Scottish couples’ relationships forced apart by debt

We know that finances can be a cause of significant friction amongst couples, and a recent article in the Scotsman newspaper highlights the plight of Scottish couples who are in financial debt.

ccountant and business adviser PKF claims that debt burdens are leading to an increasing number of broken relationships, contributing to divorce rates that have been on the up for the past four years. The warning comes after figures reveal that the number of Scots being sequestrated - the Scottish term for bankruptcy - continues to soar to new record levels.

Recent statistics from Edinburgh Gazette, the publication of insolvency, indicates that some 6,084 are now being made bankrupt per year.

Bryan Jackson, managing partner at PKF, says spiralling debt is placing unbearable pressure on couples’ relationships, forcing a split, and leading to separated partners facing the additional strain of financing the set-up of two new homes.

That - on top of the burden of reaching agreements on child maintenance and the division of the family home, investments, pensions and other assets, as well as the legal costs of divorce - can lead to even greater levels of debt.

Read the full article: Family relationships can be crippled by bad debt