Arkansas Wage Garnishment Calculator
Arkansas’s automatic $25-a-week exemption is smaller than the federal floor, so the federal limit sets the number; a sworn exemption claim can protect more.
Claiming the 60-day wage exemption
- You can claim up to 60 days of wages as exempt by filing a sworn statement that they fall within your constitutional exemption and that you lack other property that would exceed it.§1
- The creditor gets a hearing on your claim only by giving you five days’ written notice; no supersedeas issues for five days after the claim.§1
- If your claim is sustained, your wages cannot be seized again by garnishment for 60 days.§1
- "Net wages" in the $25 rule means gross wages less state and federal income tax, Social Security, group retirement, and group health and life insurance premiums actually withheld.§1
Why the federal number usually decides
Arkansas’s automatic protection is only $25 of net wages a week, so for a typical check the federal limit is what bites. A worker netting $460.00 from a $520.00 weekly check can lose $115.00 unless they file the sworn schedule described above — the step that can shield up to 60 days of wages under the state constitution.
The $25 net-wage clause
The first twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per week of the net wages of all laborers and mechanics shall be absolutely exempt from garnishment or other legal process without the necessity of the laborer or mechanic filing a schedule of exemptions