First post, so please go easy on me 
. I'm already a bit of a nervous wreck ;).
My husband and I have filed for Chapter 7 and our 341 is next Monday, February 3rd. We have a fantastic lawyer who has answered all of our questions, and thanks to the posts on here, I think we're ready. Scared, but ready. We should have done this two years ago, but were too embarrassed and didn't want to admit defeat. I wish it hadn't taken so long.
Anyway - one of our creditors went after my husband to garnish his wages. For almost all of 2013 and half of 2012, his wages were garnished every paycheck by about 25%, which helped dig us into an even deeper hole. Our attorney (we're in VA) told us that we are entitled to get back the wages that were garnished in the 90 days before filing (we filed at the very end of December) because we filed prior to the return date on those wages. They are exempt under the homestead exemption (we are currently renting after being unable to sell the house we bought in the state we lived in previously - we lost the house to the bank last year), and because it was more than $600, the creditor has to return that money to us, as well as the garnishment that was still on the paycheck the week after we filed.
Here's where I'm confused. In the original discussion with our attorney, it almost sounded like those funds would be returned to us within a week or two, once his company was given the garnishment release. The return date for the funds to go to the creditor is not until March, so we filed with plenty of time. However, now it sounds like they *may* be returned to us at the Trustee Hearing. From what I understand from researching online, it seems that his company has not paid the collected funds to the creditor, so they will need to return those to the court or to my husband directly? Is that correct? When he asked his payroll department, they said that they could only return the funds to him after receiving notice from the creditor.
Anyone dealt with this? I've asked my attorney, but she didn't reply to my question about the garnished wages (we are still trying to catch up a little bit, and it's a decent amount that would allow us to finally be caught up and back on track, financially). We are already doing so much better now that the garnishment has stopped, but we did get behind on some basic living expenses, so the return of the garnishment funds would set us on a normal path - not even ahead, just normal.
Thanks for any advice!
. I'm already a bit of a nervous wreck ;). My husband and I have filed for Chapter 7 and our 341 is next Monday, February 3rd. We have a fantastic lawyer who has answered all of our questions, and thanks to the posts on here, I think we're ready. Scared, but ready. We should have done this two years ago, but were too embarrassed and didn't want to admit defeat. I wish it hadn't taken so long.
Anyway - one of our creditors went after my husband to garnish his wages. For almost all of 2013 and half of 2012, his wages were garnished every paycheck by about 25%, which helped dig us into an even deeper hole. Our attorney (we're in VA) told us that we are entitled to get back the wages that were garnished in the 90 days before filing (we filed at the very end of December) because we filed prior to the return date on those wages. They are exempt under the homestead exemption (we are currently renting after being unable to sell the house we bought in the state we lived in previously - we lost the house to the bank last year), and because it was more than $600, the creditor has to return that money to us, as well as the garnishment that was still on the paycheck the week after we filed.
Here's where I'm confused. In the original discussion with our attorney, it almost sounded like those funds would be returned to us within a week or two, once his company was given the garnishment release. The return date for the funds to go to the creditor is not until March, so we filed with plenty of time. However, now it sounds like they *may* be returned to us at the Trustee Hearing. From what I understand from researching online, it seems that his company has not paid the collected funds to the creditor, so they will need to return those to the court or to my husband directly? Is that correct? When he asked his payroll department, they said that they could only return the funds to him after receiving notice from the creditor.
Anyone dealt with this? I've asked my attorney, but she didn't reply to my question about the garnished wages (we are still trying to catch up a little bit, and it's a decent amount that would allow us to finally be caught up and back on track, financially). We are already doing so much better now that the garnishment has stopped, but we did get behind on some basic living expenses, so the return of the garnishment funds would set us on a normal path - not even ahead, just normal.
Thanks for any advice!
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