YES. I have been getting a lot of questions about garnishments lately. Both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings will stop garnishments. This is accomplished in a two step process. First, we must file your bankruptcy with the bankruptcy court and thereby obtain a case number for your bankruptcy.
Second, in the Court which issued the garnishment (normally your county’s Small Claims Court, District Court, or Circuit Court) we file a Motion to Quash Writ of Garnishment. In this motion we ask the Court that issued the garnishment to enter an order stopping the garnishment and to return to you any money the Court is holding or receives in the future from the garnishment. This means that if we can catch it in time, we may be able to get some of your money back.
Having said this, I would strongly recommend filing a bankruptcy prior to a garnishment going into effect. I say this only because I know a garnishment taking 25% of your wages is not going to leave much to live on, much less enough to save to pay for a bankruptcy.
Please note that a bankruptcy will not stop a garnishment or income withholding order related to child support.
