Do garnished wages come back? Pre- and post-petition.

[SweetGeorgia]

We finally got off the stump and filed Ch7 last week, in the face of wage and bank account garnishments. My question is: we had wages garnished both pre- and post-petition. Can we get that money back, ever?

The bank account garnishment only got the small custodial account at Wachovia we have for my parents. We sent the BK number, petition, and notice the plaintiff's atty filed with the court. Wachovia will not release the money and won't talk to me. Legal has "no client contact," which means "lalalalala we can't hear you!" There is no phone number and no address, only a fax number.

And we only have a fax number for the "garnishment team" at the employer's payroll department. You can call Payroll, but they can't help.

This is very weird. I'm so glad we weren't trying to save a house!

I'm dumping it all back on the plaintiffs' attorneys. Wachovia doesn't care about stay violations, but I think small local law firms probably do.

[HHM]

Pre petition, NO

Post petition, YES.

[SweetGeorgia]

As much as I learned about bankruptcy before filing, I think I was still a little surprised that the "automatic" part of "automatic stay" was so overstated. It is 10 days post-filing now, and although the lawyers appear to have done their part, I still cannot even get any information from either Wachovia or the employer (let alone the money!).