Bankruptcy Lawyer - Florida Exemptions of Wages

Bankruptcy Lawyer - Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Lawyer Jordan E. Bublick has an office in Miami and has over 25 years of experience in filing chapter 13 and chapter 7 bankruptcy cases. His office is located in Miami at 1221 Brickell Ave., 9th Fl., Miami and may be reached at (305) 891-4055. www.bublicklaw.com  

Florida statute 222.11 generally provides for certain exemptions of "disposable earnings" of a head of family and non-head of family in three different situations as follows:

• All of the disposable earnings of a head of a family of $500.00 or less a week are exempt.
• Disposable earnings of a head of family greater than $500.00 are exempt unless the person has agreed otherwise in writing (also cannot exceed 15 USC 1673)
• Disposable earnings of a person that is not a head of family is exempt to the extent of 15 USC 1673

15 USC 1673 generally limits the amount that can be garnished to 25% of the individual's disposable earnings per week. Exempt earnings that are deposited into a bank are exempt for six months if the funds can be traced to and identified as earnings.

The determination of whether a person is the "head of family" is based on the totality of the circumstances.

"Earnings" is defined to include compensation paid in money for personal services or labor whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, or bonus. Disbursements from a family owned business may not constitute "earnings" unless there is a formal arms length employment agreement and if the disbursements are characterized as "profits." Commissions and bonuses may constitute earnings even if the person is labeled an independent contractor if his activities are essentially a job, he is supervised, and not in the nature of running a business. But commissions have been held not to constitute earnings if the person is free to make his own business decisions and solely responsible for expenses incurred in the operation of his business. A return on an equity investment is not earnings.

Lost wages have been held to consitute earnings where the settlement properly identified them as earnings.

According to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, the party objecting to exemptions has the burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a debtor is not entitled to the claimed exemption. If the objecting party establishes prima facie evidence that the exemption should be denied, the burden shifts to the debtor to establish that the exemptions are legally valid.Jordan E. Bublick is a Miami Personal Bankruptcy Lawyer with over 25 years of experience in filing chapter 13 and chapter 7 bankruptcies. Miami Personal Bankruptcy Lawyer Jordan E. Bublick has filed over 8,000 chapter 13 and chapter 7 cases.