Filing Bankruptcy
After Filing Bankruptcy – Your Marriage and Financial Problems
Sometimes financial problems can lead to the decision to file bankruptcy. After filing bankruptcy, life goes on but a new strain has been added to the marriage. Bankruptcy relieves financial old financial pressures, but it is not a cure all for financial problems. After the bankruptcy has been filed, the marriage must absorb the consequences of the decision.
It may sound odd at first to say that bankruptcy can create new but different problems. This is true only if the financial lessons were absorbed through the process. Bankruptcy can be the end result of financial problems both of your own making and of unforeseen circumstances. These circumstances include hospital bills or unemployment. But many times bankruptcy is necessary because household finances were allowed to get out of control.
It can be miserable when your payments exceed your income. You face a constant barrage of collection calls and past due statements. Your car or house may be subject to repossession. Severe financial problems place a lot of stress on a family, and it’s an unrelenting stress. You worry all the time about what the mailbox holds or whether you are going to be able to make your house payment.
Moving On With Life After Filing Bankruptcy
Some couples go into a state of denial until it’s too late. They know there are financial problems, but they refuse to discuss them until bankruptcy is the only option. It could be beneficial to talk to a credit counselor before letting the state of your financial affairs get so dire. Unfortunately, many people wait too late or are too embarrassed to even consider the option. In other cases, bankruptcy is truly the only answer in order to get a real opportunity to start over again.
Filing bankruptcy is a big decision. It is something you will live with for 10 years. Yet it is also a chance to start over again financially. During a bankruptcy you may or may not lose your home or other assets. This means the family might have to move into a rental house or a married couple into a an apartment. If the car is taken during the bankruptcy, you will have to find a way to afford substitute transportation.
These are the kinds of details you will have to face after bankruptcy. The financial problems leading up to bankruptcy can place immense strain on a marriage leading to constant arguing and blame laying. But even after bankruptcy, the ability to recover financially and move on with living depends on attitude. Just because you have filed bankruptcy does not mean the problems have ended as just discussed. But what you have is a great opportunity to re-establish common financial goals and then move forward with an effective plan for recovery.
Marital Problems Over Financial Issues
The lessons of bankruptcy must be learned in order to prevent continued arguing and marital problems over money. In other words, if you continue to spend and manage money like you did before the bankruptcy, bankruptcy is just a temporary solution. You and your spouse will find yourselves facing financial problems once again in the near future. The exception to this statement is when the bankruptcy was due to those circumstances mentioned earlier that were out of your total control.
As a couple it is important to share full responsibility for household finances.
- Establish common goals
- Agree on spending habits
- Share major purchase decisions
- Develop a budget
- Review finances together at least once a month
- Establish discretionary spending funds
- Agree on how money will be maintained and accessed
A marital argument can start quickly when one spouse picks up the checkbook and finds a check has been written for a large amount without discussion.
In order to prevent a re-occurrence of the financial problems which occurred prior to the bankruptcy, you and your spouse should review how bad habits resulted in financial problems. Then you and your spouse can establish new rules that keep the household finances on course. Bankruptcy should be viewed as a new leaf on life.
If you don’t make sure you have established agreement on how to handle marital finances after filing bankruptcy, you are at risk of history repeating itself. As you adjust your lifestyle to fit your debt free life, the financial peace of mind you experience is rewarding in itself. As a couple, you have to create a workable spending and saving plan that works for each of you and not just one
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