Splitting from your spouse can be an expensive, credit-crushing process. Your ex may have harmed your credit with certain unlawful actions, or you may be legitimately responsible for bills you didn’t rack up.

The divorce process can be wildly expensive, too. According to the latest Nolo Press survey, the national average cost for an uncontested divorce that includes an attorney is $4,100 — and if it goes to trial, $10,600. Without cash on hand, you may have borrowed the money, resulting in high debt.

“Divorce does not have a direct impact on your credit, meaning your marital status will not change your credit rating,” says Dasha Kennedy, financial activist and creator of The Broke Black Girl, located in St. Louis, Mo. “However, it’s common for people to have credit problems after a divorce because your household income, bill paying and debt management practices will be affected, and that does directly impact your credit score.”

If you leave the marriage with a bruised credit report and sagging credit scores, take heart. You can rebuild your credit after a divorce and emerge stronger than ever before.

Pull your credit reports

First, know what is being listed on your consumer credit reports because all that data affects your credit scores. Order copies of your TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian reports for free from AnnualCreditReport.com, then read them carefully. Everything should be accurate, but it is possible that your ex left you with some damage to clean up.

Look for the following:

  • Unusually high credit card balances. Check that all credit card balances are correct. If they’re too high, your ex may have been charging on your accounts without your permission. You’ll find detailed evidence of this on your credit card statements, so cross-reference the numbers.
  • Accounts you didn’t open. Look for active credit cards and loans that are in your name but that you didn’t take out and never used. No one, including married partners, has the right to apply for accounts or borrow money using your personal information.
  • Joint debt. If you purchased a car or home with your partner, the loan is in both of your names. You will be connected to those co-owned accounts until the balance is at zero.
  • Authorized user. If you are an authorized user on your ex’s credit card, you will see that account on your credit report. It’s not your responsibility to pay, but if the accounts go delinquent or the balance is too high, it will hurt your credit.

If you spot anything on your credit report that should not be appearing, file a dispute with the credit bureau. The bureau has 30 days to conduct an investigation. When the information is removed, it no longer is calculated into your credit scores so you should see an improvement in your scores.

If you suspect impending fraud, Kennedy recommends you freeze your credit reports to prevent your ex from opening any new accounts. You’ll be able to lift the credit freeze when you want to apply for credit on your own.

For joint debt, make sure the payments are paid by the due date. A divorce decree may state that your former spouse is supposed to handle certain accounts, but that’s only for organizational purposes. Late and unpaid accounts that are co-owned will hurt your credit, so either resolve the problem by communicating with your ex or pay the bill yourself.

If you are an authorized user and the account is helping your scores by adding positive information to your credit report when you don’t have a personal account, you may want to leave it in place until you open your own credit card. Be sure to check that your ex is not on any credit card that is in your name as an authorized user.

That information won’t be on your credit report, but you can find out by contacting your credit card issuer. Unless you have a good reason to keep your ex on, have them removed. Otherwise they can still use the card to make charges and rack up debt.

Deal with community debt

After the divorce, you may find you really are on the hook for debt incurred by your ex. Most states have common law property rules on the books. That means you will only be liable for debts you borrowed or took out jointly, unless the money was used for family necessities. That may include credit card charges you made at the grocery store, or loans your then-spouse took out to cover the rent or for your children’s school tuition.

Other states, though, follow community property rules. These are Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. If you live in one of them, assets as well as liabilities are split evenly after divorce. Therefore, if your ex racked up credit card debt while you were still married, odds are you will be responsible for half of it, even if you never knew about the charges or the card was only in your ex’s name.

“Creditors and lenders do not use the terms of your decree to determine who is now responsible for the bills. They simply expect them to be paid,” says Kennedy. “If your decree states your ex-spouse is responsible for certain bills, especially the bills that report to your credit and your ex-spouse doesn’t pay, your credit will still be affected by that regardless of what your decree says.”

It can be financially (and emotionally) tough to pay for your ex’s obligations, but resist the urge to ignore them. Joint accounts will be on your credit report, and if they aren’t paid on time, late payments will be noted and your credit score will be negatively impacted.

The situation will worsen if the account goes into collections or you get sued for the unpaid balance. If a debt has been assigned to you but your name was on the original application, it won’t show up on your credit report — but your spouse may be able to sue you for damage if you disregard the court order.

Feed your credit report excellent information

In addition to handling any joint or community debt responsibly, you will want to add new information to your credit report. After all, your credit scores are entirely dependent on the data that appears on your file. Therefore, take steps to feed your report with the type of information that benefits your credit scores.

“The most important thing to do to repair your damaged credit after a divorce is to readjust your bills to fit within your new current income, not the old one, so that you can immediately start rebuilding positive credit reporting,” says Kennedy. “You will need a clear understanding of what your expenses and income is now so that you can plan and communicate accordingly.”

Send all payments on time

The most commonly used credit score is the FICO Score, which ranges from 300 to 850. It ranks payment history (at 35 percent) as the most important factor. Although you can’t remove derogatory information that is accurate before it naturally ages is off, you can change the future.

For every loan or credit account that is in your name or that is jointly held, make sure the payments are in by or before the due date. Late payments will stay on your credit report for a total of seven years, but recent activity carries more weight. So now is the time to overshadow those delinquencies with perfectly paid accounts.

Reduce revolving balances

The second most important FICO scoring factor (at 30 percent) is credit utilization. This compares the amount you owe on credit cards to the amount you can charge. The more available credit you have, both per card and in aggregate, the better for your scores.

Take stock of all the credit cards you may have now. If the balances are high compared to the credit limit, you have a few options:

  • Pay down debt. If you can drive the balance to well below the credit limit, you will open your credit utilization ratio. To do so, rearrange your budget or increase your income so you have more money left for your debt. Or sell unnecessary items and use the proceeds to decrease your balances.
  • Transfer the debt to a new credit card. There are plenty of 0 percent APR balance transfer credit cards on the market. With one you can shift old debt to the new card, and have a fixed number of months to repay without any interest being added to the balance. Since the old card will be paid off, your credit utilization ratio will expand.
  • Get a debt consolidation loan. As with a balance transfer credit card, you would move your credit card debt to an installment loan. A debt consolidation loan would enable you to repay your credit card debt with fixed monthly payments, and potentially with a lower interest rate. Because your credit cards will be down to a zero balance, your credit utilization ratio will be opened up.

Open a new credit card

No credit cards in your name? This is the time to pursue accounts that make sense for you and your new lifestyle. Credit history is the third weightiest FICO Scoring factor (at 15 percent), so you will want to establish a long relationship with credit products.

Maybe you want a travel card for upcoming trips to celebrate your freedom, or a cash back card so you can earn money as you invest in the new life you’re building. Whatever the case, just make sure you make your payments on time and pay the balance in full. By charging frequently and responsibly, you will prove to the world that you know how to manage credit.

If your credit is so damaged that you do not qualify for cards that require good to excellent credit scores (from 670 to 850) don’t worry. Credit cards for bad credit are available. Some are secured credit cards while others are unsecured, but start you off with a low credit limit.

You needn’t have a high income either, which can be a concern if you’re a single parent staying home to look after your child. Credit card issuers consider alimony and child support as income sources.

Consider a credit builder loan

In addition to credit cards, an installment loan can also help bring your credit scores up. Along with pursuit of new credit, types of credit in use ties for the last important credit scoring factor (at 10 percent each).

You’ll want to have a mix of loans with your credit cards. So if you don’t need a loan to purchase property, a credit builder loan may be just the ticket. With it, you would borrow money from a lender which sets the funds aside in a special savings account. You would then make regular monthly payments which are recorded on your credit file.

Once the term is up, you not only get the money you borrowed, but your credit report shows you’ve made all your payments on time and have repaid the loan. All that information will be factored favorably into your credit scores.

Pursue credit carefully. An overabundance of hard inquiries in a short span of time can shave points from your scores, as will too many new credit card accounts. Once you start using the products effectively, however, you will recover from the point loss and will be on track to a higher score.

Add alternative data to your report

The credit bureau Experian has a free program called Boost. With it, you can add utility and cellphone bills to your Experian credit report. There is no borrowing involved, so no credit applications.

The payments you make to those accounts will be noted on your file and calculated into your credit scores. People with thin credit files (meaning you don’t have much on your credit report) and/or damaged credit find this program to be most effective for raising a credit score.

The bottom line

“Communicate with your lenders. Let them know what’s going on and discuss any hardship programs that may be available to help you get back on track,” says Kennedy. “Monitor your credit closely. You want to watch for any inaccurate debts that may negatively impact your credit or any changes you need to make.”

Clearly, there is much you can do to recover from marriage- and divorce-related credit damage. What you see on your credit report at this moment is a snapshot of the past. Now you have the power to create a beautiful new picture, filled with proof that you really are a great credit risk.