Stop Wage Garnishments & Lawsuits

Filing Bankruptcy Immediately Starts the Automatic Stay

Immediately after filing a petition for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 relief, you will benefit from the protections provided by the automatic stay. These benefits are powerful and substantial. They are intended to protect you and your property.

The Automatic Stay:

1. Protects your property by prohibiting:

• acts to obtain possession or control of your property which is considered to be the property of the bankruptcy estate
• the enforcement of judgments against you or your property
• acts to enforce any lien which may exist against the property of the bankruptcy estate
• any other acts to collect, assess or recover a pre-petition claim against you

2. Stops wage garnishments

3. Requires creditors to stop any collection efforts

4. Abruptly halts most civil legal matters, including proceedings for garnishments, evictions, and attachments

There are Exceptions to the Automatic Stay:

Some collection efforts (and other matters) will not be halted by the automatic stay. These include the ability of a former spouse to collect support payments from the wages you earn after the filing of your Chapter 7 case.

The Automatic Stay in Summary

To summarize, the powerful automatic stay takes effect as soon as a bankruptcy is filed. It stops creditors from calling or sending demand letters; stops most pending lawsuits against you; stays enforcement of pre-existing judgments, and cuts off garnishments of bank accounts and paychecks. Further, it will stay evictions and efforts toward levying your accounts and seizing your assets.