It's been a tough couple of months for the economy, and many people are out of work. It's hard to find new jobs or bring home any sort of income at all. That may mean that a lot of bankruptcy filings are on the way if the economy does not recover quickly.

You can track the risk in a lot of different ways, but let's just look at job postings. On ZipRecruiter, a popular job posting site, the total number of listings has plummeted by a staggering 48% since January. There are few more clear indicators that the job market just isn't there.

When asked about it by Fortune magazine, many legal professionals said that they definitely thought a wave of filings was in the works. They were preparing by hiring more staff, though they admitted that they did not know how soon it would begin happening or exactly how many new cases they would see.

At this time a few months ago, you were very happy with your finances. You were carrying a few thousand dollars in debt, but you had also gotten a wonderful job that made making payments (and payments of more than you owed) possible.

Then, you went to work one day and saw a notice on the door. Your employer went out of business, and you were all fired. There was no warning.

You had a month of savings, but you weren't able to find a new job that quickly. Even when you did, it didn't pay what your old job did. Now what do you do? You're swimming in debt, and you're missing payments.

One of the most common things that people say, when asked when they are going to do their estate planning, is that they're just going to wait until they're older. They feel like the time isn't right.

This can happen to all age groups. Maybe it's a newly married couple that wants to wait until they have children. Maybe it's middle-aged parents who decide to wait until after the kids are out of the house. Maybe it's a couple who is nearing retirement age and decides that, after they retire, they'll take stock of what they own and put together an estate plan.

No matter what the specifics look like, the truth is that you should not wait. Some have gone so far as to call it estate planning's number one rule. A lot of people procrastinate and it is perhaps the biggest mistake made when it comes to end-of-life planning.

Oh, the shame. Imagine what people will say when they find out you are bankrupt. There is a stigma attached to bankruptcy, but there shouldn't be. Read the news, millions of people like you are losing their jobs, all across the world. Big-name companies are on their knees.

The difference between you and the big companies is that the government always seems willing to bail them out, using the taxes you and everyone else pay. Remember how the government bailed the banks out in the last recession? Did you see them doing that for people like you?

The world is not going to work if everyone files for bankruptcy continually, but you deserve a chance to start with a clean slate. Filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy may be the answer.

You start getting foreclosure notices in the mail. It's no surprise. You lost your job and have not been able to make your mortgage payments.

When you tell one of your friends that you are worried you're going to lose your home, they tell you to file for bankruptcy. They claim that doing so will stop the foreclosure. Is this true?

It's not entirely true, but there is some truth within your friend's claims. A bankruptcy filing puts an automatic stay on all other financial legal actions pending against you, such as a foreclosure. This delays the case. It cannot move forward until you get through your bankruptcy case.