Wage garnishment · Debt lawsuits · Augusta · Dublin · Statesboro

They are taking your paycheck. Let's make it stop.

If your wages are being garnished, your bank account is frozen, or you have been served with a debt lawsuit in Georgia, you are not stuck. Filing bankruptcy forces the garnishment to stop, and it halts the lawsuits and the collection calls along with it. The sooner you come in, the sooner the bleeding stops, and the more of your paycheck you keep. The consultation is free.

Call 706-724-6000 → Text us, get help now

Serving Georgia families since 1979 Free, confidential consultation with a board-certified consumer bankruptcy attorney.

Is money coming out of your paycheck right now?

Every payday it keeps going. Text us and let's stop it.

Text us, get help now Call 706-724-6000

What a garnishment really does

It does not stop on its own.

You saw it on your pay stub. The hours were the same, but the money was not.

A chunk of your check was simply gone, taken before it ever reached you. Maybe your debit card got declined at the grocery store because your bank account had been frozen with everything in it. Maybe a stack of court papers showed up and you were not even sure what they meant. However it started, the feeling is the same: someone reached into your life and took your money, and you did not get a say.

Here is the hard part. A wage garnishment is not a one-time hit. It comes out of every single paycheck, and in Georgia it can keep going for years, not months. Your employer sees it. It does not care whether you can make rent, buy groceries, or keep the lights on. And it will not stop because you call the creditor and ask. Left alone, it keeps taking, payday after payday, until the debt and every fee piled on top of it is paid.

Most people in this spot did not ignore a problem. They got a court paper they did not understand, or never got one at all, and the first they heard of it was a smaller paycheck. That is not a moral failing. It is a legal process, and there is a legal way to shut it off.

The way out

The day you file, the law makes it stop.

When you file bankruptcy, federal law puts a protection called the automatic stay in place. The moment your case is filed, your creditors are ordered to stop. The garnishment coming out of your paycheck stops. A frozen bank account can be freed. Debt collection lawsuits are halted. The phone calls and the letters stop too.

For ordinary debts like credit cards, medical bills, and personal loans, bankruptcy does more than pause the garnishment. It can wipe the debt out for good, so the garnishment never comes back. And from the moment you hire us, we deal with the creditor and their lawyer, so you do not have to.

Here is why timing matters. Money that has already come out of your paycheck is hard to get back, and every payday that passes is money gone for good. The sooner you come in, the sooner we can stop it. Please do not wait for one more check to disappear.

Learn about Chapter 7 → Learn about Chapter 13 →

Wherever you are right now

Three ways this usually starts.

Whatever stage you are in, the sooner you reach out, the more we can do. Here is how to know where you stand.

You have been sued

You were handed or mailed court papers about a debt. This is the early stage, and it is the best time to act. You usually have only a short window, often about a month, to respond, and missing it lets the creditor win automatically. Do not ignore it. Bring us the papers.

Your paycheck is being garnished

Money is coming out of every check before you ever see it, sometimes as much as a quarter of your take-home pay. In Georgia a garnishment can run for years. Filing bankruptcy stops the deductions going forward.

Your bank account is frozen

Your card gets declined and your money is locked, even money you needed for rent or food. Some funds, like Social Security, are protected, but you have to act to claim them. Bring us the freeze notice right away.

Served with papers and not sure what they mean?

Bring them to us. Text us and we will tell you exactly what you are looking at.

Text us, get help now Call 706-724-6000

A few honest things

What bankruptcy will and will not do.

Read this part

Filing does not stop a garnishment for child support or alimony. Those are treated differently under the law, and they cannot be wiped out.
A few other debts stay too, such as recent taxes, court fines, and most student loans.
Almost everything else, the credit cards, the medical bills, the personal loans, the old judgments, is exactly what bankruptcy is built to clear.

That is why the first thing we do is look at your whole picture. We tell you plainly what bankruptcy can stop and clear in your situation, and what it cannot, before you decide anything. No surprises.

And if money was taken from your check shortly before you file, there are cases where some of it can be recovered. It depends on the details, so save your pay stubs and ask us.

What to bring to your free consultation

Any garnishment notice or letter from your payroll department.
Any court or lawsuit papers you were served.
Any notice that your bank account was frozen.
Your recent pay stubs.
A rough list of who you owe.
Letters from any creditors or collectors.

Do not let a missing document stop you from reaching out. Bring what you have, and we will help you find the rest.

Stop the bleeding

Keep your next paycheck. Let's start today.

One free, confidential conversation tells you whether filing can stop your garnishment, which path fits, and exactly what to do next, with no obligation and no judgment about how you got here. Text is the easiest way to reach us, and we will get right back to you.

Text us, get help now → Call 706-724-6000 Contact page

P.S. You do not need to understand any of this. Bring us the paperwork, or just tell us what your pay stub looks like, and let us do the rest.

We file where you live

Three offices across the CSRA.

Bankruptcy cases here are filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Georgia, and our offices sit in the same three court divisions where you would file.

Augusta

706-724-6000

512 Telfair Street
Augusta, GA 30901

Augusta Division

Dublin

478-275-8311

1205 Bellevue Place, Suite A
Dublin, GA 31021

Dublin Division

Statesboro

912-764-7000

200 South Main Street
Statesboro, GA 30458

Statesboro Division

Cannot get away from work to come in? We bring a mobile office to you across the CSRA.

Straight answers

Garnishment and debt lawsuits, answered.

Yes. Filing a bankruptcy case puts the automatic stay in place, and that stops most creditor garnishments the moment you file. For ordinary debts like credit cards and medical bills, it can also wipe out the debt for good so the garnishment never comes back.

For ordinary debts, a garnishment can take as much as about a quarter of your take-home pay, out of every check, and in Georgia it can run for years. That is exactly why stopping it sooner rather than later matters so much.

For most ordinary debts, a creditor has to take you to court and win a judgment before it can garnish your pay or freeze your account. That court paper is your early warning. The moment you get one, that is the time to act, not after the money is already gone.

Do not ignore it. You usually have only a short window, often about a month, to respond, and missing it lets the creditor win automatically and move on to garnishing you. Bring us the papers right away and we will tell you your options.

A freeze can lock the money sitting in your account. Some funds, like Social Security and certain benefits, are protected, but you usually have to claim that protection, and quickly. Bring us the notice and do not wait.

The garnishment stops when your case is filed. The sooner you come in and we get your case ready, the sooner that happens, so the most important thing you can do is not wait for another paycheck to disappear.

Sometimes. In certain cases, money taken from your paycheck shortly before you file can be recovered, but it depends on the details of your situation. Save your pay stubs and ask us, and we will tell you honestly whether it applies to you.

No. Child support and alimony are treated differently under the law. Filing does not stop those garnishments, and those obligations cannot be wiped out in bankruptcy.

For ordinary debts like credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, and many old judgments, yes, a discharge wipes them out and ends the creditor's right to collect. A few debts stay, such as recent taxes, support, and most student loans. We will tell you which is which in your case.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Depending on your county, that is the Augusta, Dublin, or Statesboro division, and we have an office in each one.

See our full bankruptcy FAQ →

We are here to help

Let's stop the garnishment.

Send a text or give us a call, or use our contact page and we will reach out, in confidence.

Text us, get help now → Call 706-724-6000 Contact page

Home Our Firm Angela McElroy-Magruder Bankruptcy Chapter 7 Chapter 13 Subchapter 5 Stop Foreclosure Stop Repossession Bankruptcy Attorneys, Augusta Bankruptcy articles FAQ Contact

We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code. We serve clients throughout Augusta, Dublin, Statesboro and the surrounding CSRA. The information on this page is general and is not legal advice, and contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. Whether bankruptcy can stop a particular garnishment or lawsuit, and which debts can be eliminated, depends on the specific facts of your case, and outcomes vary. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.