Wages Still Garnished After Filing Chapter 7

[slarano]

It has been several weeks since my mother has filed for Chapter 7, and her federal court date is coming up next week (I believe this is the last step of the process). She filed through the help of an attorney. The problem is, she is still having her wages garnished based on the ruling made by the court on behalf of a CA.

It is my understanding that all garnishing of wages should have stopped when she filed the paperwork? If so, what are the legal steps in order to be compensated for this illegal activity? Any help is appreciated, she filed and now that she has we've become short in our fixed income.... go figure.

[Anonymous]

It goes without saying that CAs don't always do the right thing. I'm being facetious but what's happening to your Mom isn't at all funny. And, I'm making my recommendation assuming "the court" isn't the bankruptcy court that issued a writ of garnishment against her. Shall I also assume this garnishment is related to a judgment and/or debt that's included in the BK?

If so, your Mom should be able to get the attorneys to put an immediate stop to this, refund the garnished wages (since the CA knows better) and she should report it to the BK court, as well. She might be able to sue the CA for violating her rights, too. Again, check with the attorneys on this. In fact, especially if the BK court ordered the garnishment, check with a few attorneys because this doesn't sound right to me and the BK attorneys shouldn't have allowed this if it's illegal. 

Let us know if this is true.

Finally, make sure CAs are contacting ONLY your Mom's BK attorney about debt. Also, do some research on getting judgments from CAs vacated (which should happen with the BK but, if for some reason, it wasn't included in the BK, this is possible and may be easier than you think.) I hope this helps.

Message Edited by PickyStickler on 08-19-2009 03:53 AM

[slarano]

just to update. about a day or two after my original post, my mom told me that the lawyer had heard back from the CA, and that she would be receiving refund checks for the wages garnished after her filing date. it's too bad that we can't collect damages on the improper garnishing, or can we? regardless, i'm just glad that my mom is getting back the money taken away after she had already filed. she lost out on a few hundred though since she filed late due to not having enough money to pay for filing in the first place. go figure...

now i'm just waiting on how long it'll take for her to get her discharge papers. then her credit will be a personal project of mine.