Morristown Wage Garnishment Attorney

Using the Automatic Stay to Protect Your Earned Wages

A wage garnishment is a court order requested by a creditor for collection purposes. In a garnishment, your employer will withhold a portion of your paycheck to send directly to the creditor until the resolution of the debt.

Common debts that can result in wage garnishment include:

• Child Support
• Student Loans
• Back Taxes
• Credit Card and Medical Bills

Keeping up with payments on a growing stack of bills is difficult when you are struggling financially. The debt trap can be especially hard to escape if your wages have been garnished. You may be left with so little that it is difficult to make ends meet, pay your bills, or provide for your family.

How to End Wage Garnishments

Filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy provides a way to end most wage garnishments. A bankruptcy filing issues an "automatic stay," which stops most lawsuits and collection actions taken against you. This pauses foreclosure, utility disconnections, and wage garnishments.

Once the automatic stay is in place, you can expect the following:

• All collection efforts from debt collectors will end
• Creditors must petition the court with a valid and compelling reason to lift an automatic stay
• Obligations such as alimony and child support payments are considered primary debts that are not covered by the stay
• The automatic stay prevents wage garnishments until the case is discharged or dismissed
• Creditors cannot resume garnishing wages if the underlying debt was discharged in a bankruptcy
• Creditors can resume garnishments if a case is dismissed

If you have already had money deducted from your paychecks, a bankruptcy filing may even help you recover some of that money. In this case, you will need to take action as swiftly as possible. Only the deductions made during the 90 days before filing bankruptcy can be recovered.

Our Trusted Advisors Are Ready to Help

Ast & Schmidt, P.C. has been helping people stop garnishments for decades. Our attorneys are highly skilled and committed to making the bankruptcy process as easy as possible.

We can work tirelessly to ensure the automatic stay starts immediately. Our team can help you start on the path toward financial recovery and freedom.

If you would like to know more about how bankruptcy could reshape your financial future, please schedule a free consultation at our office by calling us at (973) 363-2260 today.