(1) The following personal property of an individual debtor resident in this state is exempt from execution, attachment, garnishment, distress or fee-bill: All household furnishings, jewelry, personal clothing and ornaments not to exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) in value; tools, equipment and livestock, including poultry, of a person engaged in farming, not exceeding three thousand dollars ($3,000) in value; one (1) motor vehicle and its necessary accessories, including one (1) spare tire, not exceeding in the aggregate two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) in value; professionally prescribed health aids for the debtor, or a dependent of the debtor; and funds deposited in a health savings account as described in Section 223 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section and KRS § 427.050, the maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subjected to garnishment may not exceed the lesser of either:

Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 427.010

  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • disposable earnings: means that part of the earnings of any individual remaining after the deduction from those earnings of any amounts required by law to be withheld. See Kentucky Statutes 427.005
  • earnings: means compensation paid or payable for personal services, whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, bonus, or otherwise, and includes periodic payments pursuant to a pension or retirement program. See Kentucky Statutes 427.005
  • Federal: refers to the United States. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
  • garnishment: means any legal or equitable procedure through which the earnings of any individual are required to be withheld for payment of any debt. See Kentucky Statutes 427.005
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Livestock: means cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, alpacas, llamas, buffaloes, or any other animals of the bovine, ovine, porcine, caprine, equine, or camelid species. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010

(a) Twenty-five percent (25) of his disposable earnings for that week, or
(b) The amount by which his disposable earnings for that week exceed thirty (30) times the federal minimum hourly wage prescribed by Section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 in effect at the time the earnings are payable. In the case of earnings for any pay period other than a week, the multiple of the federal minimum hourly wage equivalent to that set forth in paragraph (b) of this subsection as prescribed by regulation by the federal secretary of labor shall apply.
(3) The restrictions of subsection (2) of this section do not apply in the case of: (a) Any order of any court for the support of any person.
(b) Any order of any court of bankruptcy under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy
Code.
(c) Any debt due for any state or federal tax.
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no property upon which a debtor has voluntarily granted a lien shall, to the extent of the balance due on the debt secured thereby, be subject to the provisions of this chapter or be exempt from forced sale under process of law.
Effective:June 29, 2017
History: Amended 2017 Ky. Acts ch. 121, sec. 1, effective June 29, 2017. — Amended 1982 Ky. Acts ch. 336, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1982. — Amended
1980 Ky. Acts ch. 236, sec. 1, effective April 9, 1980. — Amended 1970 Ky. Acts ch. 217, sec. 2. — Amended 1966 Ky. Acts ch. 157, sec. 1. — Recodified 1942
Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1, 1942, from Ky. Stat. sec. 1697.