Labor market weakness, inflation and growing debt challenges are taking their toll on consumers’ financial health and pushing them to seek legal advice at near-historic rates, according to a new report from legal service provider LegalShield.

The report says that bankruptcy inquiries surged 17 percent in the third quarter of the year, continuing an upward trend that began in late 2021. This helped to push the Consumer Stress Legal Index up 4.4 percent between June and September, capping off seven consecutive months of increases and reaching its highest level since March 2020.

To compile its figures, LegalShield tracks roughly 150,000 monthly calls to lawyers, with levels of demand for various legal services used to create its index of consumer stress.

“We’re seeing families hit crisis

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