Updated for 2026 guidelines
New Jersey Child Support Garnishment Calculator 2026
New Jersey is famous for one of the strictest wage garnishment limits in America: 10 percent of gross pay. That figure is real, and it is also the wrong figure for this page. It protects paychecks from credit card judgments. A child support withholding runs on a different statute and can lawfully reach 50 to 65 percent of disposable earnings.
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Estimate the New Jersey withholding ceiling
Maximum weekly withholding for support: $480.00
That is 60% of disposable earnings, the federal CCPA ceiling that applies to this situation (15 U.S.C. 1673(b)(2)).
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Federal CCPA ceiling: 60% of disposable earnings (15 U.S.C. 1673(b)(2))15 U.S.C. 1673 (CCPA garnishment limits: 50/55/60/65% for support) (U.S. Congress (text via Cornell LII mirror)) | $480.00 |
| Maximum support withholding: 60% of disposable earnings15 U.S.C. 1673 (CCPA garnishment limits: 50/55/60/65% for support) (U.S. Congress (text via Cornell LII mirror)) | $480.00 |
Assumptions
- Disposable earnings are earnings minus deductions required by law (15 U.S.C. 1672); voluntary deductions are not subtracted.
- Obligor does not support another spouse or dependent child.
- No arrears older than 12 weeks.
Estimate only. The court or state agency calculation controls.
Federal CCPA ceiling under 15 U.S.C. 1673(b)(2); state rules under N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56.8 et seq.; 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b). Rules last reviewed 2026-08-08.
How support withholding limits work in New Jersey
Nearly every New Jersey support order is collected by income withholding from the start. The income withholding statutes, N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56.8 and the sections that follow, make new and modified support orders subject to immediate withholding: the order goes to the employer, and support comes out of pay before the employee sees it, routed through the New Jersey Family Support Payment Center.
The ceiling on that withholding comes from federal law. New Jersey caps the total deduction, current support plus any arrears payback, at the maximum permitted under section 303(b) of the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act. Those are the four familiar tiers of 15 U.S.C. 1673(b): 50 percent of disposable earnings for a payer supporting another spouse or child, 60 percent for one who is not, and five points more in each case, 55 or 65 percent, once arrears are at least 12 weeks old. New Jersey adds no stricter cap of its own for support.
Disposable earnings means gross pay minus deductions required by law: taxes, Social Security, mandatory pension contributions. Health premiums and other voluntary deductions do not shrink the base the tiers apply to.
The 10 percent rule deserves its own paragraph because it confuses everyone. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56, an ordinary judgment creditor executing on wages in New Jersey is generally limited to 10 percent of gross salary, among the tightest limits anywhere. That protection is real, and it is exactly why the contrast matters: support withholding is expressly carved onto the federal CCPA track instead. A support order can lawfully take half of a paycheck that a collection agency could barely dent.
- Support cap, second family
- 50% of disposable earnings; 55% once arrears are 12 or more weeks oldsource
- Support cap, no second family
- 60% of disposable earnings; 65% with 12-week arrearssource
- Withholding mechanics
- Immediate withholding for support orders; payments routed through the NJFSPCsource
- Ordinary debts (contrast)
- Wage executions for ordinary creditors generally capped at 10% of gross salarysource
How to use this estimate
Enter disposable earnings for one pay period: gross pay minus the deductions the law requires, such as income tax withholding and Social Security. Do not subtract voluntary items like a 401(k) match or supplemental insurance; the CCPA base ignores them.
Answer the two situation questions, whether the payer supports another spouse or child, and whether arrears are at least 12 weeks old, and the tool shows the governing tier and the dollar ceiling for that paycheck.
Remember what the number is: the most an employer may withhold for support under the cap, not what your order says. The withholding notice fixes the actual deduction; the tier only tells you where federal and New Jersey law stop it. If the deduction on a paystub is above the tier, that is worth raising with the employer or Probation.
What this estimate includes
- The four CCPA tiers New Jersey adopts for support withholding: 50, 55, 60, 65 percent
- The dollar ceiling for the pay period you enter, from your disposable earnings figure
- The contrast with the 10-percent-of-gross limit for ordinary creditor executions, cited so you can tell the two apart
What it leaves out
- The exact allocation across multiple support orders, which the statutes prorate case by case
- Employer administrative fees and medical support add-ons under a National Medical Support Notice
- Non-wage collection: bank levies, tax refund offsets, and judgment liens follow other rules
- The precise statutory subsection text, which was verified through federal law and state agency materials rather than a fetchable official statute mirror
Disposable earnings start from gross pay and the legally required deductions on a New Jersey paycheck. To see that take-home math itemized first, Open the PayDecode paycheck calculator
New Jersey garnishment FAQs
How much can New Jersey garnish for child support?
Up to the federal CCPA limits: 50 percent of disposable earnings if the paying parent supports another spouse or child, 60 percent if not, and 55 or 65 percent respectively once arrears reach 12 weeks. The withholding covers current support plus an arrears payback, and the tier caps the combined total.
I thought New Jersey garnishment was capped at 10 percent. Is that wrong?
It is right for a different debt. New Jersey generally limits wage executions by ordinary judgment creditors, like a credit card company that sued and won, to 10 percent of gross salary. Child support withholding is not a creditor wage execution; it runs under the income withholding statutes, which cap it at the federal CCPA tiers instead. Same paycheck, two very different ceilings.
Does every New Jersey child support order include wage withholding?
Almost all do. New Jersey law makes support orders subject to immediate income withholding as the default collection method, and the state tells employers it is the preferred way support is paid. Parents can agree to an alternative arrangement the court approves, but the standard case has the employer deducting support and sending it to the New Jersey Family Support Payment Center.
What counts as disposable earnings in New Jersey?
Gross earnings minus deductions required by law: federal and state income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare, and mandatory pension contributions. Voluntary deductions, health premiums, union dues you chose, retirement beyond the mandatory minimum, do not reduce the base. That is why the withheld amount can look larger against take-home pay than the tier percentage suggests.
Can an employer fire someone over a child support withholding?
No. Federal law protects an employee from discharge because of a single withholding order, and New Jersey law prohibits employers from taking adverse action over support withholding. An employer who refuses to honor a withholding notice can itself become liable for the amounts it failed to deduct.
What if the paycheck cannot cover multiple withholding orders?
The CCPA tier still caps the total. When one paycheck faces support orders for more than one case, New Jersey allocates the available withholding across the orders rather than letting them stack past the cap, with current support taking priority over arrears payback. The employer follows the allocation in the notices it receives.
Official sources
Official sources last verified: .
- N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56.8 et seq. (income withholding for support, P.L.1981, c.417 as amended; withholding total capped at the federal CCPA section 303(b) limits)
New Jersey Legislature (njleg.state.nj.us) Last checked
- NJ OCSS employer resources, Information on Income Withholding (immediate withholding as the preferred payment method; multi-order allocation; payments through NJFSPC)
NJ DHS Office of Child Support Services (njchildsupport.org) Last checked
- 15 U.S.C. 1673 (CCPA garnishment limits: 50/55/60/65% for support)
U.S. Congress (text via Cornell LII mirror) Last checked
- DOL WHD Fact Sheet #30 (CCPA garnishment; rev. Dec. 2024)
U.S. Dept. of Labor WHD Last checked
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Changelog: page first published with the CCPA support tiers and the ordinary-execution 10 percent contrast. Material changes are dated in the update log.