Filing stops a wage garnishment the day the case hits the docket. Not in a week, not after a hearing. The automatic stay is immediate and it applies to your employer's payroll department the moment they are notified.
If a garnishment has already started, the clock matters. Money taken before you file is usually gone. Money taken after is usually recoverable.
How fast this can move
An emergency petition can be filed within a day or two if we have the essentials. We then notify the payroll department and the creditor's counsel the same afternoon.
Payroll departments in California move at different speeds. Some stop the next cycle. Some have already processed the run. We chase them, and if a check goes out short after filing, we get it back.
Bring the paperwork you were served
The Earnings Withholding Order names the creditor, the case number and the court. With that one document we can find the judgment and tell you within an hour what we are dealing with.
How much can they take?
California limits creditor garnishments to a percentage of your disposable earnings, and the state's formula is more protective than the federal one. Child support and tax levies follow different, harsher rules.
For most people the practical effect is losing somewhere around a fifth of a paycheck, which is exactly the amount that turns a tight month into an impossible one.
What happens to the underlying debt
Stopping the garnishment is not the point. Discharging the judgment behind it is. A Chapter 7 typically wipes out the debt entirely, which means the garnishment never restarts. Without a filing, the creditor simply resumes.
“The call I hate is the one that comes three months into a garnishment. By then someone has lost several thousand dollars they were never getting back, usually because they were waiting to save up the filing fee out of the paycheck that was being garnished.”
Naomi Reyes-AshfordQuestions we get asked
Can my employer fire me for this?
No. Section 525 of the Bankruptcy Code prohibits an employer from discriminating against you for filing. In practice, payroll processes it as routine paperwork.
Can I get back what's already been taken?
Sometimes. Money garnished within 90 days before filing can occasionally be recovered if it exceeds a threshold and the exemption applies. Bring the pay stubs and we will look.
What if I'm being garnished for support?
Bankruptcy does not stop a domestic support garnishment and does not discharge the obligation. That is a family law matter, and we will tell you so rather than take your money.
What about a tax levy?
The stay does stop most IRS and FTB collection activity. Whether the tax itself discharges depends on how old it is.
Start here
Call (310) 555-0184 and say the word garnishment when you do. Those calls get routed straight through. Have the withholding order in front of you if you have it.