Once a creditor obtains a judgment, it will most likely move to garnish your wages quickly so that it may start to be paid back. Some debts, such as student loans in default, child support arrearage, court ordered child support and unpaid income taxes, do not require a Court order to garnish wages. What a wage garnishment means is that your payroll department will be required to withhold wages from your paychecks. A wage garnishment obviously makes it very difficult to pay rent, mortgage, bills etc. when you are already having financial difficulties. An experienced bankruptcy lawyer at JRQ & Associates will help stop wage garnishment and allow you keep your wages through a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. We will advise you of all of your available options to stop wage garnishment through a bankruptcy.
The good news is that there are some exemptions to wage deductions for judgment creditors. A judgment creditor may only take 15% of your gross wages or the amount of disposable income remaining after deducting the minimum wage (Illinois or Federal, whichever is greater) times 45. This is true even if you have multiple judgment creditors attempting to garnish your wages. A second creditor will have to wait until the wage garnishment is completed if the first one is already garnishing 15% of your gross income. Also, your employer may not terminate you if you have a wage garnishment; however, this protection does not extend to multiple creditors/garnishments.
Some income is not subject to a wage garnishment at all. This income includes Social Security & SSI, public aid/general assistance, unemployment wages, veteran’s benefits, worker’s compensation, black lung benefits, pensions (*qualifying) and alimony/support (*qualifying). Please also note that special rules apply to defaulted student loans, taxes and child support so it’s important to speak to an experienced bankruptcy lawyer at JRQ & Associates to find out how to stop wage garnishment.
Creditors have other options to force you to pay back the judgment amount. One such option is to seize non-exempt money in your bank account. There are various exemptions that may allow you to keep your money, but it’s important to have an experienced attorney review your case and advise you of your options to unfreeze your bank account or stop wage garnishment. Filing a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is one such solution that may allow you to stop wage garnishment and/or unfreeze your bank account so that you may keep your money. However, you must act quickly by calling JRQ & Associates for a free bankruptcy consultation. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
