Don't let divorce mess up your credit

Divorce screws up a lot of people's credit and to be honest sometimes the husband and wife just can not see eye to eye on anything and will just about anything to make the others life as hard as possible. Sometimes though when a couple can work things out together they can make each others new lives as easy as possible. We all know life sucks with bad credit!

Divorce can be one of the hardest things you can go through but when finances and credit card debt are brought into the mix it can make it even ten times harder. Instead of thinking for one household, you have to plan for two. Of course if two spouses can work through this transition together it can be much easier than two spouses who are just fighting for every penny that they can get from the other.

Going through a divorce can be an emotionally traumatic time. Creating a plan to split assets and credit card debt will help tremendously to ease that trauma. Financial companies will consider that any debts that one person in a marriage incurs belongs to both. It will take time to notify everyone about the changes that will occur.

The plan that is put in place to handle credit card debt must allow for an equitable division of those debts. If a couple lets the courts make a decision on what belongs to who usually both parties will not be happy with the decisions that are made, if child support is also an issue it will make the courts decisions even worse. So, it is best to have a plan in place before divorce proceedings begin. It is not necessarily best to have a 50-50 split. A lot will depend upon the income of each party and how much of the debt was incurred by each. If there is only one breadwinner in the family, it will be more difficult to split the debt fairly. Usually the worker will feel that he deserves more since he/she was the one actually going out and making the money but that is why spouses need to compromise.

In cases where there is massive debt, there are even more problems. Debt such as this will probably necessitate the sale of the family home. The proceeds from the sale would go to pay off all debt. Any remaining funds is usually divided between the couple. If there is no family home that can be sold, a plan will need to be put into place for either a loan or a bankruptcy action. There may also be retirement accounts that can be liquidated and other household furnishings that can be sold to reduce the debt.

Sometimes it might be a good idea to contact the credit card companies and let them know about the divorce. They are only interested on how you plan to pay them back and may even be willing to split the debt 50/50 by creating a new account for one of the parties. It is best to negotiate with the credit card company before divorce proceedings have been started.

Another option may be for both people to open brand-new credit card accounts and pay their fair share to the original balance. This is usually done as a balance transfer, however, usually a credit company will provide checks so that you can write one to the original company.

If there is more than one credit card to be dealt with, each spouse could take on the ones that would add up to their agreed-upon balance.

When both people in the marriage have a plan in place before the dissolution of that marriage, a lot of the problems that come from it can be reduced. Even though there can be a lot of recriminations and arguing between the couple, a solution can usually be worked out. Some sort of plan can be helpful even if you can't come up with the total solution. Attorney fees can be cut drastically when a plan to set up beforehand.