"Bankruptcy and Tragedies"

My husband decided to file bankruptcy shortly after we got married.

He had just gotten out of a very abusive marriage and we were trying to move on when we were hit with a series of tragedies including a child passing away, a house fire, and a medical diagnoses that led to my husband being discharged from the military.

At the time he filed, we were able to keep things seperate since we were only married a few months. But the timing was imminent because we were expecting a child and I could not work due to complications.

So after a series of bad circumstances in a very short amount of time, we saw my husband's family lawyer who specializes in financial matters. He suggested we let our debts go while we were young enough to fix it. We surrendered our vehicle, sold our house for no profit after it was repaired from the fire and proceeded with chapter 13 bankruptcy in South Carolina.

It helped so much. The proceedings were very simple and our lawyer took care of everything.

My husband steadily rebuilt his credit. After only one year, he was able to open a credit card with a decent rate, and after two years, we were able to refinance our new home with no problems whatsoever.

Although we felt guilty about not paying what was mostly credit card companies, there simply was no other option at the time. We were literally homeless and both of us on bed rest and unable to work for medical reasons with no chance for disability at the time.

Filing bankruptcy changed our lives and allowed us to move forward knowing that we were able to clean up and move on.

Contributed by Sandra from South Carolina