In many cases, salary garnishments come from legal judgments. One instance could  be that you were associated with a losing litigation, then a judgment might be issued against you. Additionally, in cases where a creditor submitted a suit against you for non-payment and you didn’t respond, a default judgment might be issued.

At times, this garnishment may be for an estimated a a quarter of your net income, which can certainly be overwhelming, particularly if you already are confronted with a lot of personal debt. The good news is, bankruptcy can halt wage garnishments and other collection strategies.

When a judgment has been granted, your lender can ask the local sheriff’s department for a “fi fa” along with a summons for continuing garnishment. Your employer will probably be served with this garnishment summons and directed to withhold 25% of your after tax earnings. On top of that, your current workplace might charge a handling fee as high as $50 for each paycheck.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy is classified as a reorganization bankruptcy. This is opposed to something like Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which can be classified as a liquidation bankruptcy. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy you will need to give any non-exempt property that you have in exchange for most of your financial obligations being erased. In contrast to this liquidation process, during a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you simply will not have to fork over any assets. Instead, you’ll be forced to make a structured repayment schedule that shows how you will will use your wages to repay your debts over time, typically 3 to 5 years.