Should You File For Bankruptcy During Your Divorce?
Divorce often causes financial strain on both spouses, and because of this, many spouses turn to bankruptcy either during or after their divorce. If you feel that the divorce will leave you in a financial mess, you could consider using bankruptcy too. As you proceed with your divorce, here are several things to understand about divorce and bankruptcy.
The Financial Effects of Divorce
Getting divorced can affect your finances in many different ways, but the effects are generally negative. The first way this happens is by splitting one household into two. When this occurs, you each are now responsible for paying the bills for an entire household instead of sharing the duties for one household. This in itself can bring major financial woes to one or both of the spouses.
Secondly, when you get divorced, you may suddenly be responsible to pay for half the debt from the marriage. If you were only working part-time before, you may now have to find a couple of different jobs just to keep up with the debt.
Another financial effect is the cost of a divorce. A divorce is not a cheap event to go through, especially if you are going through a contested divorce. The legal fees alone can end up costing you a lot of money, and this can leave you in financial distress.
You Could File for Bankruptcy Now or Wait
To alleviate some of the financial stress you have, you could consider bankruptcy, and this is something you could file now or later. The benefit of filing now is that it would help both of you through this situation, and it would also get it over with faster. The downside of filing now is that you would have to include the income from you and your spouse. Doing so could disqualify you from using Chapter 7, which is the branch of bankruptcy that provides more relief in most cases. You may want to talk to your spouse about this as this would help you learn more about your options.
Other Ways to Stay on Top of Your Finances During Divorce
In addition to bankruptcy, you might be able to avoid major financial problems if you both agree to stop spending money and if you agree to an uncontested divorce. Staying in the same home for a little while can also help both spouses financially.
If you are ready to get divorced and need legal advice and help, you should contact a family attorney in your area.