Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Wisconsin

I don't see how you can get reimbursed for any wages already garnished by filing for bankruptcy protection. Your filing stops further garnishment while the case is pending (and no further garnishment can occur if your discharge is granted), but I've never seen a creditor forced to disgorge back to the debtor the garnishment monies already collected. Sometimes, if payments are excessive, the creditor must disgorge some of the garnished money to the Trustee for distribution to other creditors, but disgorge to the debtor? No.

The documents to support your petition include BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO paystubs over a few months immediately prior to filing and your tax returns for the last two years (if you don't file taxes, you must so state in a letter to your trustee). Depending on the circumstances of the case and local practice, the Trustee may ask for other things, too.

Hire a lawyer to help you get through your bankruptcy. Before the 2005 overhaul of the bankruptcy law went into effect, the process was pretty easy. That overhaul changed things and added a LOT of potholes that the unwary and unrepresented debtor falls into; when you hit some of these potholes, there is no recovery. The lawyer's fee, regardless of how much, is always FAR less expensive than is the result of stumbling into one of these issues.

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