Do you have a wage garnishment against you? Do you want to stop a wage garnishment as soon as possible? Did you know that a Greenbelt bankruptcy lawyer may prevent any wage garnishment in Maryland by initiating a bankruptcy case? No matter who is seizing your wages—a credit card, auto loan, social security administration, or other entity—you have the ability to stop them.
What is a wage garnishment?
A wage attachment to your job occurs when a creditor takes away money directly out of your paycheck, with a court order, because you owe him or her money. In Maryland, the problem with a creditor who has an employment attachment on your pay is that the garnishment might put you far behind on all other essential costs, which can have dire consequences.
You might be evicted from your house if you can no longer afford your rent. You could face foreclosure as a result of a lack of funds to pay for your mortgage. Due to wage garnishment by a judgment creditor, you may lose your automobile, be late on your phone/insurance payment, and so on.
Bankruptcy can stop wage garnishments quickly
A bankruptcy attorney can halt wage garnishments by filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. These applications will immediately stop most wage garnishments, due to the Federal Automatic Stay (11 USC 362a) and allow you to catch up on all of your obligations outside of bankruptcy.
When it comes to creditors that are taking money out of your paycheck, filing for bankruptcy is an essential step that helps stop all or most of these types of deductions from your pay.
A Bankruptcy won't stop a wage garnishment in Certain Situations
If you file a Chapter 7 case, and the underlying debt is for a domestic support obligation, such as child support or alimony in arrears, a Judge can overrule the automatic stay if the creditor files a petition to do so, called relief from stay.
A Chapter 13 case, on the other hand, will prohibit all wage garnishments, including those for domestic and family support obligations. Keep in mind, however, that under a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you must pay off your priority and secured debts over a 36-to-60-month timeframe. As a result, if you have a garnishment while your Chapter 13 bankruptcy is pending, this is not necessarily a stop to the garnishment in full, but rather reorganize the schedule for the debt to be paid back, in many cases over a 5-year period.
You may be able to stop or reduce certain wage garnishments in some circumstances.
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorney can stop child support and spousal support orders through payments based on your current circumstances, but it requires an extra step of filing a motion to stop such garnishment.
As you can see, bankruptcy is quite often the best solution to stop wage garnishment immediately and get your life back in order financially. With the help of an experienced Greenbelt bankruptcy attorney, all debt could be eliminated rather than restructured under a repayment plan based on your current income. Stop living paycheck to paycheck and get back control of your life!
