If you have a threat of wage garnishment or are currently being garnished, you may be thinking of turning to bankruptcy to stop the garnishment. The bankruptcy automatic stay goes into effect the day your case is filed. The automatic stay is what tell your creditors they cannot collect or enforce debt collection efforts, including garnishments.
The creditor will need to stop the garnishment when they receive notice of your case being filed. When you file a bankruptcy case your creditors will receive notice from the bankruptcy court of the filing, with some creditors this will happen by mail and can take up to 4 weeks. Therefore, if you are being garnished your attorney will likely send the garnishing creditor or their attorney notice of filing with a cease garnishment letter the day of filing. They may even reach out to your payroll department with the notice of filing the day of filing, as well.
Now, the way your payroll works may impact when the garnishment will actually stop. For example, say your work has processed your next check for payroll before you file the bankruptcy, the bankruptcy filing would not stop that garnishment because it is already in the works. You may be able to get these funds back after filing though, since it was a post-petition garnishment.
Sometimes, depending on the exemptions for your case and how much the creditor took, you may be able to get pre-bankruptcy filing garnished wages back. You should ask your attorney before the case is filed, if you may be able to.
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If you have questions about bankruptcy and would like to do a free consultation to go over your options, visit www.lifebacklaw.com to speak with an attorney. You will be glad you did!
