Nevada Wage Garnishment After Judgment: Limits, Forms and Process

Why Wage Garnishment Is Usually the First Move

If you know where your debtor works, wage garnishment is the most reliable collection tool in Nevada. Unlike a bank levy that grabs whatever's in the account at one moment, a garnishment order stays active for 180 days and pulls money from every paycheck. You don't have to time anything — the employer withholds automatically.

How Much Can You Garnish?

Senate Bill 142 expanded Nevada's wage protections effective April 1, 2026. It protects up to $850 of weekly disposable earnings and increases wage-protection percentages, with automated triennial adjustments administered by the Nevada Department of Taxation. The earlier 25%/18% and 50-times-federal-minimum-wage figures are pre-update baselines, not the current calculation.

For someone with $800 in weekly disposable earnings, those earnings are below the $850 protected amount under SB 142.

The Delivery Packet

To start a wage garnishment, you need to deliver a complete packet to the Sheriff or Constable who handles the debtor's employer's township:

1. Writ of Execution — original or certified copy from the Justice Court clerk ($25 issuance fee)
2. Three copies of the writ
3. Notice of Execution — the debtor gets this telling them their wages are being garnished
4. Writ of Garnishment — the specific form directing the employer to withhold
5. Written Instructions to Constable/Sheriff — naming the employer, their address, and the debtor
6. $5 check payable directly to the employer (statutory garnishee search fee under NRS 31.270)

The officer serves the employer, who then has 20 days to complete Garnishee Interrogatories confirming the debtor's employment status and earnings. After that, withholding begins and continues for 180 days.

What Happens at 180 Days

If the judgment still isn't satisfied when the 180-day writ expires, the garnishment stops. You'll need to go back to the court clerk, pay another $25, get a fresh writ issued, and deliver a new packet to the officer.

When Garnishment Doesn't Work

Standard wage-garnishment caps apply to disposable employee earnings. Independent-contractor payments, 1099 disbursements and commercial receipts do not qualify as disposable employee earnings under those caps. For those payments, a bank levy or property seizure may be more effective.

If the debtor is already being garnished by another creditor, ask the levying officer how competing orders affect a new writ and the available withholding.

Walking Through the Full Process

The Nevada Judgment Collection Guide includes a wage garnishment calculator worksheet that helps you estimate the per-paycheck withholding amount before you spend money on officer fees, plus a step-by-step packet assembly checklist so nothing gets returned.

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