I have a bachelors in business finance and I will complete my MBA next month. I was laid off about 20 months ago. The same week I was laid off I found out my wife was pregnant. We now have 3 children. I was eligible for unemployment and it did not last for very long. I then picked employment where I made 60% less than I was previously making to make ends meet. I now have gainful employment and I am making about 15% less than 20 months ago.

My wife and I will have student loans coming due in about 6 months and I am considering using my credit cards to payoff auto loans and other secured debts that are in both our names. When the student loans come due we will not be able to pay all of what is due every month with no end in sight. After being unemployed, we did very well keeping our heads above water however we are now feeling the pinch of our delayed situation. We feel if bankruptcy is our only solution we should use our credit cards to pay off everything.

We are considering filing bankruptcy under one of our names and NOT a joint bankruptcy so as to avoid having to forfeit any assets like the autos, etc. If we do this we should be able to retain all assets because it is not a joint filing. All of the credit cards we would use would be in wife’s name. Are there any issues with this?

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