{"formats":[{"name":"JSON","format":"json","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-json\/34-32.json"},{"name":"Plain Text","format":"text","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-text\/34-32.txt"},{"name":"XML","format":"xml","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-xml\/34-32.xml"},{"name":"HTML","format":"html","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-html\/34-32.html"}],"law_id":85360,"edition_id":1,"section_id":85360,"structure_id":16101,"section_number":"34-32","catch_line":"Illegal to garnish such exempt wages out of Commonwealth, etc","history":"Code 1919, \u00a7 6557; 1954, c. 613; 1974, c. 272; 2005, c. 839.","full_text":"No person shall institute or permit to be instituted proceedings in his own name or in the name of any other person or shall assign or transfer, either for or without value, any claim for debt or liability of any kind held by him against a resident of the Commonwealth who is a laboring person and a householder for the purpose of having payment of the same or any part thereof enforced out of the wages exempted by \u00a7 34-29 by proceedings in attachment or garnishment in courts or before magistrates in any other state than the Commonwealth, or to send out of the Commonwealth by assignment, transfer or in any other manner whatsoever, either for or without value, any claim or debt against any resident thereof for the purpose or with the intent of depriving such person of the right to have his wages exempt from distress, levy or garnishment according to the provisions of \u00a7 34-29. And the person instituting such suit or permitting such suit to be instituted or sending, assigning, or transferring any such claim or debt for the purpose or with the intent aforesaid shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not less than $10 nor more than $100 and shall, in addition thereto, be civilly liable to the person from whom payment of the same, or any part thereof, shall have been enforced by attachment or garnishment or otherwise, elsewhere than in the Commonwealth, for the full amount, payment whereof shall have been so enforced, together with interest thereon and the costs of the attachment or garnishee proceedings, as well as the costs of such action.\n\t\tThe amount recovered in such action shall stand on the same footing with the wages of the plaintiff under \u00a7 34-29 and shall be exempt and free from any and all liability of the plaintiff to the defendant in the way of setoff or otherwise.\n\t\tThe fact that the payment of a claim or debt against any person entitled to the exemption provided for in \u00a7 34-29 has been enforced by legal proceedings in some state other than the Commonwealth in such manner as to deprive such person to any extent of the benefit of such exemption shall be prima facie evidence that any resident of the Commonwealth who may at any time have been owner or holder of the claim or debt has violated this section.","order_by":null,"text":{"0":{"id":305810,"text":"No person shall institute or permit to be instituted proceedings in his own name or in the name of any other person or shall assign or transfer, either for or without value, any claim for debt or liability of any kind held by him against a resident of the Commonwealth who is a laboring person and a householder for the purpose of having payment of the same or any part thereof enforced out of the wages exempted by \u00a7 34-29 by proceedings in attachment or garnishment in courts or before magistrates in any other state than the Commonwealth, or to send out of the Commonwealth by assignment, transfer or in any other manner whatsoever, either for or without value, any claim or debt against any resident thereof for the purpose or with the intent of depriving such person of the right to have his wages exempt from distress, levy or garnishment according to the provisions of \u00a7 34-29. And the person instituting such suit or permitting such suit to be instituted or sending, assigning, or transferring any such claim or debt for the purpose or with the intent aforesaid shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not less than $10 nor more than $100 and shall, in addition thereto, be civilly liable to the person from whom payment of the same, or any part thereof, shall have been enforced by attachment or garnishment or otherwise, elsewhere than in the Commonwealth, for the full amount, payment whereof shall have been so enforced, together with interest thereon and the costs of the attachment or garnishee proceedings, as well as the costs of such action.\n\t\tThe amount recovered in such action shall stand on the same footing with the wages of the plaintiff under \u00a7 34-29 and shall be exempt and free from any and all liability of the plaintiff to the defendant in the way of setoff or otherwise.\n\t\tThe fact that the payment of a claim or debt against any person entitled to the exemption provided for in \u00a7 34-29 has been enforced by legal proceedings in some state other than the Commonwealth in such manner as to deprive such person to any extent of the benefit of such exemption shall be prima facie evidence that any resident of the Commonwealth who may at any time have been owner or holder of the claim or debt has violated this section.","type":"section","prefixes":[""],"prefix":"","entire_prefix":"","prefix_anchor":"","level":1}},"ancestry":[{"id":16101,"edition_id":1,"name":"Wages Exempt","identifier":"4","label":"chapter","depth":2,"order_by":1,"parent_id":13371,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 04:06:01","date_modified":"2026-06-26 04:06:01","permalink":{"id":208091,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":16101,"identifier":"4","token":"34\/4","url":"\/34\/4\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":13371,"edition_id":1,"name":"Homestead and Other Exemptions","identifier":"34","label":"title","depth":1,"order_by":1,"parent_id":null,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:44:43","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:44:43","permalink":{"id":207959,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":13371,"identifier":"34","token":"34","url":"\/34\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}}],"structure_contents":[{"id":85697,"structure_id":16101,"section_number":"34-29","catch_line":"Maximum portion of disposable earnings subject to garnishment","url":"\/34-29\/","token":"34\/4\/34-29","metadata":false},{"id":63547,"structure_id":16101,"section_number":"34-30","catch_line":"Repealed","url":"\/34-30\/","token":"34\/4\/34-30","metadata":false},{"id":71451,"structure_id":16101,"section_number":"34-31","catch_line":"Revocation of such exemption","url":"\/34-31\/","token":"34\/4\/34-31","metadata":false},{"id":85360,"structure_id":16101,"section_number":"34-32","catch_line":"Illegal to garnish such exempt wages out of Commonwealth, etc","url":"\/34-32\/","token":"34\/4\/34-32","metadata":false},{"id":80583,"structure_id":16101,"section_number":"34-33","catch_line":"Exemption of wages of minor from garnishment process","url":"\/34-33\/","token":"34\/4\/34-33","metadata":false},{"id":71731,"structure_id":16101,"section_number":"34-34","catch_line":"Certain retirement benefits exempt","url":"\/34-34\/","token":"34\/4\/34-34","metadata":false}],"previous_section":{"id":71451,"structure_id":16101,"section_number":"34-31","catch_line":"Revocation of such exemption","url":"\/34-31\/","token":"34\/4\/34-31","metadata":false},"next_section":{"id":80583,"structure_id":16101,"section_number":"34-33","catch_line":"Exemption of wages of minor from garnishment process","url":"\/34-33\/","token":"34\/4\/34-33","metadata":false},"metadata":false,"official_url":"https:\/\/law.lis.virginia.gov\/vacode\/34-32\/","history_text":"

The record of this law\u2019s original creation isn\u2019t available online. It has been modified 3 times. Those modifications are cataloged by \u201cThe Acts of Assembly,\u201d a state publication, by year and chapter. Those modifications that can be read on the General Assembly\u2019s website will be linked accordingly. Those modifications are as follows: in 1954, chapter 613; in 1974, chapter 272; in 2005, chapter 839<\/a>.<\/p>","references":false,"refers_to":[{"id":85697,"section_number":"34-29","catch_line":"Maximum portion of disposable earnings subject to garnishment","order_by":null,"url":"\/34-29\/"}],"permalink":{"id":208105,"object_type":"law","relational_id":85360,"identifier":"34-32","token":"34\/4\/34-32","url":"\/34-32\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1},"url":"\/34-32\/","token":"34\/4\/34-32","dublin_core":{"Title":"Illegal to garnish such exempt wages out of Commonwealth, etc","Type":"Text","Format":"text\/html","Identifier":"\u00a7 34-32","Relation":"Code of Virginia"},"html":"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

No person shall institute or permit to be instituted proceedings in his own name or in the name of any other person or shall assign or transfer, either for or without value, any claim for debt<\/span> or liability of any kind held by him against a resident of the Commonwealth who is a laboring person<\/span> and a householder<\/span> for the purpose of having payment of the same or any part thereof enforced out of the wages exempted by \u00a7 34-29<\/a> by proceedings in attachment<\/span> or garnishment<\/span> in courts<\/span> or before magistrates<\/span> in any other state than the Commonwealth, or to send out of the Commonwealth by assignment, transfer or in any other manner whatsoever, either for or without value, any claim or debt<\/span> against any resident thereof for the purpose or with the intent<\/span> of depriving such person of the right to have his wages exempt<\/span> from distress, levy<\/span> or garnishment<\/span> according to the provisions of \u00a7 34-29<\/a>. And the person instituting such suit or permitting such suit to be instituted or sending, assigning, or transferring any such claim or debt<\/span> for the purpose or with the intent<\/span> aforesaid shall, upon conviction<\/span> thereof, be fined not less than $10 nor more than $100 and shall, in addition thereto, be civilly liable to the person from whom payment of the same, or any part thereof, shall have been enforced by attachment<\/span> or garnishment<\/span> or otherwise, elsewhere than in the Commonwealth, for the full amount, payment whereof shall have been so enforced, together with interest thereon and the costs of the attachment<\/span> or garnishee<\/span> proceedings, as well as the costs of such action.\n\t\tThe amount recovered in such action shall stand on the same footing with the wages of the plaintiff<\/span> under \u00a7 34-29<\/a> and shall be exempt<\/span> and free from any and all liability of the plaintiff<\/span> to the defendant<\/span> in the way of setoff or otherwise.\n\t\tThe fact<\/span> that the payment of a claim or debt<\/span> against any person entitled to the exemption<\/span> provided for in \u00a7 34-29<\/a> has been enforced by legal proceedings in some state other than the Commonwealth in such manner as to deprive such person to any extent of the benefit of such exemption<\/span> shall be prima facie evidence<\/span> that any resident of the Commonwealth who may at any time have been owner or holder of the claim or debt<\/span> has violated this section.<\/p><\/section>","plain_text":" CODE OF VIRGINIA\n\nILLEGAL TO GARNISH SUCH EXEMPT WAGES OUT OF COMMONWEALTH, ETC (\u00a7 34-32)\n\nNo person shall institute or permit to be instituted proceedings in his own name\nor in the name of any other person or shall assign or transfer, either for or\nwithout value, any claim for debt or liability of any kind held by him against a\nresident of the Commonwealth who is a laboring person and a householder for the\npurpose of having payment of the same or any part thereof enforced out of the\nwages exempted by \u00a7 34-29 by proceedings in attachment or garnishment in courts\nor before magistrates in any other state than the Commonwealth, or to send out\nof the Commonwealth by assignment, transfer or in any other manner whatsoever,\neither for or without value, any claim or debt against any resident thereof for\nthe purpose or with the intent of depriving such person of the right to have his\nwages exempt from distress, levy or garnishment according to the provisions of\n\u00a7 34-29. And the person instituting such suit or permitting such suit to be\ninstituted or sending, assigning, or transferring any such claim or debt for the\npurpose or with the intent aforesaid shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined\nnot less than $10 nor more than $100 and shall, in addition thereto, be civilly\nliable to the person from whom payment of the same, or any part thereof, shall\nhave been enforced by attachment or garnishment or otherwise, elsewhere than in\nthe Commonwealth, for the full amount, payment whereof shall have been so\nenforced, together with interest thereon and the costs of the attachment or\ngarnishee proceedings, as well as the costs of such action.\n\t\tThe amount recovered in such action shall stand on the same footing with the\nwages of the plaintiff under \u00a7 34-29 and shall be exempt and free from any and\nall liability of the plaintiff to the defendant in the way of setoff or\notherwise.\n\t\tThe fact that the payment of a claim or debt against any person entitled to\nthe exemption provided for in \u00a7 34-29 has been enforced by legal proceedings in\nsome state other than the Commonwealth in such manner as to deprive such person\nto any extent of the benefit of such exemption shall be prima facie evidence\nthat any resident of the Commonwealth who may at any time have been owner or\nholder of the claim or debt has violated this section.\n\nHISTORY: Code 1919, \u00a7 6557; 1954, c. 613; 1974, c. 272; 2005, c. 839.","edition":{"id":1,"name":"2025","slug":"2025","date_created":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","date_modified":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","current":1,"order_by":1,"last_import":null}}