Legislative Analysis
Phone: (517) 373-8080
GARNISHMENT, EXECUTION OF JUDGMENT, http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa
AND BANKRUPTCY PROCEDURES
Analysis available at
House Bill 4900 (H-2) as passed by the House http://www.legislature.mi.gov
Sponsor: Rep. Kara Hope
House Bill 4901 (H-1) as passed by the House
Sponsor: Rep. Brenda Carter
House Committee: Insurance and Financial Services
Senate Committee: Government Operations
Complete to 12-19-24
SUMMARY:
House Bill 4900 would amend the Revised Judicature Act to modify various provisions relating
to garnishment of wages and executions of judgments, including, but not limited to, provisions
regarding the wages or property that are exempt from seizure to settle a debt, the amount of
wages that can be garnished, and the process required for serving a writ of garnishment or
execution. House Bill 4901 would make similar modifications to the provisions regarding
bankruptcy.
House Bill 4900 would add provisions exempting the following money from garnishment:
• Any money that a debtor receives as payment of any means-tested public assistance
benefits, unemployment compensation benefits, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit
(EITC), the Michigan EITC, 1 a similar program of the state or a local government
providing an EITC, disability benefits, or worker’s compensation.
• Any earnings for a week that are less the smaller of the following:
o 35 times the greater of the state or federal minimum wage in effect at the time. 2
o Fifteen percent of the individual’s garnishable earnings for the week (prorated
for pay periods longer than a week).
Garnishment would mean a legal or equitable procedure through which earnings,
property, or money of an individual are withheld by another person as payment for any
debt to a creditor.
Garnishable earnings would mean that part of the earnings of any individual
remaining after the deduction from the earnings of any amounts required by law to be
withheld, such as taxes, Social Security, or alternative pension and Medicare
withholdings, and a further deduction of up to 15% of the remainders of the earning
for amounts withheld for contributions for health insurance or a medical expense
account.
1
https://www.house.mi.gov/hfa/PDF/FiscalSnapshot/Tax_Earned_Income_Tax_Credit_Jan2023.pdf
2
Currently, the higher minimum wage is Michigan’s wage of $10.10 per hour. Using this rate, the bill would exempt
$808 of earnings from garnishment per week.
House Fiscal Agency Page 1 of 12
 Earnings would mean compensation paid or payable for personal services, whether
denominated as wages, salary, commission, bonus, payment for skilled, personal, or
professional services, or otherwise, whether earned as an employee or as an
independent contractor, and would include spousal support.
The bill also provides that the amount of garnishable wages that can be garnished for the
support of a person would be subject to the laws governing child support and spousal support.
These exemptions would apply to all debtors whose physical place of employment is in
Michigan, regardless of whether their employer has offices or other places of business in other
states.
A financial institution holding money for a debtor served with a garnishment would have to
calculate the amount deposited, based on information provided by the payor, in the debtor’s
account from any source that is exempt from garnishment in the 90 days preceding the service
of the garnishment. This amount could not be paid or ordered to be paid to the plaintiff under
the garnishment. The institution’s calculation would be included in its disclosure. The bill
would also prohibit a financial institution from charging the debtor a fee for any action taken
by the institution in connection with a garnishment, unless the fee was reasonable and was
disclosed by the institution as part of the regular fee schedule.
If a plaintiff serves writs of garnishment on multiple financial institutions and receives
disclosures from multiple financial institutions that are holding a debtor’s money in deposit
accounts, the plaintiff would have to calculate the amount of money in each account that would
be exempt, and the amount not exempt, under the bill. Copies of the calculations and
disclosures would have to be filed with the court and served on the debtor and each relevant
financial institution.
If a debtor does not file an objection to the calculations and serve them on a financial institution
within seven days, the financial institution would be required to pay nonexempt money held in
the accounts in accordance with the writ of garnishment.
Garnishing money owed for personal labor
Currently, the act allows money owed by a garnishee (i.e., employer, etc.) to a personal
defendant (i.e., the debtor) because of personal labor performed by the principal defendant or
their family to be garnished, subject to certain exemptions. House Bill 4900 would eliminate
the ability to garnish these wages.
Intercepting tax refund or credit
Currently, the act requires that the state treasurer intercept a debtor’s state tax refund or credit
that is subject to a writ of garnishment served on them and provide this amount to the plaintiff
under the writ of garnishment, subject to certain conditions.
Under House Bill 4900, beginning after October 31, 2026, if the writ of garnishment is to
recover a consumer debt, the state treasurer would be required, to the extent practicable, to
reduce the amount of the state tax refund or credit due to the plaintiff by the amount that is
payment of the Michigan EITC.
House Fiscal Agency HBs 4900 and 4901 as passed by the House Page 2 of 12
 The bill would not affect the ability of the state to recover a setoff, a counter claim, or other
demand from a tax credit described above.
Notice to garnishees
House Bill 4900 would require the State Court Administrative Office, under the direction of
the Michigan Supreme Court, to develop, and make publicly available, a notice to garnishees
that describes the exemptions applicable to particular types of garnishment. The notice would
also have to instruct the garnishee not to turn over money or other property that they can
reasonably identify as exempt, but instead to report back that the money or property is exempt.
Order of garnishment priority
Under House Bill 4900, writs of garnishment served to the same debtor would follow the order
of priority established in section 4012 of the act. If the garnishments with greater priority fully
consume the garnishable wages available for garnishment, no other earnings could be
garnished for those garnishments with lower priority.
Penalties for using garnishment actions as reason to discipline or fire employee
Currently, the act prohibits a garnishee defendant (i.e., a person, such as an employer, who is
ordered to withhold funds or payment to the principal defendant) from using the fact that the
principal defendant has had garnishment actions brought against them as a reason to discipline
or discharge the individual from employment. The act allows the principal defendant to file a
civil action against the garnishee defendant and requires the court to order an individual who
violates these provisions to reinstate the employee and reimburse them for all compensation
lost by the discipline or discharge.
House Bill 4900 would add that a garnishee defendant is prohibited from using the existence
of garnishment actions against an individual as a reason to discharge them from an independent
contract or to not hire them or contract with them. Under the bill, all compensation ordered to
be reimbursed by a court would include wages, earnings, and employment benefits lost as a
failure to hire or contract. In addition, the bill would provide that, when a garnishee defendant
is found to have violated the bill’s provisions, the court must order them to pay reasonable
actual attorney fees and costs.
Property exempt from sale under execution 3
House Bill 4900 would amend the property of a judgment debtor and their dependents that is
exempt from levy and sale under execution. These changes are shown in the table below.
Category Current Exempt Proposed
Amount Exemption
Household goods, furniture, utensils, Up to $1,000 in value Up to $5,000 in value
books, and appliances
Interest in a motor vehicle None Up to $5,000 in value
(or $3,000 in specific
circumstances)
3
Execution is a process in which a court orders law enforcement to take possession of a debtor’s property to be sold
or turned over to a creditor to satisfy a debt.
House Fiscal Agency HBs 4900 and 4901 as passed by the House Page 3 of 12
 Category Current Exempt Proposed
Amount Exemption
Livestock and crops 10 sheep, 2 cows, 5 The previous
swine,100 hens, 5 exemption or up to
roosters, and sufficient $10,000 in value of
hay and grain, growing crops, farm animals,
or otherwise, for and feed for the farm
properly keeping the animals at the
animals and poultry for election of the debtor
six months per
householder
Tools, implements, materials, stock Up to $1,000 in value Up to $10,000 in
apparatus, team, farm equipment, farm value
vehicles, construction equipment,
construction vehicles, limousines,
taxicabs, horses, harness, or other
things to enable the debtor to carry on
the profession, trade, occupation, or
business in which they are principally
engaged 4
Computers, including mobile None Up to $5,000 in value
computing devices, mobile phones, and
computer accessories
Professionally prescribed hearing aids None All
Homestead (except mobile homes) Up to 40 acres of land Up to $120,000 or, if
and the dwelling house the debtor or one of
and appurtenances on their dependents is 65
that homestead that is years of age or older
not included in a or is disabled, up to
recorded plat, city, or $200,000 in value
village, or, at the option
of the owner, a quantity
of land that consists of
not more than one lot
that is within a recorded
town plat, city, or
village, and the dwelling
house and appurtenances
on that land, owned and
occupied by any resident
of this state, not
exceeding $3,500
4
Limousine and taxicab would mean those terms as defined in MCL 254.2102
House Fiscal Agency HBs 4900 and 4901 as passed by the House Page 4 of 12
 Category Current Exempt Proposed
Amount Exemption
Money paid or to be paid because the None All
debtor or one of their dependents was a
crime victim
An account established under the None Up to $2,000 in value
Michigan Achieving a Better Life plus up to $15,000
Experience (MiABLE) Program Act for any unused
amount of the
exemption for a
homestead
Money held in one or more deposit None Up to the greater of
account with one or more financial $800 or the amount
institutions in the accounts
calculated as exempt
as described above
The act also exempts all family pictures, all arms and accouterments required by law to be kept
by any person, all wearing apparel of every person and their family, and provisions and fuel
for comfortable subsistence of each householder and their family for six months. The bill would
amend this to include all household pets, companion animals, and service animals. It would
also specify that the exempt wearing apparel does not include furs.
A debtor’s interest in a motor vehicle would be exempt up to $3,000 if all of the following
apply:
• The writ of execution or order to seize property is issued for a judgment for debt owed
to a financial institution that was not assigned by another person to that institution.
• The financial institution made an offer in writing to the judgment debtor to stipulate to
an order for payments in installments under Chapter 62 of the act.
• The debtor rejected the offer or did not respond within 14 days.
For a homestead that is a mobile home in a mobile home park, as those terms are defined in
the Mobile Home Commission Act, the exemption would be half of the homestead’s fair
market value if all of the following apply:
• A court has entered a judgment or order under Chapter 57 or 57A of the Revised
Judicature Act restoring possession of the premises to the mobile home park owner.
• The mobile home has been continuously unoccupied for at least 90 days after entry of
the judgment or order described above.
• An indebtedness that is related to a lease agreement or terms of the tenancy between
the mobile home park owner and the mobile home owner is delinquent, and an order
to seize property or a writ of execution or eviction was issued because of the
indebtedness.
• The mobile home park owner has a license to operate the mobile home park under the
Mobile Home Commission Act.
House Fiscal Agency HBs 4900 and 4901 as passed by the House Page 5 of 12
 A person would be prohibited from levying an execution or attaching property unless they were
appointed by the court and executing a writ or order of the court that states the value of the
property to be seized and the manner of levy.
The bill would also provide that the exemption does not apply to any mortgage of, setoff, or
security interest in the exempt property that is excluded from exemption by law or that is
consensually given or lawfully obtained unless the lien is obtained by judgment, attachment,
levy, or similar legal process in connection with a court action or proceeding against the debtor.
The exemptions would not apply to any of the following:
• The enforcement of a support order or order of income withholding as defined in the
Support and Parenting Time Enforcement Act.
• The enforcement of a judgment regarding the division of property between spouses or
former spouses or domestic partners entered by a court in accordance with an