Before the next payday is the deadline that matters most. If your sister files before the employer sends the withheld wages to the creditor, bankruptcy can stop future garnishments fast. Waiting even one pay cycle can cost real money.

A bankruptcy filing triggers the automatic stay, which is a federal court order that stops most collection activity right away, including wage garnishment, lawsuits, bank levies, and collection calls. In Nashville, cases are filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

For wages already taken, timing matters. Money withheld before the filing is usually harder to recover. Sometimes a trustee can seek return of recent garnished wages, but people lose that chance all the time by filing late or assuming the stop is automatic without telling payroll.

Here is the practical breakdown:

• Chapter 7 can stop the garnishment quickly and wipe out many unsecured debts, like credit cards, medical bills, and old personal loans.
• Chapter 13 also stops garnishment, but it sets up a 3- to 5-year repayment plan. This is often the better fit if she is behind on rent, car payments, or wants to keep property that Chapter 7 might put at risk.

Tennessee-specific point: if she has lived in Tennessee long enough to use its exemptions, she generally uses Tennessee exemption law, not the federal bankruptcy exemptions. That matters for what property she can protect. Tennessee's wage-garnishment limits also matter outside bankruptcy: for many consumer debts, creditors usually cannot take more than 25% of disposable earnings or the amount over 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is less.

Bankruptcy will not solve every housing problem, though. If a Nashville landlord already has a judgment for possession, bankruptcy may not stop the eviction the way people expect. It is very good at stopping debt collection; it is less magical with lockout dates.