Bankruptcy Indiana

Since a good part of my work as an Indiana bankruptcy lattorney involves helping couples through the bankruptcy process, when I came across the article “The State of Hoosier Unions: A Demographic View of Marriage”, I was intrigued.

“Marriage is an important social milestone in many people’s lives and also affects the economy in a variety of ways”, the piece begins, offering the following set of 2008 Hoosier marriage statistics: 

• 52% (or 2.6 million) of Indiana’s population age 15 or older is currently married.
• 72% of 15-and-older Hoosiers have been married at one time or another. 
• People in Indiana are more likely to marry than the average American.
• A larger percentage of Indiana households consist of cohabitating unmarried partners, as compared with other states.
• Hoosiers have higher rates of remarriage than the national average. 
   

Now, I've been offering Indiana bankruptcy informatioin for more than twenty years, and I can’t tell you how often I’m asked my opinion on whether bankruptcy causes divorce. It doesn't matter whether you're asking about the years before the new bankruptcy law or the years since the big changes happened  in 2005.  

There’s just no question that anxiety and stress over financial problems cause strain in any marriage. However, my years of experience giving couples debt consolidation help or even payday loan debt help have shown me a different aspect of the relationship between divorce and bankruptcy. 

Over the years, I’ve discovered a very fascinating and very heartening thing.  I’ve found that even though many couples find being in debt embarrassing and even humiliating, what makes the difference is if he and she stop passing blame to each other and take action together. 

That action might be some combinatioin of filing bankruptcy. negotiating with their mortgage lender to help stop foreclosure, or discussing student loan debt help.  The very process of facing their problems helps heal the relationship. They’re doing something about their situation – and they’re doing it together!

Maybe we Hoosiers have discovered an important secret about staying strong by sticking it out. Or maybe, as Divorce Magazine points out, during an economic recession, many couples stay together for financial reasons – they can’t afford to divorce! 

In many ways, it's especially satisfying - and especially challenging - for me as a bankruptcy lawyer to work with couples, because, while divorce and bankruptcy are two totally separate legal proceedings, the outcome of each can have a tremendous impact on the outcome of the other!