In a recent interview with FOX, I revealed how to stop wage garnishment fast.
Wage garnishment can wreak havoc as creditors can collect up to 25% of your take-home income, which can put you and your family in a difficult situation. However, filing for bankruptcy can stop wage garnishment quickly.
As soon as someone files for bankruptcy, they can benefit from an automatic stay.
An automatic stay, or also known as an injunction, will go into effect as soon as you file for bankruptcy and hinders creditors from taking action to collect on debt, including wage garnishment.
After filing, it could take the court more than a week to send official documentation to creditors. However there is one thing you and your lawyers can do to ensure wage garnishment stops quickly.
As soon as you file for bankruptcy, send all the information regarding your bankruptcy case such as file number, filing date, as well as the location of the court to both your place of employment and to the creditor.
Once the creditor has been notified of the bankruptcy, they are legally obliged to cease wage garnishment. This is true even if they haven’t received official paperwork from the court.
After the bankruptcy case ends, creditors cannot continue garnishing wages on discharged debts. However, this isn’t true for nondischargeable debts.
You are responsible for settling any debt that the bankruptcy court has ruled as nondischargeable. When the case ends, the automatic stay no longer applies, and creditors can resume wage garnishment.
If a person’s wages have already been garnished, then they might be able to recover those wages.
If your wages were garnished within 90 days of filing and the total amount garnished was more than $600, then you will probably be able to reclaim your wages by filing another lawsuit in bankruptcy court.
Depending on your financial situation, recovering lost wages through court might not make much financial sense. Consult a seasoned bankruptcy attorney if you have questions related to wage garnishment – whether it’s how to find out how to halt it quickly or to recover garnished income.
If you have any questions just fill in the form below and I’ll be happy to help 🙂
