Grosse Pointe Park, MI Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

This depends on what kind of a contract it is, what the documents stated, whether oral cancellation is even permitted for the type of contract, and other matters. Consult a consumer attorney.

The bankruptcy should stop the wage garnishment. The way it works is that after the bankruptcy case is filed, notice goes out to the creditors that you list in the petition. The attorney for the creditor after receiving the bankruptcy notice will send request to the sheriff to stop the garnishment. Then the sheriff processes the requests by notifying the employer. If when this happens there is money held by the sheriff they typically issue a check to the employer and the employer will either give you the sum in a separate check or include it in the next payroll check. If there is money held at the creditor's they will typically send the check directly to you or to your attorney. Typically this takes about a week or two, you can expedite by faxing the bankruptcy notice to the attorney for the creditor rather than waiting for snail mail notice to reach them. As far as refund, I assume you are talking about a tax refund. Whether you get to keep it all or some, will depend on if the amount of refund can fit inside an exemption and be exempted from the creditors reach. To know this I would need to understand the amount of the refund and also the types and values of your other assets. Assets is basically anything of value, including potential lawsuits/claims against another (for example: personal injury, workmen's comp) and debt owed to you as well as other things like cars, boats, household goods, timeshares, etc. Hopefully the refund would fit under the California wildcard exemption, assuming you are entitled to use California exemptions and the specific type known as the 703s. In California we have two sets of exemptions. If the tax refund fits into an exemption, you list it on your schedule B as an asset and then exempt it on Schedule C. If you hire an attorney to handle your case you will want to disclose to them your assets, including the tax refund amount. They will do the exemption analysis and let you know if filing right now makes sense or if it's better to wait.

Yep. Bankruptcy is not going to get you free products or services. You must pay your rent or you will be evicted, whether or not you file for bankruptcy.