During a process of divorce, there are important measures that should be taken in order to have your financial independence, and protect your credit. It is important to hire professional help.

Divorce and credit: It is difficult to maintain good communication when you are getting divorced, but it is vital that both parts get into an agreement to separate their financial lives. 

Part of the divorce process is to define how marital debt will be administrated.

Joint credit
When spouses appear as co-debtors in a loan, or one debtor and the other co-signer, both spouses have an obligation to the debt, even after the divorce.
During a divorce, there are 4 steps to be followed:

Step 1: Make a list of credit card accounts 
It is important you list all loans and credit card accounts; make sure you know all outstanding balances, and which accounts were individual and which were joint.

Step 2: Make the required payments 
It doesn’t matter who was responsible to make required payments; they need to be current so your credit is not hurt by late payments. 

Step 3: Communicate with your creditors 
Advise your creditors of your new marital status. A creditor cannot close or cancel an account because of the divorce, but you can request: closure of a joint account, change to an individual account, or removal of a user. They can help you organize and separate your debt from your spouse’s. 
Step 4: Establish independent credit 
You will need to start an individual credit, your creditor will be based on individual assets, credit history and earnings to open a personal account. At first, it will be complicated to obtain credit, but it is important that you start the path to an independent and dependable credit history.

Living with disability
Disabilities may be permanent, or may incapacitate you from your normal activities for a period of time. If you are facing a situation like that, we recommend you prepare a budget to make the best of your finances, so you can reduce expenses until your finances improve. Likewise, make sure you and your employer are current with your employer/employee obligations before Social Security (CCSS) and Workers Compensation, so you can use the benefits they offer.