Does filing bankruptcy stop every garnishment?

No. The petition generally operates as a stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), but § 362(b) lists exceptions, including withholding of income for a domestic support obligation under a judicial or administrative order or a statute (§ 362(b)(2)(C)). A party in interest may also seek relief from the stay under § 362(d). Separately, prior cases dismissed within the preceding one-year period can cut the stay short or, where two or more were dismissed, keep it from taking effect (§ 362(c)(3), (c)(4)).

How do prior dismissed bankruptcy cases change the automatic stay?

Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3), if a single or joint case is filed by or against an individual under chapter 7, 11, or 13 and a case of the debtor was pending within the preceding one-year period but was dismissed — other than a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a § 707(b) dismissal — the stay as to any action regarding a debt, property securing that debt, or a lease terminates with respect to the debtor on the 30th day after the later filing. On a party in interest's motion, after notice and a hearing completed before that 30-day period expires, the court may extend the stay as to any or all creditors only if good faith as to the creditors to be stayed is demonstrated.

What if two or more of my prior cases were dismissed in the past year?

Section 362(c)(4) governs that. If a single or joint case is filed by or against a debtor who is an individual, and two or more single or joint cases of the debtor were pending within the previous year but were dismissed — excepting a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a § 707(b) dismissal — the stay does not go into effect upon the later filing, and on request the court shall promptly confirm that. If a party in interest requests within 30 days after the later filing, the court may order the stay to take effect as to any or all creditors, after notice and a hearing, only on a showing of good faith as to the creditors to be stayed. Such a stay is effective on the date the order allowing it is entered.

Can my employer start withholding before being served?

Va. Code § 8.01-503 states that nothing in §§ 8.01-501 and 8.01-502 requires an employer paying wages or salary to withhold any part of them unless and until the employer is duly served with process in garnishment. If withholding has started, ask when and how your employer was served. Separately, under § 8.01-517 an employer may pay you the amount exempted by § 34-29 unless the court has specifically disallowed the exemption.

Can I be fired because my wages were garnished?

Va. Code § 34-29(G) provides that no employer may discharge any employee by reason of the fact that his earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness. The federal counterpart, 15 U.S.C. § 1674, is worded the same way and carries criminal penalties for a willful violation. Note that this is an anti-discharge rule about your job; it is not a remedy for an employer withholding the wrong amount.

Can I use the federal bankruptcy exemptions if I file in Virginia?

Where Virginia law governs the exemptions in your case, the federal § 522(d) list is unavailable: Virginia has opted out of it, and those exemptions may not be elected (Va. Code § 34-3.1). Which state's law governs is decided by 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A): the place of your domicile for the 730 days immediately preceding filing, or, if your domicile was not in a single state for that period, the place where it was located for the 180 days immediately preceding those 730 days, or for a longer portion of that 180-day period than any other place. Section 522(b)(3) also preserves other federal exemptions and qualifying retirement funds, and § 522(b) ends with a safety valve: if the domiciliary requirement would leave you ineligible for any exemption, you may elect the subsection (d) list.

Wages & debt

Wage Garnishment in Virginia: What the Law Says and What Bankruptcy Changes

Virginia caps ordinary judgment garnishment of wages at the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings for the week or the amount above 40 times the greater of the federal or Virginia minimum hourly wage (Va. Code § 34-29(A)). Filing a bankruptcy petition generally triggers an automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), but income withholding for a domestic support obligation is excepted, a party in interest may obtain relief from the stay, and prior dismissed cases can shorten it or prevent it from arising.

Key points

Virginia's ordinary wage garnishment ceiling is the lesser of two calculations under Va. Code § 34-29(A), and the exemption is granted without any further proceedings.
Support orders, orders of a bankruptcy court, and state or federal tax debts are expressly excluded from that ordinary ceiling.
An employer is not required to withhold wages until it has been duly served with garnishment process (Va. Code § 8.01-503).
A judgment debtor who files a claim for exemption has a right to a hearing no later than seven business days from the date of filing (Va. Code § 8.01-512.5).
Virginia has opted out of the federal § 522(d) exemption list, so which state's exemptions apply depends on the domicile rule in 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A).

If a creditor with a judgment has reached your paycheck, the most urgent question is usually how much of it they can take and what you can do about it. Virginia statutes set a ceiling on ordinary judgment garnishment, protect some categories of income automatically, and give you a route to claim exemptions. This page explains what those statutes say and what a bankruptcy filing changes.

How much of your pay can be garnished in Virginia?

For ordinary judgment debts, Va. Code § 34-29(A) caps the maximum part of your aggregate disposable earnings for any workweek at the lesser of two amounts: 25 percent of your disposable earnings for that week, or the amount by which those earnings exceed 40 times the federal minimum hourly wage or the Virginia minimum hourly wage, whichever of those two wage rates is greater, in effect at the time the earnings are payable. The smaller of the two figures controls. For a pay period other than a week, the State Commissioner of Labor and Industry prescribes an equivalent multiple of the federal or Virginia minimum hourly wage by regulation. The federal counterpart in 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) uses 30 times the federal minimum wage rather than 40, so Virginia's measure is more protective; that federal ordinary cap carries its own exceptions in § 1673(b) for support orders, orders of a court with jurisdiction over chapter 13 cases, and debts due for any state or federal tax.

"Disposable earnings" means earnings left after deducting amounts required by law to be withheld — not every deduction on your pay stub (Va. Code § 34-29(E)).
"Earnings" includes wages, salary, commission, bonus, payments to an independent contractor, and periodic pension or retirement payments.
The restrictions of subsection A do not apply to support orders, orders of a bankruptcy court under Chapter XIII of the Bankruptcy Act, or any debt due for a state or federal tax.

What do Virginia statutes require of creditors and courts?

A judgment creditor starts the process by suing out a garnishment summons from the clerk's office in the form prescribed by Va. Code § 8.01-512.3. Under Va. Code § 8.01-511, that summons and the notice and claim for exemption form required by § 8.01-512.4 must be served on the garnishee, and served on the judgment debtor promptly after service on the garnishee. The statute also provides mailing alternatives: the person making service mails a copy by first-class mail to the debtor's last known address, and in some circumstances that mailing itself constitutes service of process. Va. Code § 8.01-512.4 is categorical that no summons in garnishment shall be issued or served unless a notice of exemptions and claim for exemption form are attached. Va. Code § 8.01-514 allows the summons to be returned within 90 days from issuance, except that a wage garnishment summons is returnable not more than 180 days after issuance.

No court, state agency, or officer of the Commonwealth may make, execute, or enforce any order or process violating § 34-29 (subsection D).
Garnishee-employers may charge the employee a processing fee for each summons served, up to the amount set in Va. Code § 8.01-512.2.
Service on a corporation, LLC, or financial institution follows the garnishment-designee procedure in Va. Code § 8.01-513.

Which income is protected from garnishment under Virginia law?

The wage exemptions in Va. Code § 34-29 are granted without further proceedings, so no claim is needed for them. Subsection (E) reaches earnings "deposited with another entity or person on behalf of and traceable to the individual," and subsection (H) says such a depository need not determine what portion is garnishable. Separately, Va. Code § 34-4.3 directs a financial institution served with a summons to protect a minimum account balance as a combined total across all your accounts there, not one minimum per account. An account review under Va. Code § 34-4.4(B) is required only when the total across those accounts exceeds that combined minimum, unless an exemption is prohibited by law. A protected amount for benefit payments is calculated separately for each account, covering deposits in the two months immediately preceding the day before the review commenced; a new or different summons triggers a new review. Funds above those totals may still be covered by other state or federal law.

Benefit payments covered by the account review include federal payments listed in 31 C.F.R. § 212.2 and Virginia unemployment, public assistance, workers' compensation, and child support payments.
Not every deposit is protected: § 34-4.4(H) limits the automatic exemption to payments the institution can identify from information transmitted by the payer.
The wages of a minor are not liable to garnishment for the debts of parents (Va. Code § 34-33).

Which statutory protections may matter when contesting a garnishment?

If you believe the wrong amount is being withheld, Va. Code § 8.01-512.4 says you may file a claim for exemption even though the ordinary wage exemption requires no claim. You fill out the claim form and deliver or mail it to the clerk's office of the court. Under Va. Code § 8.01-512.5, you then have a right to a hearing on that claim no later than seven business days from the date the claim is filed — that is a deadline for the hearing, not a deadline for filing. The clerk notifies the parties of the date, time, place, and exemption claimed. Importantly, the garnishee must keep complying with the summons unless and until the court orders otherwise in writing, and that order takes effect upon receipt by the garnishee. Section 8.01-512.4 also states plainly that there is no exemption solely because you are having difficulty paying your debts.

No employer may discharge an employee because earnings have been garnished for any one indebtedness (Va. Code § 34-29(G); see also 15 U.S.C. § 1674).
Va. Code § 34-32 makes it illegal, subject to its residency, householder-and-laboring-person, and improper-purpose conditions, to pursue exempt Virginia wages through out-of-state garnishment proceedings.
An employer may rely on the subsection A exemptions unless the summons or a court order specifies otherwise (Va. Code § 8.01-515).

How does filing bankruptcy affect a Virginia garnishment?

A voluntary case is commenced by filing a petition, and that filing itself constitutes an order for relief (11 U.S.C. § 301). Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), that petition operates as a stay applicable to all entities. Section 362(a)(1) reaches actions and proceedings against the debtor that were or could have been commenced before the case began, or that seek to recover a claim against the debtor arising before then; § 362(a)(2) reaches enforcement, against the debtor or estate property, of a judgment obtained before the case began. Section 362(a) states no separate court order or notice as a prerequisite. Section 362(b)(2)(C) excepts withholding of income for payment of a domestic support obligation under a judicial or administrative order or a statute. Under § 362(d), a party in interest may request relief from the stay after notice and a hearing, and the court shall grant it for cause or on the other listed grounds. Prior dismissed cases can shorten the stay or prevent it from arising at all.

Section 362(c)(2) gives the ordinary duration of that stay, of acts other than those against estate property, subject to subsections (d), (e), (f), and (h) and the repeat-filing rules: the earliest of case closing, dismissal, or, in an individual chapter 7 case or a chapter 9, 11, 12, or 13 case, the grant or denial of discharge.
Virginia's wage exemption applies in a bankruptcy proceeding as well, except as otherwise provided in § 34-29 (subsection I).
Virginia has opted out of the federal § 522(d) list, so the exemptions available depend on the domicile rule in 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A).

What should you ask a lawyer about a Virginia garnishment?

This page describes what the statutes say. It cannot tell you which exemptions apply to your pay, your accounts, or your property, whether the garnishment against you was properly issued and served, or whether bankruptcy is a sensible step for your household. Those questions turn on facts a lawyer or a legal aid office needs to see, including your pay records, the summons itself, and any prior bankruptcy cases. If you are considering bankruptcy, the domicile question under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A) matters whenever you have moved in recent years, because it decides whose exemption law governs your case.

Was the summons served on the garnishee and then on me as § 8.01-511 requires, with the exemption notice and claim form attached?
Which exemptions on the § 8.01-512.4 claim form plausibly apply to my wages, benefit payments, or accounts?
Given where I have lived for the past several years, which state's exemptions would govern under § 522(b)(3)(A)?
Does any exception in § 362(b) or any prior dismissed case affect what a filing would do to this garnishment?

Frequently asked questions

Does filing bankruptcy stop every garnishment?: No. The petition generally operates as a stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), but § 362(b) lists exceptions, including withholding of income for a domestic support obligation under a judicial or administrative order or a statute (§ 362(b)(2)(C)). A party in interest may also seek relief from the stay under § 362(d). Separately, prior cases dismissed within the preceding one-year period can cut the stay short or, where two or more were dismissed, keep it from taking effect (§ 362(c)(3), (c)(4)).
How do prior dismissed bankruptcy cases change the automatic stay?: Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3), if a single or joint case is filed by or against an individual under chapter 7, 11, or 13 and a case of the debtor was pending within the preceding one-year period but was dismissed — other than a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a § 707(b) dismissal — the stay as to any action regarding a debt, property securing that debt, or a lease terminates with respect to the debtor on the 30th day after the later filing. On a party in interest's motion, after notice and a hearing completed before that 30-day period expires, the court may extend the stay as to any or all creditors only if good faith as to the creditors to be stayed is demonstrated.
What if two or more of my prior cases were dismissed in the past year?: Section 362(c)(4) governs that. If a single or joint case is filed by or against a debtor who is an individual, and two or more single or joint cases of the debtor were pending within the previous year but were dismissed — excepting a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a § 707(b) dismissal — the stay does not go into effect upon the later filing, and on request the court shall promptly confirm that. If a party in interest requests within 30 days after the later filing, the court may order the stay to take effect as to any or all creditors, after notice and a hearing, only on a showing of good faith as to the creditors to be stayed. Such a stay is effective on the date the order allowing it is entered.
Can my employer start withholding before being served?: Va. Code § 8.01-503 states that nothing in §§ 8.01-501 and 8.01-502 requires an employer paying wages or salary to withhold any part of them unless and until the employer is duly served with process in garnishment. If withholding has started, ask when and how your employer was served. Separately, under § 8.01-517 an employer may pay you the amount exempted by § 34-29 unless the court has specifically disallowed the exemption.
Can I be fired because my wages were garnished?: Va. Code § 34-29(G) provides that no employer may discharge any employee by reason of the fact that his earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness. The federal counterpart, 15 U.S.C. § 1674, is worded the same way and carries criminal penalties for a willful violation. Note that this is an anti-discharge rule about your job; it is not a remedy for an employer withholding the wrong amount.
Can I use the federal bankruptcy exemptions if I file in Virginia?: Where Virginia law governs the exemptions in your case, the federal § 522(d) list is unavailable: Virginia has opted out of it, and those exemptions may not be elected (Va. Code § 34-3.1). Which state's law governs is decided by 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A): the place of your domicile for the 730 days immediately preceding filing, or, if your domicile was not in a single state for that period, the place where it was located for the 180 days immediately preceding those 730 days, or for a longer portion of that 180-day period than any other place. Section 522(b)(3) also preserves other federal exemptions and qualifying retirement funds, and § 522(b) ends with a safety valve: if the domiciliary requirement would leave you ineligible for any exemption, you may elect the subsection (d) list.

Sources

Va. Code § 34-29 (effective until July 1, 2027) — Maximum portion of disposable earnings subject to garnishment
Va. Code § 34-32 — Illegal to garnish such exempt wages out of Commonwealth
Va. Code § 34-33 — Exemption of wages of minor from garnishment process
Va. Code § 34-4.3 — Minimum account balance exempt from garnishment
Va. Code § 34-4.4 — Exemption of certain electronic benefit payments; account review
Va. Code § 34-3.1 — Property specified in 11 U.S.C. § 522(d) not exempt
Va. Code § 8.01-503 — Withholding of wages not required unless garnishment process served
Va. Code § 8.01-511 — Institution of garnishment proceedings; penalty
Va. Code § 8.01-512.2 — Fee for garnishee-employers
Va. Code § 8.01-512.3 (effective until July 1, 2027) — Form of garnishment summons
Va. Code § 8.01-512.4 — Notice of exemptions from garnishment and lien
Va. Code § 8.01-512.5 — Hearing on claim of exemption from garnishment
Va. Code § 8.01-513 — Service upon corporation, LLC, limited partnership, or financial institution
Va. Code § 8.01-514 — When garnishment summons returnable
Va. Code § 8.01-515 — How garnishee examined; determining exemption
Va. Code § 8.01-517 — Exemption of portion of wages; payment of excess into court
11 U.S.C. § 301 — Voluntary cases
11 U.S.C. § 362 — Automatic stay · official source
11 U.S.C. § 522 — Exemptions · official source
15 U.S.C. § 1672 — Definitions
15 U.S.C. § 1673 — Restriction on garnishment
15 U.S.C. § 1674 — Restriction on discharge from employment by reason of garnishment
15 U.S.C. § 1677 — Effect on State laws

By Antonio G. Jimenez, Esq. · Florida Bar No. 21022

Sources verified October 9, 2026 · How we verify

Every figure on this page is drawn from a primary legal source and checked against our canonical legal database before publication. Bankruptcy.law is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

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