How Bankruptcy Can Stop Your Garnishment and Eliminate Your Debt
You can generally stop garnishments imposed on you IMMEDIATELY by filing
for Bankruptcy Protection!
Usually, a wage garnishment is just the tip of the iceberg and once a creditor
has a garnishment against you, your options are significantly limited.
This is because the creditor has you right where they want you –
having your employer directly withhold your hard earned income and automatically
sending your creditor up to 25% of your paycheck.
How does Bankruptcy stop my garnishment?
Upon filing for bankruptcy protection the" automatic stay" is
issued by the court. The "automatic stay" is a court order that
prevents your creditors from pursuing any collection activities against
you. Since a garnishment is a collection activity, upon filing for protection,
it is immediately stopped.
If I file for bankruptcy, will my garnishment go away completely?
Under most circumstances the answer is YES! If you were to file for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, upon receiving your discharge you no longer owe this creditor
and are not liable for the remaining debt. There are some exceptions;
child support and spousal support are types of debt that don't go away.
A
Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows you to reorganize all of your debts into a manageable monthly payment
which is over the course of your Chapter 13 plan. This plan generally
lasts 3-5 years and upon successful completion of it, you are discharged
of all of that debt. This includes child and spousal support.
There are two things you should take note of: 1) your monthly payment is
the income you have left over every month after paying all of your normal
bills and expenses. This means your current lifestyle will not be affected
for the worse during your payment plan. 2) Depending on your plan amount
and the type of debts listed in your bankruptcy, generally you will only
pay a fraction of the amount you owed before filing bankruptcy.
Thus, filing for bankruptcy will not only stop your garnishment, it can
potentially get rid of it entirely without paying your creditor a dime,
or it can be paid off over time by payments you can afford to make.
Can I recover wages that were garnished before I filed for Bankruptcy?
Yes! If certain conditions are met you can recover previous garnishments.
Generally, any wages that were garnished within 90 days prior to filing
for bankruptcy if they were over $600 in aggregate and you have enough
of the bankruptcy exemptions to cover them.
So Bankruptcy will stop my garnishment, get rid of it, and recover my previous
garnished wages?
In almost all circumstances the answer to that is YES! If the garnishment
is for credit cards, medical bills, and other unsecured debt, the debt
is eliminated and they can never put a garnishment on you for this debt
again. However, if the debt is for child or spousal support or for other
non dischargeable taxes, then the garnishment can come back. For most
people and most debt, the garnishment and the debt are gone forever.
To find out whether your debt is secured or unsecured and discuss your
options call the
Denton Law Group today at (619) 458-3739 to
schedule a free consultation.
