this pass. (kslegislature.gov)

A2. Prejudgment boundary

Kansas permits prejudgment garnishment only through the separate attachment framework and expressly prohibits prejudgment garnishment of wages earned by the defendant. A creditor’s allegation that a consumer may dissipate assets does not authorize prejudgment wage withholding. (kslegislature.gov)

A3. Filing fee boundary

For a Chapter 60 garnishment request:

• Statutory base fee: $7.50.
• A poverty affidavit may substitute for the fee.
• HB 2393, signed in 2026, extended the Supreme Court’s authority to impose an additional nonjudicial-personnel charge through June 30, 2030.
• Administrative Order 2026-FN-071’s official search rendering shows a $12.50 garnishment charge effective July 1, 2026, implying a current Chapter 60 total of $20.

The official order PDF returned HTTP 403 and was not read page-by-page, so its exact printed page and PDF index remain unavailable. The current Revisor page also had not yet consolidated HB 2393’s extension when accessed. (kslegislature.gov) (kscourts.gov)

For Chapter 61, the official Kansas Courts search rendering identifies a $12.50 garnishment surcharge, but no fully accessible current statewide Chapter 61 fee document was recovered. No additional amount is asserted here.

B. Ordinary wage-garnishment workflow

B1. Complete procedural sequence

The Chapter 60 order and answer must substantially comply with Judicial Council forms. The order attaches nonexempt earnings for every pay period ending while it remains effective and continues until payment or release. Chapter 61 follows a parallel structure with route-specific statutes and a different employer administrative-fee formula. (kslegislature.gov)

B2. Service on the employer

In addition to ordinary process methods, Kansas permits garnishment process to be served:

• By first-class mail to the last known address; service is complete on mailing unless returned undelivered.
• By fax to a number designated by the garnishee; service is complete on machine confirmation.
• By email to an address designated by the garnishee under Supreme Court rules; Chapter 60 requires electronic delivery confirmation, while the Chapter 61 text refers to a reply generated by the garnishee. (kslegislature.gov)

These are special garnishment-process methods. They do not create a general rule that an ordinary summons, debtor notice, exemption request, or unrelated motion can always be served by email or text.

B3. Debtor notice

Immediately after the employer is served, the creditor must send the debtor a notice explaining:

• The garnishment order and its effect;
• The right to claim an exemption;
• The right to object to the employer’s calculation;
• The right to request a hearing;
• The relevant procedure.

The notice may be sent “in any reasonable manner,” but the actual service date matters because the debtor’s hearing request is due no later than 14 days after service. If the service date cannot be established, an exact deadline cannot responsibly be calculated. (kslegislature.gov)

B4. Employer answer

The employer must answer within 14 days after service of the initial order. The answer must:

• Identify all creditors with garnishments against the debtor;
• Identify case numbers and orders;
• State the amount due under each;
• Identify any priority liens;
• Calculate the garnishable amount;
• Use an unsworn declaration in the form required by Kansas law.

Only one answer is required for the continuing order. The employer does not file a fresh answer each pay period. A party or the court may request a detailed written explanation of the calculation, and the employer must provide it by affidavit within 14 days. (kslegislature.gov)

B5. Reply to the employer’s answer

The creditor or debtor may challenge the answer within 14 days after the answer is sent. The challenger must:

• File the reply;
• Send it to the other party;
• Send it to other affected creditors;
• Send it to the employer;
• Obtain a hearing date.

The hearing is to be scheduled within 30 days. The party filing the reply bears the burden to disprove the employer’s answer. If the employer asserts offsets or liens, the employer bears the burden on those matters. (kslegislature.gov)

B6. Payment and continuation

If no timely reply is filed, the employer promptly pays the amounts identified in the answer and continues withholding unless the court directs otherwise. Overpayments must be returned pro rata to other creditors entitled to payment or to the debtor. (kslegislature.gov)

A settlement request, debt dispute, regulator complaint, payment-plan discussion, appeal notice, or private promise by the creditor to “look into it” does not automatically stop the garnishment. An actual release, exemption order, stay, satisfaction, statutory employer-stop event, or other court order is required.

B7. Continuing order and release

The order continues until the judgment is paid or the garnishment is released, whichever occurs first. When the judgment is satisfied, the creditor must file a release and provide copies to the debtor and employer. If the employer reports that the debtor was never employed or employment has terminated, the creditor must promptly release the order. (kslegislature.gov)

B8. Employer balance-request termination

The employer may request the current unsatisfied balance from the creditor by:

• First-class mail; or
• Fax or email with read receipt when sent to the creditor’s attorney.

If no response arrives within seven days, the employer can send a written warning. If another 14 days pass without a balance response or creditor objection, the employer may stop withholding. This mechanism prevents an employer from withholding indefinitely when the creditor fails to maintain and communicate a current balance. (kslegislature.gov)

C. Earnings, disposable earnings, and the ordinary cap

C1. Kansas definition

Current Kansas law defines:

• Earnings: Compensation payable for personal services, whether called wages, salary, commission, bonus, or otherwise.
• Disposable earnings: Earnings remaining after deductions required by law.
• Wage garnishment: Any legal or equitable procedure requiring earnings to be withheld for payment of debt. (kslegislature.gov)

In 2022, HB 2608 deleted “paid or” from Kansas’s earnings definition, leaving compensation “payable.” The Kansas Supreme Court’s 2021 Stormont-Vail decision had interpreted the former “paid or payable” language in a deposited-wage dispute. That historical holding does not resolve current protection for wages already deposited into a bank account. A 2025–2026 bill proposing to restore paid compensation, SB 323, died and never became law. (kslegislature.gov) (kslegislature.gov)

Deposited wages and tracing are therefore reserved for the later bank-account pass.

C2. Federal definition

The federal CCPA defines earnings more broadly as compensation paid or payable for personal services, including wages, salary, commission, bonus, and periodic pension or retirement payments. The federal ceiling is a nationwide minimum protection; more protective state law remains effective. Kansas is not currently listed as a federally exempt state under 29 C.F.R. §870.57, so federal law continues to apply directly alongside Kansas law. (uscode.house.gov) (ecfr.gov)

C3. Ordinary formula

For each pay period:

Plain text

D = aggregate disposable earnings
P = protected minimum-wage amount for the pay period
C = unpaid plaintiff claim shown in the garnishment order

Maximum ordinary withholding:

G = min(
        0.25 × D,
        max(0, D − P),
        C
       )

The formula is an upper limit. It does not prove:

• That the judgment is valid;
• That the creditor may use wage garnishment;
• That the account was not assigned;
• That no sickness exemption applies;
• That the creditor has priority;
• That the employer’s payroll data are accurate.

C4. Current protected amounts

The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. The applicable threshold is the wage in effect when earnings are paid or payable, not the wage in effect when the court issued the garnishment order. (uscode.house.gov) (ecfr.gov)

For a different or irregular pay period, the protected amount is calculated using the number of workweeks or fractions represented by the pay. A calendar month is treated as 4⅓ workweeks under the federal regulation. (dol.gov)

C5. Required versus voluntary deductions

Disposable earnings are reduced only by deductions required by law. Federal guidance identifies examples including:

• Federal, state, and local taxes;
• Social Security;
• Medicare;
• State unemployment tax;
• Retirement-system deductions required by law.

Ordinarily not subtracted when calculating disposable earnings:

• Voluntary health or life insurance;
• Union dues;
• Voluntary retirement contributions;
• Charitable deductions;
• Savings-bond purchases;
• Voluntary wage assignments;
• Payroll-advance repayment;
• Employee merchandise purchases. (dol.gov)

A collective-bargaining agreement, employee handbook, or payroll election does not necessarily make a deduction “required by law.”

C6. The plaintiff-claim ceiling

Kansas adds the plaintiff’s claim stated in the order as a third ceiling. If the legally remaining claim is less than the federal percentage calculation, no more than that remaining amount may be withheld.

That amount is an input from the court order and creditor accounting. The formula does not validate an incorrect balance, uncredited payment, unlawful fee, or stale interest calculation.

C7. Employer administrative fee

Chapter 60

The employer may retain:

Plain text

$10 for each 30-day period covered by the order.

The fee is stated as additional to the garnishment amount. But if the combination of fee and withholding would exceed the K.S.A. 60-2310 ceiling, the fee must be deducted from—not added on top of—the amount otherwise withheld. (kslegislature.gov)

Chapter 61

The employer may retain:

Plain text

$10 per pay period,
capped at $20 during any 30-day period.

The same total-cap protection applies: if adding the employer fee would exceed the legal wage-garnishment ceiling, the fee comes out of the garnished amount. (kslegislature.gov)

C8. Multiple garnishments

The 25% or minimum-wage calculation is an aggregate cap. It is not available separately to every ordinary creditor. Federal law does not determine priority; Kansas law and other federal statutes do. (ecfr.gov)

Kansas requires the employer to identify all competing garnishments and priority liens. If priority liens equal or exceed the entire available ceiling, the later ordinary order remains on the employer but no amount is withheld for it until:

• The priority liens are released or satisfied; or
• Their aggregate withholding falls below the protected ceiling. (kslegislature.gov)

The exact current allocation rule among multiple same-priority ordinary creditors was not recovered from accessible primary text. The Judicial Council’s employer instructions are intended to govern the computation, but the current form PDFs were inaccessible. Kansas does expressly require pro rata redistribution of an overpayment among other entitled creditors, with any remainder returned to the debtor. No equal-priority allocation formula is invented here.

C9. One creditor’s frequency limit

No one creditor may issue more than one garnishment against the same debtor’s earnings in a 30-day period. Amendments or corrections to party names and addresses remain permitted. The continuing order itself can withhold from all pay periods ending during its effective period; the statute does not require a new writ for each paycheck. (kslegislature.gov)

D. Compensation categories and worker classification

D1. Clearly included ordinary compensation

Kansas expressly includes compensation payable for personal services denominated as:

• Wages;
• Salary;
• Commission;
• Bonus;
• Other equivalent personal-service compensation.

Federal guidance also treats many service-linked lump sums as earnings, including commissions, bonuses, severance, back pay, wage-replacement workers’ compensation, and certain incentives. Whether a particular payment is compensation for personal services remains the central inquiry. (dol.gov)

D2. Tips

Federal guidance treats as earnings:

• Cash wages paid directly by the employer; and
• The amount of any valid tip credit claimed by the employer.

Tips above the tip-credit amount—or above direct employer wages where no tip credit is used—are not treated as CCPA earnings under that guidance. Kansas-specific appellate treatment of modern tipped compensation under K.S.A. 60-2310 was not located, so the federal guidance supplies a floor rather than a complete Kansas-specific resolution. (dol.gov)

D3. Independent contractors and gig income

Kansas does not make every payment to an independent contractor “earnings.” In Coward v. Smith, construction-contract proceeds reflected labor by others, equipment, capital, and materials—not only the debtor’s personal services—so they were not protected earnings. The case also explains that irregular payment intervals alone do not remove personal-service compensation from the earnings definition. (law.justia.com)

A gig-platform payment therefore requires factual separation of:

• Personal labor;
• Reimbursement;
• Equipment or vehicle expense;
• Materials;
• Payments to subcontractors or employees;
• Return on capital;
• Platform pass-through amounts.

No universal employee-versus-contractor label determines the result.

D4. Pensions and retirement payments

The federal CCPA includes periodic pension and retirement payments in “earnings.” Kansas separately exempts qualified retirement-plan assets and benefits from ordinary creditor claims, subject to specified support and domestic-relations exceptions. Federal pensions received during the preceding three months can also receive a needs-based Kansas exemption supported by affidavit or other proof. (kslegislature.gov)

A retirement stream therefore cannot be analyzed from the wage formula alone. Full retirement-benefit and bank-deposit tracing remains outside PASS-20.

E. Debtor exemptions, objections, and hearings

E1. Automatic protections versus claimed exemptions

Federal garnishment restrictions are not merely affirmative defenses; the court and employer must comply even if the debtor does not appear. (ecfr.gov)

E2. Illness exemption

The debtor must establish:

1. The debtor was prevented from working at the debtor’s regular trade, profession, or occupation;
2. The period exceeded two weeks;
3. The cause was illness of the debtor or a family member;
4. The facts are shown by affidavit.

When established, wage garnishment is unavailable until two months after recovery. (kslegislature.gov)

In In re Marriage of Gerleman:

• “Family” was not limited to a member of the debtor’s household; a parent could qualify.
• The exemption began no earlier than the affidavit’s filing.
• It ended two months after the debtor returned to work, even though the family member’s illness continued. (law.justia.com)

The decision arose in a domestic-relations case, but its statutory construction concerned K.S.A. 60-2310(c).

E3. No general household/dependent exemption

In Master Finance v. Pollard, the debtor was the household’s sole source of support, had an unemployed spouse, and supported a child. The Kansas Court of Appeals held that the court could not create a head-of-household or ordinary-living-expense exemption absent statutory authority. The statutory formula controlled. (law.justia.com)

Dependents matter under the special federal support-garnishment percentage rules, but those rules do not reduce the ordinary consumer-debt formula in this pass.

E4. Assigned account restriction

If a person or business sells or assigns an account to another person or collection agency:

• The seller is not entitled to the benefits of wage garnishment;
• The assignee is not entitled to the benefits of wage garnishment;
• The restriction follows further assignees.

Exceptions exist for specified support rights, governmental receivables or taxes, and court restitution or court debts. (kslegislature.gov)

Wagner v. Mahaffey upheld the restriction and treated it as specific to garnishment of earnings. The current statute no longer contains the older wording that also referred to merely sending or delivering an account to a collection agency. Therefore:

• An actual sale or assignment triggers the current prohibition.
• Mere nonassignment placement with a collection agent is not expressly within current subsection (d).
• The agent’s standing, authority, licensing, and real-party status remain separate issues. (law.justia.com)

E5. Debtor hearing

The debtor’s hearing request must be filed no later than 14 days after the notice is served. The court hearing must occur not fewer than seven and not more than 14 days after the request is filed.

The debtor must:

• Obtain the hearing date and time;
• Immediately hand-deliver or first-class mail a copy of the request to the creditor or creditor’s attorney;
• Prove the claimed exemption.

The statute does not provide an automatic additional three days merely because the creditor’s original notice arrived by first-class mail. K.S.A. 60-206(d)’s three-day extension is limited to periods triggered by specified service under K.S.A. 60-205(b)(2)(C) or (D). (kslegislature.gov)

E6. Time computation

Unless a statute supplies a different method:

• Exclude the triggering day;
• Count every intermediate calendar day;
• Extend a terminal Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday;
• Extend for clerk-office inaccessibility;
• Electronic filing ordinarily remains open until midnight in the court’s time zone. (kslegislature.gov)

The exact service date, filing route, holiday calendar, and clerk accessibility must be known before calculating a real deadline.

E7. No automatic stay from objection alone

The employer continues under the order unless:

• The court orders otherwise;
• The garnishment is released;
• An exemption is granted;
• A valid bond substitutes for the garnished property;
• The statutory employer-balance procedure ends withholding;
• Another statutory event applies.

A hearing request, answer reply, settlement discussion, or complaint does not by itself constitute a release or stay.

F. Employer duties, fees, liability, and retaliation

F1. Employer-duty matrix

F2. Failure to answer

If the employer fails to answer, the creditor may file a motion. Copies must be served on the employer and debtor under K.S.A. 60-205. The court may enter judgment against the employer for:

• Up to the amount of the creditor’s judgment;
• Another reasonable amount under the circumstances;
• Expenses and attorney fees.

Liability is not automatic merely because an answer was late. The statutory motion and court determination are required. (kslegislature.gov)

F3. Failure to pay

If the employer answers but fails or refuses to pay as required, the creditor may seek:

• Contempt;
• A fine;
• Judgment for the amount due;
• Expenses and attorney fees.

Again, the court—not the creditor unilaterally—determines the consequence. (kslegislature.gov)

F4. Employer never employed the debtor

If the employer’s answer says the debtor was never employed or is no longer employed, the creditor must promptly release the order.

In Mainland Investment Group v. Smith, the employer had never employed the debtor and the creditor released the garnishment. The court held that the released order could no longer support a default judgment against the employer. A creditor stands in the debtor’s shoes and cannot obtain wages the debtor never earned from that employer. (law.justia.com)

F5. Employer defenses and offsets

The employer can assert:

• No employment relationship;
• No earnings payable;
• Prior liens;
• Offsets;
• Exempt earnings;
• Incorrect debtor identity;
• Order release or termination;
• Other defenses recognized by the garnishment statutes.

When an answer is challenged, the challenger ordinarily bears the burden to disprove it; the employer bears the burden on affirmative offsets or liens.

F6. Anti-discharge protection

Kansas

K.S.A. 60-2311 states without qualification:

Plain text

No employer may discharge an employee
because the employee’s earnings have been
subjected to wage garnishment.

The section does not limit its text to one indebtedness. (kslegislature.gov)

Federal

15 U.S.C. §1674 prohibits discharge because earnings were garnished for any one indebtedness. A willful federal violation can result in a fine up to $1,000, imprisonment up to one year, or both. Federal law preserves more protective state anti-discharge rules. (uscode.house.gov)

Unresolved Kansas remedy

K.S.A. 60-2311 does not itself state:

• A private cause of action;
• Reinstatement;
• Back pay;
• Damages;
• Attorney fees;
• An administrative complaint route;
• A limitations period.

No controlling current Kansas appellate opinion supplying those remedial details was located in the bounded official search. No remedy is invented from the prohibition alone.

G. Forms and official operational materials

G1. Current Judicial Council form inventory

The official Kansas Judicial Council Chapter 60 and Chapter 61 garnishment pages list the following earnings forms:

• Request for Garnishment (earnings);
• Order of Garnishment (earnings);
• Answer of Garnishee (earnings);
• Instructions to Garnishee (earnings);
• Written Explanation of Computations (earnings);
• Request for Written Explanation and Affidavit (earnings);
• Notice to Judgment Debtor (earnings);
• Release of Garnishment.

Direct access to the pages and individual form files returned HTTP 403 during final verification. The titles were available through official search results, but the current English PDF revision dates and full clauses were not recovered. No form text is used as controlling authority in this report. (kjc.ks.gov) (kjc.ks.gov)

The statutes state that the order, answer, and notice need only substantially comply with the Judicial Council forms. The forms are sufficient procedural templates, not the source of substantive eligibility or exemptions.

G2. Judicial-district packet

An official 30th Judicial District search result identified a 28-page “Earnings Garnishment Procedure Packet — Updated,” but direct access returned HTTP 403. Its update date, internal clauses, and compatibility with the 2026 statutes were not verified. It is recorded as discovery only:

https://kscourts.gov/KSCourts/media/30_JD/Earnings-Garnishment-Procedure-Packet-%282%29-Updated.pdf

G3. Form hierarchy

Plain text

Controlling statute
    ↓
Applicable Supreme Court rule
    ↓
Judicial Council form and instructions
    ↓
Local packet or clerk instruction

A blank form cannot establish:

• A valid judgment;
• The creditor’s right to wage garnishment;
• The employer relationship;
• The assignment status;
• The proper withholding amount;
• The absence of an exemption.

H. Master actor/stage/consequence matrix

I. Worked hypothetical examples

I1. Weekly disposable earnings below protected minimum

Assumptions

• Ordinary debt.
• Weekly pay.
• Disposable earnings after required deductions: $210.
• Creditor’s remaining claim exceeds any possible withholding.
• No support, tax, bankruptcy, or other special garnishment.

Plain text

25% branch:
$210 × 0.25 = $52.50

Minimum-wage excess branch:
$210 − $217.50 = −$7.50
Statutory floor = $0

Claim branch:
Assumed greater than $52.50

Maximum:
min($52.50, $0, claim) = $0

Result: No ordinary wage garnishment for that pay period.

I2. Weekly earnings in the transition range

Assumptions

• Weekly disposable earnings: $250.
• Ordinary debt.
• Claim exceeds calculated amount.

Plain text

25% branch:
$250 × 0.25 = $62.50

Excess branch:
$250 − $217.50 = $32.50

Maximum:
min($62.50, $32.50) = $32.50

Result: Maximum aggregate ordinary withholding is $32.50.

I3. Weekly earnings at the full 25% branch

Assumptions

• Weekly disposable earnings: $400.

Plain text

25% branch:
$400 × 0.25 = $100.00

Excess branch:
$400 − $217.50 = $182.50

Maximum:
min($100.00, $182.50) = $100.00

Result: Maximum aggregate ordinary withholding is $100.

I4. Different pay periods

Biweekly

Plain text

Disposable earnings                 $500.00
25% branch                           125.00
Excess over $435                      65.00
Maximum                              $65.00

Semimonthly

Plain text

Disposable earnings                 $700.00
25% branch                           175.00
Excess over $471.25                  228.75
Maximum                             $175.00

Monthly

Plain text

Disposable earnings               $1,000.00
25% branch                           250.00
Excess over $942.50                   57.50
Maximum                              $57.50

The pay-period unit controls. An employer cannot apply the weekly $217.50 threshold to a monthly paycheck.

I5. Required versus voluntary deductions

Assumptions

Plain text

Gross weekly earnings              $1,000
Legally required deductions           200
Voluntary health insurance             60
Voluntary retirement                   40

Disposable earnings:

Plain text

$1,000 − $200 = $800

The voluntary $100 is not deducted for garnishment purposes.

Ordinary cap:

Plain text

25% branch:
$800 × 0.25 = $200

Excess branch:
$800 − $217.50 = $582.50

Maximum aggregate withholding:
min($200, $582.50) = $200

Chapter 60 employer fee

Assume the $10 fee is due for the applicable 30-day period:

Plain text

Total amount permitted from paycheck   $200
Employer fee retained                    10
Amount sent toward judgment             190

The employer cannot withhold $210; the fee must come from the $200 ceiling.

I6. Sole parent with dependents

Assumptions

• Weekly disposable earnings: $400.
• Debtor is sole support of two children.
• No qualifying illness affidavit or other enacted exemption.

Plain text

25% branch                         $100.00
Excess branch                      $182.50
Maximum                            $100.00

Result: The dependent or head-of-household status does not reduce the ordinary Kansas formula.

Illness alternative

If the debtor has been prevented from working at the regular occupation for more than two weeks because of the debtor’s illness or a qualifying family member’s illness and files the required affidavit, wage garnishment is temporarily unavailable until two months after recovery. The actual beginning and end dates require the affidavit filing date and return-to-work evidence.

I7. Multiple ordinary creditors

Assumptions

• Weekly disposable earnings: $400.
• Creditor A has an ordinary garnishment.
• Creditor B has another ordinary garnishment.
• No support, tax, bankruptcy, or other priority lien.
• Both claims exceed $100.

Aggregate cap:

Plain text

25% of $400                        $100
Excess over $217.50                182.50
Aggregate ordinary ceiling        $100

Result: Total withholding for A and B together cannot exceed $100. It is not $100 per creditor.

The exact allocation between equal-priority A and B is held because the current Judicial Council employer instructions were inaccessible. The employer must follow the governing order, instructions, and any court determination.

I8. Priority lien consumes available capacity

Assumptions

• Weekly disposable earnings: $400.
• Ordinary cap: $100.
• A legally superior garnishment already requires $100.

Plain text

Ordinary cap                       $100
Priority withholding               100
Remaining ordinary capacity          0

Result: A later ordinary order remains effective but receives no withholding until the priority lien is released, satisfied, or drops below $100.

I9. Sold credit-card account

Assumptions

• Original creditor sold the consumer account to Debt Buyer B.
• B obtains a Kansas judgment.
• No K.S.A. 60-2310(d) exception applies.

Result: Debt Buyer B is not entitled to the benefits of wage garnishment on that assigned account. The assignment restriction is independent of the numerical wage formula.

This does not establish that:

• The judgment is invalid;
• The judgment is satisfied;
• Every nonwage remedy is unavailable;
• The assignment is void;
• B can garnish a bank account.

Those are separate questions.

I10. Worker classification uncertain

Facts

• A platform pays $2,000.
• $1,100 compensates personal labor.
• $500 reimburses vehicle and equipment expense.
• $400 is attributable to subcontracted work.
• The agreement calls the worker an independent contractor.

Potential branches:

Plain text

Personal-service component          $1,100
Expense/capital/subcontractor         900

Kansas law does not allow the label alone to decide whether all $2,000 is “earnings.” The payer, contract, economic substance, payroll records, expense treatment, and actual services must be examined. No withholding amount is calculated.

I11. Hearing deadline with established service date

Assumptions

• Notice to debtor was validly served Monday, November 2, 2026.
• K.S.A. 60-206 applies.
• No emergency order, holiday-terminal date, or clerk inaccessibility.

Plain text

Trigger day excluded                Nov. 2
Day 1                               Nov. 3
Day 14                              Nov. 16, 2026

Hearing-request deadline: Monday, November 16, 2026.

If filed that day, the hearing must be held between:

Plain text

Earliest: 7 days after filing       Nov. 23, 2026
Latest: 14 days after filing        Nov. 30, 2026

Missing-service-date branch

If the record shows only that notice was “sent sometime in November,” no reliable deadline can be calculated.

I12. Employment retaliation

One indebtedness

• Employee’s wages are garnished for one consumer judgment.
• Employer discharges employee because of the garnishment.

Both Kansas and federal text prohibit that reason for discharge.

Multiple indebtednesses

• Employee has wage garnishments for two unrelated debts.
• Employer discharges employee because wages are being garnished.

Federal §1674’s protection is expressly tied to one indebtedness. Kansas §60-2311 contains no such qualifier and is textually more protective. The precise Kansas remedy, damages, forum, and limitation period remain unresolved.

I13. Continuing order and creditor nonresponse

Assumptions

• Employer is withholding under a continuing order.
• Employer requests current balance.
• Creditor does not respond within seven days.
• Employer sends statutory written warning.
• Creditor still does not respond or object during the next 14 days.

Result: The employer may stop withholding under the statutory procedure.

A private belief that the judgment has probably been paid is not enough; the employer must follow the statutory request and warning sequence.

I14. Disputed remaining balance

Assumptions

• Weekly disposable earnings: $400.
• Formula cap: $100.
• Order says only $40 remains.
• Debtor contends the judgment was already fully paid.

Calculation using the order input:

Plain text

25% branch                         $100.00
Excess branch                      $182.50
Order claim branch                  $40.00

Maximum under stated order:
min($100, $182.50, $40)            $40.00

The $40 calculation does not prove that $40 is lawfully owed. The debtor can separately challenge the creditor’s accounting, payments, credits, satisfaction, or underlying judgment through the appropriate court procedure.

J. PASS-20 source register

K. PASS-20 claim register

L. Granular coverage and remaining gaps

M. Researcher self-check

Actually read or inspected

• Current Kansas Chapter 60 postjudgment garnishment initiation, order, service, debtor notice, employer answer, reply, payment, release, and employer-liability statutes.
• Current Kansas Chapter 61 parallel provisions.
• Current K.S.A. 60-2310 in full, including definitions, cap, illness exemption, assignment restriction, special-category exceptions, and support percentages.
• Current K.S.A. 60-2311 anti-discharge text.
• Current K.S.A. 60-2308 pension and retirement gateway.
• K.S.A. 60-303(f), 61-3003(g), 60-206, 61-2909, and 60-262.
• The 2022 enrolled amendment to K.S.A. 60-2310 on relevant PDF pages.
• Current status of SB 323 and HB 2393.
• Current 15 U.S.C. §§1672, 1673, 1674, and 1677.
• Current 29 U.S.C. §206(a)(1).
• Current 29 C.F.R. Part 870, including pay-period conversions, multiple garnishments, automatic protection, and state-exemption list.
• DOL Fact Sheet #30.
• Material holdings from:Master Finance v. Pollard.In re Marriage of Gerleman.Wagner v. Mahaffey.Coward v. Smith.Mainland Investment Group v. Smith.Stormont-Vail Healthcare v. Sievers.
• Official Judicial Council form indexes and official district-packet search result.

Currentness findings

• Federal minimum wage remains $7.25 through the federal-law currency date of October 7, 2026.
• The current Kansas earnings definition is “payable,” not “paid or payable.”
• SB 323 died and did not restore “paid.”
• Kansas is not among the states currently exempted from direct CCPA §303 application.
• HB 2393 was signed and extended court-charge authority through June 30, 2030.
• Administrative Order 2026-FN-071 is effective July 1, 2026, but its PDF could not be directly read.

Access limits

• The current Judicial Council Chapter 60 and Chapter 61 garnishment pages returned HTTP 403.
• Individual English garnishment forms and their current revision dates were not obtained.
• The 30th Judicial District earnings packet returned HTTP 403.
• Administrative Order 2026-FN-071 returned HTTP 403; only the official search rendering was available.
• Several cases were read through public reproductions of the court opinions rather than official PDFs.
• No commercial citator, private docket, payroll record, title record, or account record was used.

Not established

• Any actual judgment, creditor, assignee, collection agency, employer, debtor, pay period, deduction, exemption, lien priority, balance, notice, answer, release, retaliation event, or court order.
• Current equal-priority allocation instructions among multiple ordinary garnishments.
• A universal Kansas remedy for violation of K.S.A. 60-2311.
• Current Kansas treatment of excess tips.
• Current Kansas protection of wages after deposit.
• Full pension, retirement, benefit, or bank-account protection.
• Full support, tax, bankruptcy, federal administrative, or student-loan withholding law.
• Any actual filing, contact, records request, court submission, account change, private lookup, website work, browser control, or CAPTCHA workaround.

Numeric self-check

The examples were independently recalculated:

Plain text

Weekly $250:
25% = $62.50
Excess = $32.50
Maximum = $32.50

Weekly $400:
25% = $100.00
Excess = $182.50
Maximum = $100.00

Biweekly $500:
25% = $125.00
Excess = $65.00
Maximum = $65.00

Semimonthly $700:
25% = $175.00
Excess = $228.75
Maximum = $175.00

Monthly $1,000:
25% = $250.00
Excess = $57.50
Maximum = $57.50

November 2, 2026 and November 16, 2026 are Mondays. November 23 and November 30, 2026 are also Mondays.

Method limits

• Debt existence was not treated as a garnishment order.
• An arbitration award was not treated as a court judgment.
• A judgment was not treated as automatically starting garnishment.
• The 25% figure was not treated as the only ceiling.
• Voluntary deductions were not treated as required deductions.
• Dependents were not treated as creating an ordinary head-of-household exemption.
• A sickness claim was not treated as established without the statutory affidavit and work-prevention facts.
• Assignment of an account was not ignored merely because the assignee holds a judgment.
• Collection placement was not automatically equated with assignment under the current wording.
• The aggregate cap was not multiplied by the number of creditors.
• Employer administrative fees were not added above the statutory wage ceiling.
• Contractor or gig income was not automatically classified as earnings.
• A hearing request was not treated as an automatic stay.
• Employer liability was not treated as automatic without motion and court findings.
• Kansas anti-discharge language was not converted into an unsourced private damages remedy.
• Deposited wages were not treated as currently protected under superseded “paid or payable” language.
• No actual withholding amount, exemption, garnishment priority, release, retaliation remedy, authority to collect, operational clearance, component acceptance, Kansas acceptance, parent-dossier acceptance, A066 acceptance, or publication readiness is supplied.

PASS-20 conclusion

Kansas ordinary wage garnishment begins only after a court judgment and a separate court-issued garnishment process. The order is continuing: the employer answers once, withholds from later pay periods, observes the aggregate federal and Kansas ceilings, pays according to the statutory process, and continues until satisfaction, release, priority displacement, exemption, or another lawful termination event.

The amount is not always 25%. It is the least of 25% of disposable earnings, the amount above the minimum-wage floor for that pay period, and the remaining claim. Only legally required deductions reduce disposable earnings, and the cap applies across all ordinary creditors.

Kansas materially narrows the remedy through the illness exemption and its prohibition on using wage garnishment after an ordinary account has been sold or assigned. It does not, however, provide a general head-of-household or hardship exemption. Debtor objections have short notice-based hearing periods, while employer answers, creditor accounting, balance requests, and releases create a continuing administrative system.

Finally, Kansas’s anti-discharge rule is textually broader than the federal one-indebtedness protection, but its private enforcement route remains unresolved in the primary authority reviewed.

END S_KS PASS-20.