Indianapolis Bankruptcy Attorney Answers Reader Question: How Are Children Affected By Bankruptcy?

After almost twenty-five years as a debt consolidation lawyer offering bankruptcy services in Indiana, I can usually answer just about any question readers and clients might ask about bankruptcy in Indiana. Today's reader question is another story, because nobody really knows the answers.

The question is about how children are affected by bankruptcy. As much as I know about bankruptcy law in Indiana, that still doesn't provide an answer to this one, because each child, each parent, and each situation is different.

There is information available about children living in poverty. According to the Foundation for Child Development, the rate of children living in poverty this year is 22%, the highest rate in two decades. I've written before about the 2003 book The Two-Income Trap, which predicted that one of every six single moms would go bankrupt by the end of the decade. As the Indianapolis bankruptcy lawyers who work in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices can confirm, of the tens of thousands of clients we've helped file bankruptcy in Indiana over the past twenty-plus years, many have in fact been single mothers of young children.

There's no doubt children are affected by the financial circumstances of their parents. As a Columbus bankruptcy lawyer, for example, I've seen children who are not getting the medical care they need because their parents lack medical insurance. All the attorneys who work in the four Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices have stories to tell about children forced to change school districts because of foreclosure or eviction.

One of the things I tell people who are facing insurmountable financial difficulties - job loss, gigantic medical bills, or divorce (usually a combination of these) and who come to me for Indiana bankruptcy help is: "Your children should always come first. Getting you out of debt is the very reason we have the new bankruptcy laws in Indiana to help." Through bankruptcy in Indiana, you can have a chance for a fresh financial start and get back to putting those children first!