Stop Garnishment by Filing Bankruptcy

HOW TO STOP GARNISHMENT?

Get help from experienced and affordable Maryland Bankruptcy attorney to stop your garnishment.

If your wages are about to be garnished or have been garnished it is not the end of the world. An experienced Maryland bankruptcy lawyer can help you to stop the garnishment by filing bankruptcy.

What is a Wage Garnishment?

In order for most creditors to be able to garnish your wages they have to file a law suit and receive a judgment against you. Once the creditor has a judgement it can get an order garnishing your wages. The wage garnishment usually is forwarded to your employer. The employer then has to pay a percentage of your pay to creditor until the total amount of the judgment is fully paid.

Amount of Garnishment in Maryland

Federal Law has a limit on wage garnishment amount. In the maximum amount of garnishment cannot exceed 25% of your disposable earnings? The amount of garnishment can be less than 25%. Most federal government institutions like US Department of Education can garnish 15% of your wage as administrative garnishment without a judgment. If you have several garnishments the total amount garnished amount cannot exceed 25% of the disposable income or the amount by which your weekly wages exceed 30 times the minimum wage, whichever is lower.

There are some exceptions for child support garnishment that allow a garnishment of up to 50% of your disposable income if you are supporting a spouse or a child who is not the subject to the wage garnishment order and up to 60% of your disposable earning if you are not supporting a child or a spouse.

Maryland Garnishment Exemptions

Social Security is always exempt from the most garnishment unless it is garnishment for child support, alimony, or some taxes.

There are several other exemptions from garnishment such as: retirement benefits, pension, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, student financial aid, aid to the blind, disabled, and other public benefits and aids.

How Bankruptcy Can Help?

As soon as you file bankruptcy you get protection from creditors and their collection activities with an automatic stay while you are in bankruptcy. All wage garnishments and collections must stop immediately after filing bankruptcy. There are exceptions to this rule that include collection of child support. Those debts have to be paid and do not go away even with the bankruptcy.

When the Employer Stops a Garnishment?

After your bankruptcy case is filed the court sends notifications to all creditors that you included in your bankruptcy informing them that you have filed bankruptcy. After that the creditors are prohibited from garnishing your wages and they have to stop all garnishment except the child support. An experienced Maryland bankruptcy lawyer can help make the garnishment stop faster once the case is filed.

What Happens to the Garnishment After the Bankruptcy is Over?

The automatic stay ends with closing of the bankruptcy case. Creditors cannot garnish your pay check after the bankruptcy if the bankruptcy discharges the debt that was subject to the wage garnishment.

If you did not receive a discharge due to dismissal of your bankruptcy case then the creditors can continue to garnish your pay.

What to do then?

The automatic stay ends when the case is dismissed. After that the creditors will be able to garnish your wages again. There is a solution for this situation though. You can file bankruptcy again and prove that the second filing is done in a good faith.

Maryland Bankruptcy Lawyer Can Help

Get help from experienced and affordable Maryland Bankruptcy attorney to stop your garnishment.

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