How Does A Divorce Affect Your Credit?
March 4th, 2010 by AustinSometime in the first fifteen years after getting married for the first time, about 43% of those first marriages will end in the couple being divorced or separated. Divorce can often have a devastating emotional impact on the two partners. If children are involved, the emotional affects on them can have long lasting impact. In short, it’s usually traumatic for all involved. But, what is often overlooked in divorces is that, unless you’re wealthy, the financial affects on all parties involved can be just as life changing as the emotional affects.
During the last 50 years, the typical American family has increased its debt load substantially. Today, the majority of married couples really don’t have much in the way of assets. As a matter of fact, it’s not at all unusual for a divorced couple to have as much or more debt as they do assets. Separating the assets is usually straight forward. But how do you go about separating and disentangling the debts that have accumulated during the course of the marriage?
So exactly what debts are the both of you responsible for? Primarily, you are both accountable for all documents that you have signed together. Usually, this includes debts such as mortgages, joint credit cards, car loans, and so on. The biggest debts that you are both responsible for are the mortgages and the credit card.
Even before the divorce is filed for, one of the very first things that each partner should do is to get a current copy of his or her credit report. It’s important to realize that if your debts are not dissolved before the divorce is finalized, they can severely affect your ability to get credit once the divorce is complete.
Similarly, in the same way, it is in all likelihood a good idea that each partners get their own attorney as well. Each attorney will look out for the interests of the person he is representing giving enhancing the idea that an equitable agreement will be reached by all.
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