Getting a divorce in New York can wreak havoc on a person’s credit score, but there are ways to prevent this from happening.

Filing for divorce and undergoing the divorce process can have an effect on everything from a person’s home and family to his or her personal finances. One important impact to understand is what divorce can do to a person’s credit score. A March 2015 press release published by Edmunds.com referenced a study of 526 divorced adults, and it concluded “31 percent suffered a credit score drop following the break-up of their marriage.”

This study’s sobering results were an example of how unwittingly unprepared couples can be when they start to go through the divorce process. So we decided to take a look at ways people can protect and raise their credit scores after a divorce through smart financial decisions.