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Bankruptcy Articles

Monday, November 10th, 2008

by Theodore Sliwinski, Esq.

Bankruptcy Stops Wage Garnishments

If your wages have been garnished, then you should immediately contact the New Jersey Bankruptcy Center to determine whether filing bankruptcy can help you. Filing for bankruptcy immediately stops a wage garnishment. At the New Jersey Bankruptcy Center we can help you save your paycheck and immediately stop a wage garnishment. We will take the time to learn about your financial situation and determine what is the most effective way to wipe out your debt.

If you owe money to a credit card company, and if you don’t pay this debt, then a creditor can file a collection lawsuit against you. If this collection lawsuit is successful then the creditor may then obtain a judgment against you. Thereafter, the creditor may be legally entitled to garnish up to 10% of your wages.  In New Jersey the maximum amount that a creditor can garnish is 10% from your paycheck. Whether your wages are currently being garnished, or if you are being threatened with a wage garnishment, then the New Jersey Bankruptcy Center can help.

A wage garnishment is a shocking and a traumatic event. All of a sudden 10% of your income is garnished  and lost. You will never see that money again. Suddenly, a struggling debtor someone who was just barely getting by in life, is now missing one-tenth of their take-home pay. The wage garnishment process starts when a creditor files a notice of motion to request a wage execution. The term wage execution is synonymous with wage garnishment, and they are interchangeable terms. There is hope! A debtor who is being garnished has a few options. First, the debtor can file legal papers that objects to the creditor’s motion to request a wage execution. This type of motion is most always heard in the Special Civil Part Court. The Special Civil Part Court is a section of the New Jersey Judiciary that hears all civil cases wherein the dispute is $15,000 or less. Thereafter, the judge will then schedule a hearing to determine the amount of any wage garnishment. The judge will then listen to any of your reasons why you believe a wage garnishment should not be ordered against your paycheck. In the best case scenario, the judge will reduce the wage garnishment from 10% to 5%. The wage garnishment will continue until the full amount of the judgment is paid off, and this also includes interest, and counsel fees. Thus, it could take many years to pay off a judgment. This is not a pleasant scenario when you consider that most New Jersey-ites already are having a difficult time paying their bills.

The best way to fight a wage garnishment is to hire the New Jersey Bankruptcy Center. Once you file for bankruptcy, then the creditor whose debt is being paid by the wage garnishment will have to immediately stop all of their collection efforts. This means that the creditor will have to contact the Clerk of the Special Civil Park and advise them to remove their wage garnishment.

If you are being garnished then you should act now before more of your hard earned pay is lost to your creditor. Every moment that you waste translates into more food being taken off of your family’s table. You cannot afford to lose 10% of your pay check. Stop the wage garnishment now!

Wage garnishments can be financially devastating to a taxpayer(s). This is especially true of those who have families. The New Jersey Bankruptcy Center can help in emergency situations where wage garnishments have been suddenly placed.