In the fall months, students across the country are embarking on a new year of education. For those who are concerned about their finances, now may also be a good time to educate yourself on personal financial management and the potential benefits of filing for bankruptcy. When you work to improve your financial literacy, you can make decisions that help you avoid or reduce excessive debts and plan for a more stable future. There are many useful resources available to you if you know where to look, and help is always available from an experienced bankruptcy attorney.

Understanding Bankruptcy and Personal Finance

For individuals and families facing high amounts of debt and struggling to keep up with payments, bankruptcy can be a good option to eliminate, reduce, or reorganize payment obligations. If your income is below a certain threshold according to the Means Test, you may be eligible for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. This form of bankruptcy liquidates your assets to reduce or discharge debts. Otherwise, you may pursue Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which allows you to reorganize debt payments to make them more manageable.

As your college student children begin another school year, the financial cost of their education may be at the front of your mind. U.S. News reports an average tuition cost of over $10,000 for in-state, public college students for the past year, with significantly higher costs for private colleges, and this does not even account for additional expenses like room and board. These high costs mean that many parents and students require financial aid, but if you have recently filed for bankruptcy, you may be concerned about your ability to qualify for aid that can make your children’s educational goals a reality.

Financial Aid Eligibility After Bankruptcy

Thankfully, there are still options available to you to fund your children’s education even if you have recently filed for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The United States Bankruptcy Code protects you from several forms of discriminatory treatment due to your bankruptcy, including the denial of most federal student loans and grants. This means you and your child can still apply for federal subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans, which do not take your credit history into consideration.

Divorce proceedings are typically complex regardless of you and your spouse’s relationship. Reviewing your marital assets, considering your role as a parent, and determining how much spousal support is necessary can force you to imagine the inevitable future ahead of you. For those who have fond memories of their marriage, this process can bring up feelings of nostalgia that make it difficult to move forward. For those who had a rocky relationship, especially those with domestic violence in their past, looking back on their marriage can bring the angst from this past trauma back to the surface.

Whether it was a one-time occurrence or pattern of abuse, domestic violence can greatly impact the results of your divorce proceedings. In the past, these actions of abuse typically affected parenting plans the most. Parents with a history of domestic violence may be required to have supervised visitation of their children if they received any rights to their children at all. This past month, the state of New York expanded the impact that domestic violence has on divorce proceedings by incorporating evidence of these actions into the asset division process.