Creditors can garnish your wages for unpaid debts in Tennessee, but only with a court order. This means the creditor or debt collector must sue you in court and win before wage garnishment can take place.
Further, the state of Tennessee sets limits on how much of your wages can be garnished. Under state law, the maximum that can be garnished is 25% of your weekly disposable income or the amount by which your weekly disposable income exceeds 30 times the federal minimum wage (whichever is greater).