Wage garnishment and assignment: the seizable part
The seizable or assignable part of a net monthly income, band by band, with the reduction for dependent children.
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Net wage of €2,000 in 2026: €292.20 seizable each month.
Sources
Rules verified on 05/10/2026
- FPS Employment: seizure and assignment of wages (2026 amounts, royal decree of 3 December 2025)
- Judicial Code, arts. 1409 to 1412
A tool to assist lawyers. The lawyer remains responsible for the calculation and for checking the applicable rule.
How it works
How the calculation works
The incomes. The tool starts from net monthly incomes (gross income less social security contributions and withholding tax), entered by kind: work income, replacement income and self-employed income. They are added up, and the work scale applies to the total as soon as one of them is work income (art. 1411); replacement incomes alone keep their own scale. Sums that can never be seized, such as family allowances, are left out.
The bands. The income is split into bands, each seizable at its own rate (art. 1409). 2026 amounts:
- up to €1,419: not seizable;
- €1,419.01 to €1,524: 20 %;
- €1,524.01 to €1,682: 30 % for work income, 40 % for replacement income;
- €1,682.01 to €1,839: 40 %;
- above €1,839: 100 %.
Work income falls under art. 1409 § 1. Replacement income (unemployment, sickness, invalidity, pension) falls under art. 1409 § 1bis: its 30 % band becomes 40 %.
Self-employed income. It has no automatic protection: the debtor asks the attachment judge to leave what the debtor and the family need, computed as for wages (arts. 1409bis and 1408, § 3). The amount shown is an indication.
Dependent children. In 2026 the seizable amount is reduced by €88 per declared dependent child. The reduction lowers the seizable amount without making it negative. It does not raise the exempt threshold. A child counts as dependent if its net resources over the 12 months before the declaration do not exceed, in 2026, €4,015 (cohabiting debtor), €5,799 (single debtor) or €7,352 (disabled child).
Maintenance already withheld. If part of the income is already withheld each month for maintenance, other creditors take only what is left of the normal seizable part (art. 1412, al. 2). The tool deducts the amount you enter.
The result. The tool shows, band by band, the part that is seizable or assignable each month, and what is left to the debtor. The 2024 and 2025 amounts remain available for a past period.
Legal basis
- Judicial Code, arts. 1408 § 3, 1409 (limits, indexed every 1 January), 1409bis (self-employed income), 1409ter (declaration of dependent children), 1410 § 2 (incomes never seizable), 1411 (several incomes) and 1412 (exceptions).
- Royal decrees of 27 December 2004 (notion of dependent child; proof and declaration procedure).
- Indexation decrees of 12 December 2023 (2024 amounts), 5 December 2024 (2025 amounts) and 3 December 2025 (2026 amounts, Belgian Official Gazette of 10 December 2025).
- 2026 amounts: FPS Employment, seizure and assignment of wages (French).
Points of attention
- Seizure and assignment. The same limits apply. A seizure is an enforcement measure, usually carried out through a bailiff. An assignment is a contractual transfer of part of the wages, notified to the employer as the debtor of the assigned wages.
- Maintenance claims. For maintenance or a salary delegation, the limits do not apply (art. 1412): the whole income can be seized or assigned, and the child reduction does not apply.
- Never seizable. Family allowances, disability allowances and CPAS social assistance (art. 1410 § 2).
- Declaring children. The debtor declares each child on the form whose model is set by the Minister of Justice, with proof: to the bailiff in charge for a seizure, to the debtor of the assigned wages for an assignment. The reduction applies from the first payment after the declaration, for one year, renewable. The creditor may contest it before the attachment judge.
What the tool does not do
- For several incomes, it shows the total seizable amount, not the share each payer withholds: no statute sets it, and in practice the creditor asks for the incomes to be combined.
- It does not check whether the declared child meets the conditions set by royal decree (age, own income, the debtor's contribution).
- It does not convert gross income into net income.
- It only covers the years 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Verification
The rules and amounts were checked on 5 October 2026. The tool assists the lawyer, who remains responsible for the calculation and for checking the applicable rule.
Updated on 5 October 2026
Frequently asked questions
How much of a salary can be seized in Belgium in 2026?
On a net work income, the part up to €1,419 a month is not seizable. The band from €1,419.01 to €1,524 is seizable at 20 %, the band from €1,524.01 to €1,682 at 30 %, the band from €1,682.01 to €1,839 at 40 %. Above €1,839, everything is seizable (art. 1409). Each rate applies only to the part of the income within its band. The same limits apply to an assignment of wages.
How much can be seized from a net salary of €2,000 in 2026?
For work income: 20 % of €105 (€21.00), 30 % of €158 (€47.40), 40 % of €157 (€62.80) and 100 % of €161 (€161.00), for a total of €292.20 a month. With one declared dependent child, the seizable amount falls by €88 to €204.20: the debtor keeps €1,795.80.
What limits apply to unemployment benefit or a pension?
Replacement income (unemployment, sickness, invalidity, pension) follows the same bands, but the band from €1,524.01 to €1,682 is seizable at 40 % instead of 30 % (art. 1409 § 1bis). For €2,000 of net replacement income, the seizable amount is €308.00 a month, before the reduction for children.
If the debtor also has work income, the incomes are added up and the work scale applies to the total (art. 1411): €1,200 of net wages and €800 of net unemployment benefit give €292.20 a month, as a salary of €2,000 does.
How does the reduction for dependent children work?
The seizable or assignable amount is reduced by €88 per dependent child in 2026 (€86 in 2025, €83 in 2024). The reduction cannot exceed the seizable amount and does not raise the exempt threshold. A child counts as dependent if its net resources over the 12 months before the declaration do not exceed, in 2026, €4,015 (cohabiting debtor), €5,799 (single debtor) or €7,352 (disabled child). The debtor declares the child on the official form, with proof, to the bailiff in charge or, for an assignment, to the debtor of the assigned wages. The reduction applies from the first payment after the declaration, for one year, renewable. The creditor may contest it before the attachment judge.
Do the limits apply to maintenance claims?
No. For a maintenance claim or a salary delegation, the limits of art. 1409 do not apply (art. 1412). The whole income can be seized or assigned, and the reduction for dependent children does not apply. Other creditors then take only what is left of the normal seizable part (art. 1412, al. 2): with €100 withheld each month for maintenance from a net salary of €2,000, €192.20 remains for them.
Which incomes can never be seized?
Family allowances, disability allowances and CPAS social assistance cannot be seized (art. 1410 § 2). For other incomes, the part below the first threshold (€1,419 net a month in 2026) stays protected, except in the cases of art. 1412.
What were the wage garnishment amounts in 2025 and 2024?
In 2025: not seizable up to €1,388, then bands up to €1,492, €1,646 and €1,800, and €86 per dependent child (royal decree of 5 December 2024). In 2024: €1,341, €1,440, €1,589 and €1,738, and €83 per child (royal decree of 12 December 2023). The amounts change every 1 January; the tool applies those of the chosen year.