1. Almost all legal proceedings pertaining to divorce or parenting including actions to:
   • Set and collect current child support and alimony.
   • Establish paternity in a lawsuit.
   • Determine child custody and visitation.
   • Collect back child support and alimony from property that is not in the bankruptcy estate.
   • Suspend a parent’s driver’s license in order to force him to pay child support.
   • Modify child support and alimony.
   • Withhold income to collect child support.
   • Protect a spouse or child from domestic violence.
   • Seize tax refunds to pay back child support.
   • Report overdue child support to credit bureaus.
2. The automatic stay does not prevent withholding from a debtor’s income to repay a loan from most job-related pensions and individual retirement accounts.
3. The Internal Revenue Service can continue to do such things as issue a tax deficiency notice, demand a tax return, issue a tax assessment, demand payment of an assessment, and conduct a tax audit.
4. A landlord has the right to evict a tenant despite the automatic stay if:
   • The landlord obtained a judgment for possession of the rented property before the tenant filed for bankruptcy, or
   • The landlord is evicting the tenant for endangering the property, or
   • The landlord is evicting the tenant for illegally using controlled substances on the property.

• Call you.
• Write you letters.
• Garnish your wages.
• Empty your bank account.
• Take your car.
• Take your house.
• Cut off your utility service.
• Cut off your welfare benefits.

While not all collection actions are stopped by the automatic stay, the following are:

• Anyone trying to collect credit card debts.
• Anyone trying to collect medical debts.
• Anyone trying to collect attorney’s fees.
• Anyone trying to collect debts arising from a breach of contract.
• Anyone trying to collect legal judgments against you (other than for child support or alimony).
• Government entities trying to collect overpayments of public benefits such as Medicaid, SSI, or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families cannot reduce or stop your benefits.
• If you were convicted of a crime such as writing a bad check and were sentenced to do community service and pay a fine, you will still have to do the community service, but you will not have to pay the fine.
• The automatic stay stops the Internal Revenue Service from issuing a lien against you or trying to take your property or income.
• Foreclosures are automatically stayed unless you filed for bankruptcy within the previous two years and the bankruptcy court lifted the automatic stay  in the earlier case, thereby allowing the lender to proceed with the foreclosure.
• Utility companies (such as gas, heating oil, telephone, water, electricity) cannot cut off your utilities once the automatic stay is in effect.  However, they can stop your service twenty days after you file for bankruptcy if you do not provide them with a deposit to assure future payment.