Q: Can I protect my wages in bankruptcy?
they are characterized as wages, salary, commission or bonus. A cautionary tale for brokers and agents that earn a commission: see below.
Be forewarned: If you are self-employed, or if you are a “1099” Independent Contractor, even if you take a steady “salary” the bankruptcy court will not let you utilize the wage exemption to protect your “wages” because – well, because you are viewed as self-employed. (We agree it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but this is the law.)
If you are a true “W2” employee but not head of household, Fla. Stat. 222.11(2)(c) will protect the greater of 75% of your traceable wages or 30 x the federal minimum wage. If we are talking about a negligible amount of money, most trustees are not going to pursue the 25% of unprotected wages, but it could be a factor if the trustee is tallying up all of your unprotected assets to try to squeeze you for a cash settlement to the bankruptcy estate.
