How Bankruptcy Can Save Your Marriage

The Angry Spouse 

Maryland bankruptcy attorney who has been practicing for over 30 years we run across many situations that seem to repeat themselves on a regular basis. 

• The angry spouse who cannot understand why the mortgage, credit cards, car loans were not paid on time.
• The angry spouse who cannot understand why their partner has incredibly high credit card bills.
• The angry spouse who is shocked that they were not informed over the course of several months that the bills were becoming unmanageable.

A Story about My Fireman Friend

My favorite story is my friend the fireman. He lived in a nice home in a good neighborhood. If you look out front he had a camper, a Harley, and a four wheeler.  He prided himself on paying his bills on time, and on having excellent credit.

The farthest thing from his mind was the possibility that he might have to get help from a bankruptcy lawyer. As is often the case he felt filing bankruptcy is wrong.

My fireman friend was a hard worker, put in overtime and made great money. His spouse also worked and was responsible for the household expenses, kids’ activities and paying the bills.

When they came to see me they were several months behind on the mortgage, the credit cards were “maxed out” and husband was furious, making a scene about the state of the bills and the importance in his family of paying them on time. Filing bankruptcy resolved their financial difficulties and their conflicts.  

Bankruptcy as a Solution for Financial Problems and Personal Relationship Issues

This scene repeats itself almost on a weekly basis in our office. The meeting is often more of a marital counseling session to help people who are terribly overloaded with debt to realize that the solution of filing bankruptcy makes sense and will help rebuild the credit  as well as make the family better able to communicate about the  bills and finances.

The angry spouse in most on these cases is either involved with the household expenses and does not attend to all the things that need to be paid of the household. Or in some cases the household is managed with a relatively “separate” budget system when the spouse doing mostly the household chores and duties does not have enough funds to pay for all the things that need to be provided. 

Bring Your Angry Spouse to a Bankruptcy Lawyer

In many cases an experienced bankruptcy lawyer can help deal with the angry spouse by helping the parties communicate better, helping the spouse who gets blamed deal with their very upset partner. A quick glance at the statements will show the cards have been used to pay normal household expenses not things the family does not need. It is usually process of educating the angry spouse so they can accept some responsibility for the problem.

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