Chapter 7 Automatic Stay

When you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the court puts in place an “automatic stay.” The stay automatically stops most collection actions against you, which means your creditors must stop trying to collect money from you to pay the debt while the bankruptcy is ongoing. While the stay is in place, your creditors generally may not start or continue a lawsuit against you, garnish your wages, or even make telephone calls to you demanding payments. For certain types of debts (i.e. when you’ve previously filed for bankruptcy), the stay is only in place for a short period of time, and creditors can ask the court to lift or remove the stay and allow them to continue trying to collect on their debt.

Legal Editor: James Shenwick, February 2015 (updated December 2017)