Military Careers, Retirement - Marine Corps Times

Retirees & Garnishment

A civilian court can garnish the income of retirees if they fall behind in alimony or child support. Garnishment begins with a court order sent to a military finance center.

The finance center deducts the amount of the garnishment from a paycheck before it is written and sends the garnished amount to the court-identified person.

Garnishment is limited to 50 percent of retired pay when the retiree is supporting two families and 60 percent if the retiree is supporting one family.

These limits can be raised by 5 percent when the payment is more than 12 weeks late. A judge also can order the deduction of court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Retirement pay is not subject to the Defense Department policy allowing creditors to garnish military paychecks to satisfy bad debts.