§ 31.0025.Authority of Court to Order Turnover of Wages

A protection for wages, and its timing rule is the whole of it.

Notwithstanding any other law, a court may not, at any time before a judgment debtor is paid wages for personal services performed by the debtor, enter or enforce an order that requires the debtor or any other person to turn over the wages.

The line is drawn at payment. Before wages are paid they are beyond a turnover order; the section says nothing about what happens afterwards.

"Or any other person" is what closes the obvious route around it. An order directed at the employer would otherwise achieve exactly what an order to the debtor could not.

The section reinforces a protection Texas takes seriously. The state constitution exempts current wages for personal services from garnishment, and this prevents the turnover statute being used to reach what garnishment cannot.

That was a real risk, because the turnover statute reaches "present or future rights to property" — a description that fits unpaid wages precisely.

Subsection (b) forecloses the argument about form: the section applies to wages in any form, including paycheck, cash, or property.

So paying an employee in goods, or in cash off the books, does not convert wages into something reachable.

The exception is the same one the turnover statute carries: child support. A child support obligation or a judgment for past due child support is outside the protection, which is consistent with how Texas treats that obligation throughout.