Bankruptcy Indiana

There are some contests you don’t want to win! On the often-debated question, Who Suffers More In The Recession, Women or Men?, at least the U.S. Census Bureau ruled “in favor of” females. Nearly forty million Americans are poor (an example would be a family of four earning less than $22,000 a year), and 56% of those poor are female.

In offering Indiana bankruptcy information in my blog earlier this week, I wrote about people who are in severe need of help, especially single-mother families.  Phyllis Caldwell, president of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation agrees that women are having a particularly hard time these days, explaining that nearly one third of families headed by single mothers lives in poverty.

There are four Mark Zuckerberg law offices apread around central Indiana, with one in Columbus. The other Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who work in that office agree.  They report seeing an increased number of single women in need of student loan debt help, with some needing payday loan debt help as well.

There's no doubt in my mind, as a debt consolidation lawyer who has worked with tens of thousands of Indiana clients, single mothers have an especially hard time managing debt.

I'm also a bankruptcy attorney in Anderson, Indiana. In the course of my work there, I often find myself fielding questions about how divorce and bankruptcy relate to each other. Does it make a difference which of those comes before the other? I'm asked.

While my first answer to questions of that nature is always “It depends!”, careful bankruptcy planning is always a good idea.  My work as a bankruptcy lawyer in Indianapolis puts me in contact with many divorce attorneys.  Generally speaking, property ownership and debt situations are much simpler to deal with after property has been divided in a divorce.

Since so many of my Indiana bankruptcy clients are women, I’m always reading professional journals and studies that have to do with women’s issues, so that I can offer the most up to date advice on debt management and bankruptcy matters.

The Single MOM Ministry (MOMM) found that single mothers have grave concerns about obtaining affordable, quality child care, cars, housing, and healthcare, and, according to the Foundation for Financial Literacy, women are far more likely to file bankruptcy than men.

Then, the other day, I came across quite a disturbing article in Reuters, having to do with workplace issues women face.  The Academy of Management Journal related the results of a study showing that employees who choose to attend company workshops on life/work balance are actually perceived as having a problem with life/work balance!  And, since more women tend to like to participate in workshops, their managers perceive them as needing assistance balancing the demands of work and home.

Returning to the question of whether it was men or women who suffered more in the recession, the Center for American Progress reports, “Some of the hardest hit groups are teenagers, minority, those without a college degree, and unmarried women – many of whom are mothers or caregivers.”

Women and bankruptcy – that combination represents a lot more than a statistic to me.  Women, despite the misperceptions, do a great job of balancing the demands of work and home; I consider it an important part of my Indiana bankruptcy law practice to help women bring their finances back into balance!