Oklahoma Blog: Bankruptcy Chapters 7, 11 and 13

When Oklahoma residents are suffering from severe financial problems, it seems that there is nothing that they can do other than watch the chips fall around them as their situation grows ever more dire.  When creditors are owed money and the debtors are not making payments, they have options to collect on these debts.  One of the most severe and embarrassing forms of collection is wage garnishment.  If you are dealing with that humiliating reality now or you soon could, you need to contact an Oklahoma City bankruptcy lawyer as soon as possible to put a stop to it.  Below is a brief overview of wage garnishment and bankruptcy.

 

Oklahoma Wage Garnishment and How it Works

When a creditor has been attempting to collect on a debt for some time by way of phone calls, letters and other types of collection efforts, many of them will seek a legal remedy in order to capture at least part of that debt.  Therefore, what can happen is for a creditor to go to court and to obtain an order for wage garnishment.  These types of orders are commonplace when the debtor does not appear for the hearing, and after the order is granted the creditor can alert your employer that a certain amount or percentage of every pay check must be deducted and paid to the creditor as part of the debt payment effort.

 

How Filing Bankruptcy in OK Affects Wage Garnishment

One of the options available to someone who is either facing the possibility of a wage garnishment or is already dealing with such an issue is to file for bankruptcy protection.  When a bankruptcy petition is filed, the court releases what's basically an order that requires all collection efforts by creditors to stop immediately until such time as the bankruptcy case is complete.  If the bankruptcy case goes through as hoped by the debtor, the debt that's the target of the wage garnishment is either discharged or is part of a repayment plan.  In short, wage garnishments stop when a bankruptcy case is filed and the petition is accepted.

If you would like to put an end to either this possibility or this reality, you cannot get started too soon.  Contact the experienced Oklahoma City bankruptcy lawyers at Atkins & Markoff today to schedule an initial consultation and to get the process of putting your financial troubles behind you started.