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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>85360</law_id><section_number>34-32</section_number><catch_line>Illegal to garnish such exempt wages out of Commonwealth, etc</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="34">Homestead and Other Exemptions</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="4">Wages Exempt</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>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 <span class="dictionary">debt</span> or liability of any kind held by him against a resident of the Commonwealth who is a <span class="dictionary">laboring person</span> and a <span class="dictionary">householder</span> for the purpose of having payment of the same or any part thereof enforced out of the wages exempted by &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Maximum portion of disposable earnings subject to garnishment" href="/34-29/">34-29</a> by proceedings in <span class="dictionary">attachment</span> or <span class="dictionary">garnishment</span> in <span class="dictionary">courts</span> or before <span class="dictionary">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 <span class="dictionary">debt</span> against any resident thereof for the purpose or with the <span class="dictionary">intent</span> of depriving such person of the right to have his wages <span class="dictionary">exempt</span> from distress, <span class="dictionary">levy</span> or <span class="dictionary">garnishment</span> according to the provisions of &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Maximum portion of disposable earnings subject to garnishment" href="/34-29/">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 <span class="dictionary">debt</span> for the purpose or with the <span class="dictionary">intent</span> aforesaid shall, upon <span class="dictionary">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 <span class="dictionary">attachment</span> or <span class="dictionary">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 <span class="dictionary">attachment</span> or <span class="dictionary">garnishee</span> proceedings, as well as the costs of such action.
		The amount recovered in such action shall stand on the same footing with the wages of the <span class="dictionary">plaintiff</span> under &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Maximum portion of disposable earnings subject to garnishment" href="/34-29/">34-29</a> and shall be <span class="dictionary">exempt</span> and free from any and all liability of the <span class="dictionary">plaintiff</span> to the <span class="dictionary">defendant</span> in the way of setoff or otherwise.
		The <span class="dictionary">fact</span> that the payment of a claim or <span class="dictionary">debt</span> against any person entitled to the <span class="dictionary">exemption</span> provided for in &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Maximum portion of disposable earnings subject to garnishment" href="/34-29/">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 <span class="dictionary">exemption</span> shall be prima facie <span class="dictionary">evidence</span> that any resident of the Commonwealth who may at any time have been owner or holder of the claim or <span class="dictionary">debt</span> has violated this section.</p></section></text><history>Code 1919, &#xA7; 6557; 1954, c. 613; 1974, c. 272; 2005, c. 839.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
