Texas Wage Garnishment-Should I be Scared?

[tika]

I live in & work Texas and corporate is based out of Lincoln, Nebraska. I am filing Ch 7.

I just paid my lawyer in full and I am going to his office monday 3-2-09 to sign the papers and wait for the 341 meeting.

I have been getting calls at work, and I am usually the one answering and telling them they should call anymore. Well today I got a call asking for human resources dept. and asked for the phone #. So not realizing it was me they were referring to I gave them that information. Then she said she is contacting them to garnish wages, and wanted to verify employment for me....

I am not sure which creditor it was but I am thining it was Bank of America, since they were the one that harassed my manager this week.

I have only stopped paying on then since November 08 (4 months), I contacted my lawyer and I am waiting for his responce.

I did read that:
44. Texas Wage Garnishment
Wages cannot be attached or garnished, except for child support.
Income that is not a wage can be garnished or ordered turned over to a receiver.
Bank accounts, rents and royalties can be garnished.
Exemptions include social security benefits.

WARNING For individuals living in Texas who are paid from an out of state location, there is case law (Baumgardner vs. Sou Pacific 177 S.W. 2d 317) to support taking a judgment from Texas, domesticating the judgment in the foreign state, then filing the wage garnishment there. Many creditors have used this strategy successfully.


Since I am signing monday should I still be scared?

[NewDawn]

I believe once you file, the automatic stay goes into effect. I would think with the protection of the automatic stay, pursuing the collection of the debt, wage garnishment, bank levy, filing a lawsuit, etc. would cease. Hopefully somebody else would chime in.

[NewDawn]

Do you know if you have been sued yet for the collection of this particular debt? They can't garnish wages until they first have a judgment awarded related to this debt. The second step is to actually collect on the judgment. They have to have a writ of garnishment issued. If you have not been sued yet, I don't believe they have the right to garnish your wages.

I thought also in Texas, where I also live, garnishment of wages isn't possible at all, except for child support or government taxes. If your company is simply headquartered out of another state or their payroll office is in another state and you actually report to work inside Texas, I don't think they can garnish your wages even if they do get a judgment.

Anyway, I believe it will all be moot once your file since the automatic stay will be in effect. I honestly wouldn't worry about it too much. I would, however, have your attorney start taking the phone calls for you. If they call you, tell them your bankruptcy case number or just tell them to call your lawyer.

[tika]

Thank you so much, I talked to my lawyer and we are filed now just waiting for the 314 meeting. My lawyer told me that they "could try" to get my wages since corporate is in Nebraska, but I think I am going to beat them to the punch. And I was never served, and I am not hard to find either...

[NewDawn]

I believe once your file, their awarded judgment, if they have sued you and won, is basically wiped out along with your other unsecured debts once you obtain the discharge order at the end of your case.

They would have had to have "domesticated" the judgment to Nebraska, assuming they even have a court judgment against you, to garnish wages in Nebraska. However, I still don't believe they can garnish wages just because your "payroll" is in Nebraska. My husband is a truck driver and he used to work for a large trucking company that was headquartered in Nebraska and his payroll checks were sent out of there as well. I do not believe in this instance that he would be considered "working" in Nebraska because he doesn't report to Nebraska on a regularly scheduled basis. His entire job is traveling, but we live in Texas.

You might ask your lawyer if they even succeed in garnishing your wages for just a brief interim if you can obtain the monies they received back, essentially reversing the payments. I'm not sure of the exact procedure of this.

But again, the important thing is that since you have now filed, the automatic stay goes into effect. They are prohibited from pursing the collection of the debt by any means. Make sure they know about that you have filed bankruptcy as soon as possible. You do have relief! I hope things get better for you.

[EricaCallaha]

Just a little FYI....You work in the state that you pay taxes in. If you work in Texas but your check is cut out of Nebraska withholding Texas tax....you live in Texas. Texas trumps Nebraska and they can't garnish. The only way around that is if you were to live in Texas but work in Nebraska. Then you would therefore pay Nebraska tax and would be subject to their garnishment laws.