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Bankruptcy filings totaled more than 1.2 million for the 12-month period ending March 31, an increase of 33.3% from the more than 901,000 filings during the previous 12 months, according to statistics recently released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
A significant decline in bankruptcy filings occurred in October 2006, when many of the provisions of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) took effect. Bankruptcy filings have risen steadily since then and the March 2009 total is the highest since BAPCA was implemented. The largest increase, 69.1%, occurred in Chapter 11 filings.
The majority of bankruptcy filings are those involving predominantly non-business debts. Non-business filings, also called personal or consumer filings, for the 12-month period totaled 1,153,412, up 32.4% from the 871,186 bankruptcies filed during the previous year, according to the report. Filings involving predominantly business debts also rose totaling 49,091, up 59.7% from the 30,741 business bankruptcies filed the year before.
For the 12-month period, filings rose for all bankruptcy chapters compared with the previous 12 months, according to the report. Chapter 7 filings rose 46.3% to 819,362, from 560,015; Chapter 13 filings rose 10.9% to 370,875, from 334,551; Chapter 11 filings rose 69.1% to 11,785, from 6,971; and Chapter 12 filings rose 7% to 367, from 343 filings.
