Bankruptcy Protection Stops Wage Garnishment Immediately
A lot of times a wage garnishment is what will cause someone to file a bankruptcy case. That is mostly because filing a bankruptcy case will put an immediate stop to wage garnishment.
Filing a bankruptcy case causes an automatic protection, or stay, to go into place. That protection is a court order called the automatic stay, which forbids collection, calls, garnishments, law suits, etc., from moving forward when a bankruptcy case is in place. This bankruptcy protetion is very serious, and if a creditor violates the court order, they could face serious consequences from the bankruptcy court, including but not limited to monetary sanctions. Many times a law suit that is associated with a garnishment will be dismissed when a bankruptcy case is filed.
There are limitations to the protection you receive when there have been multiple bankruptcy case filings within a certain period of time. For example, if a debtor had a bankruptcy case pending within the last year that a new case has been filed, the debtor will only receive 30 days of bankruptcy protection. Regardless, if a debtor is eligible for a discharge and discharge is entered by the court, the debt associated with the garnishment will be discharged, as long as it is a qualified debt, or a general unsecured debt like credit card debt, medical debt, personal loans etc.
It is very important to talk to an attorney if you are consdiering filing a bankruptcy case. As mentioned above, there may be restrictions to the bankruptcy protection you could receive if multiple cases have been filed. Some other good artcles on this topic can be found here: