§ 3170. Exemptions; issuance of order

(a) No order approving the issuance of trustee process against earnings shall be entered against a judgment debtor who was, within the two-month period preceding the hearing provided in section 3169 of this title, a recipient of assistance from the Vermont Department for Children and Families or the Department of Vermont Health Access. The judgment debtor must establish this exemption at the time of hearing.

(b) The earnings of a judgment debtor shall be exempt as follows:

(1) 75 percent of the debtor’s weekly disposable earnings, or 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is greater; or

(2) if the judgment debt arose from a consumer credit transaction, as that term is defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1602 and implementing regulations of the Federal Reserve Board, 85 percent of the debtor’s weekly disposable earnings, or 40 times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is greater; or

(3) if the court finds that the weekly expenses reasonably incurred by the debtor for his or her maintenance and that of dependents exceed the amounts exempted by subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection, such greater amount of earnings as the court shall order.

(c) After hearing, the court shall enter an appropriate order, which may provide for repetitive withholding from earnings, and which may, upon motion, be modified from time to time. The order shall state that section 3172 of this title prohibits discharge of the employee subject to the order because of the exercise of trustee process against the employee.

(d) Any waiver of the provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall be void. (Added 1979, No. 67, § 2, eff. date, see note set out below; amended 1999, No. 147 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2005, No. 174 (Adj. Sess.), § 18; 2009, No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § I.17.)