Divorce and Bankruptcies: A Delicate Balance

Divorces are based around the division of assets and liabilities between two married people. It can be expensive and result in bankruptcy for participating parties, which makes things more complicated.

Filing for bankruptcy before or after your divorce can simplify the process. If you do it before, you can save a lot on court fees if you do a joint application. Plus, since you’re both bankrupt, you’ll have less assets and liabilities to apportion during the divorce. Filing for bankruptcy can also protect some of your property from being sold off for debt payments, though you may need to talk about how that property will be affected by the divorce.

Your First Meeting With a Bankruptcy Attorney

Filing for bankruptcy could be very complicated for someone who is not familiar with bankruptcy law. You might have decided to hire a bankruptcy attorney for this reason. While these attorneys are well versed in everything that has to do with bankruptcy, they can only do so much if their client does not provide them with all of documents they will need on their first meeting. Here’s a list of the essential paperwork you need to bring.    

        1 .       Originals and copies of financing documents. These documents should already be stowed away safely in a secure spot in your home. You need your loan agreement, insurance policies, title policies, deeds of trust, mortgages, security agreement and other like documents.

       2.       Names and contact information of guarantors, creditors and representatives of financial information. Your lawyer might need to talk to them as well so be sure to compile a list of these people beforehand and bring it to your meeting.