Bankruptcy Filings May Hit 5 Year High in 2011

Bankruptcy filings in June declined for both individuals and businesses. Still, bankruptcies so far this year are 9 percent ahead of last year’s monthly average, according to data compiled from court records by Automated Access to Court Electronic Records.

If the pace continues for the next six months, 2010 will have the most bankruptcies since 2005 when Congress made bankruptcy less available for individuals.

Through June, there were about 795,000 bankruptcies of all types in the U.S. The 133,800 filings in June were the second fewest this year at a daily rate.

There were over 7,100 commercial filings in June, an 11 percent decline on a daily basis from the average in 2009. Chapter 11 filings were 7 percent fewer than the 2009 monthly average, according to the report from AACER, a service of Oklahoma City-based Jupiter ESources LLC.

Nevada, Georgia and Tennessee continue leading the nation in per capital bankruptcies. The states where filings are growing fastest are Hawaii, Utah and Montana.

Among individuals, 73 percent of June filings were in Chapter 7 where unsecured creditors seldom make a recovery. The other 27 percent were in Chapter 13 where the bankrupt individual must pay a portion of future income to creditors to qualify for discharging unsecured debt.

In 2009 there were 1.44 million bankruptcies. Last year’s amounted to a 32 percent increase from 2008.

Bankruptcy filings still trail the record 2.1 million in 2005, when 630,000 Americans sought protection from creditors in the two weeks before revisions to federal bankruptcy laws that October made it more difficult for individuals to erase debt.

If you are thinking about filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in Maryland, and are looking for advice from an experienced Maryland bankruptcy lawyer and attorney, please call us today. Call 1-800-NEW-START for a free consultation

David L. Ruben, Esquire

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