If you have too much debt and can’t afford to repay it, your creditors may choose to ask a court to garnish your wages to recover a portion of the debt whenever you receive a paycheck. Having your wages garnished is often overwhelming and frightening. This frustrating financial burden can take a serious toll on your life, as you will have less money to provide for yourself and your family’s needs. Furthermore, this may end up making you feel helpless, and push you into a vicious cycle of debt that will be incredibly difficult to escape from.
If you are facing this difficult situation, you may want to start looking for ways to get rid of your debts to regain control of your life and your peace of mind. Here you will learn how wage garnishment works, and what your options are to stop it.
What is wage garnishment?
Wage garnishment is a legal debt collection tool implemented by creditors to ensure that the debtor pays his debt regardless of his financial circumstances.
To enforce a wage garnishment, the creditor must file a lawsuit against you in court and win. Then, the judge will issue an order asking your employer to withhold part of your paycheck and redirect it to your creditor.
Normally, wage garnishments will last until your debt is paid in full. So, if the debt that led to this is particularly large, your wages may remain garnished for multiple months or even several years.
Many knowledgeable Anaheim bankruptcy attorneys, such as KT Bankruptcy Lawyer, believe that wage garnishment can create chaos in a debtor’s financial situation and severely impact his or her daily life.
How much of my wage can I lose?
Now, creditors cannot garnish your entire paycheck or anything like that. Federal law states that the garnishment cannot be more than 25% net of your take-home pay, or the amount of your pay that exceeds 30 times the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25/hour.
However, just because your entire paycheck isn’t garnished doesn’t mean you won’t feel the consequences. On the contrary, the financial impact of losing 25% of your income is likely to be devastating, especially if you have other debts to pay.
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy may help
The most efficient legal alternative to stop wage garnishments is Chapter 7 bankruptcy. By filing this type of bankruptcy, you will impose something known as an ” automatic stay”. This is a debtor protection mechanism that prohibits creditors from attempting to collect any of your debts during your bankruptcy filing, and this includes your monthly income.
As soon as you file your bankruptcy petition, the court will notify all of your creditors that they cannot contact you in any way with the intent to collect your debts, and the wage garnishment will be lifted as soon as possible. The court will notify your employer that the garnishment has been removed, and you will receive your full wages once again.
However, bankruptcy can be a very complicated process if you are not familiar with it. If you would like to learn about the benefits of bankruptcy and connect with a bankruptcy attorney near you who can help you get a fresh financial start, please visit https://legalfacts.org/bankruptcy-lawyer/
Exceptions to the automatic stay
You should keep in mind that while the automatic stay may stop the vast majority of wage garnishments, it won’t be able to halt them all. This will depend on two important factors: the type of debt, and how many times you have filed for bankruptcy in the past.
First, if your wage garnishment was imposed to comply with child support obligations, the automatic stay won’t lift it. This is because these garnishments are protected by federal law, and can only be removed if your domestic circumstances change to allow it.
On the other hand, if you recently filed for bankruptcy and your case was dismissed, then your automatic stay will only last for 30 days. These rules are intended to prevent individuals from abusing the automatic stay.
Need more assistance? Talk to a local attorney!
The best way to find out if bankruptcy can help you lift your wage garnishments is to consult with a bankruptcy attorney in Anaheim California, such as KT Bankruptcy Lawyer and many more.
Most of these law firms offer completely free initial consultations, so don’t hesitate to contact them to get started on your path to a fresh financial start.
Visit Legal Facts for more!
If you want to learn more about bankruptcy and how it can help you, feel free to visit Legalfacts.org to learn about the law in minutes!
On the other hand, if you are an attorney looking for law firm web design companies that can help you create a digital presence that allows you to boost your business like never before, you might also want to check out our legal marketing services.