Protecting Your Paycheck From Creditors
Are you being threatened with the garnishment of your wages to repay your debts? Are your wages already being garnished, taking away money that you need to feed your family and keep a roof over your head?
Under federal bankruptcy law, you may be able to protect yourself from wage garnishment forced on you to repay debts you simply cannot afford. Contact me, bankruptcy attorney Thomas F. McGrath, Jr., to discuss what you can do to stop your wages from being garnished. Based in Bellevue, I help clients throughout the Seattle area.
Stopping Wage Garnishment, Reclaiming Your Money
Most people in Washington first learn that their creditors are going after their wages when they get a paycheck that is as much as 25 percent smaller, or when their employers tell them they have been issued a writ of garnishment. This can obviously be an embarrassing situation for the employee, as well as a sudden strain on the family budget.
If a creditor has attained a judgment against you, filing for bankruptcy can stop wage garnishment before it starts. If your wages are already being garnished, bankruptcy can put a stop to the garnishment.
If you file for bankruptcy, your creditors or their collection agencies must repay any of your wages that have been garnished during the previous 90 days. If garnishment of your wages has already begun, you should talk to a lawyer right away so that if you decide to file for bankruptcy, your filing will be completed within that 90-day period.
Stopping Creditors From Getting Damaging Judgments
Wage garnishment begins when a creditor sues you on a debt and gets a judgment from the court ordering you to pay them. If you have been sued on a debt that you do not dispute owing, you may feel there is nothing you can do. However, filing for bankruptcy puts an automatic stay on creditor lawsuits against you. This, in turn, can prevent things from ever getting to the wage garnishment stage.
Filing for bankruptcy is a major decision that should ideally be made after consulting with a qualified attorney. I can help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing debt relief by filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Contact me to discuss your options.
We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code.
