Are you planning to start a family? While this is an exciting time, it also is a time of planning and preparation. Should one of these planning tasks be to declare bankruptcy? If you have crushing debt issues or you're harassed by creditors, the answer may be 'yes'.  1. You Can Start Over Starting a family is a new chapter in your life. But if you have debts hanging over you from prior chapters, you can't get that completely fresh start.