Bankruptcy filings in the federal courts rose 31 percent in calendar year 2008, according to data released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The number of bankruptcies filed in the twelve-month period ending December 31, 2008, totaled 1,117,771, up from 850,912 bankruptcies filed in CY 2007. Filings have grown since CY 2006 when bankruptcy filings totaled 617,660, in the first full 12-month period after the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) took effect. An historic high in the number of bankruptcy filings was seen in calendar year 2005, when over 2 million bankruptcies were filed.

Business and Non-Business Filings

The majority of bankruptcy filings involve non-business debts. In CY 2008, they totaled 1,074,225, up 31 percent from the 822,590 non-business bankruptcy filings in CY 2007. Non-business filings totaled 597,965 in CY 2006.

Filings involving business debts, totaled 43,546 in CY 2008, up 54 percent from to 28,322 in CY 2007. Business bankruptcy filings totaled 19,695 in CY 2006.

First Quarter of FY 2008

The last three months of CY 2008 were the first quarter of the Judiciary’s 2009 fiscal year. The number of bankruptcies filed during the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 (October 1-December 31, 2008) was 301,317, up 33 percent from the 226,413 filings in the first quarter of fiscal year 2008.

Filings by Chapter

In CY 2008, filings rose under Chapters 7, 11, and 13 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.

• Chapter 7 filings totaled 744,424, up 43 percent from the 519,364 Chapter 7 filings reported in CY 2007.
• Chapter 11 filings rose 60 percent to 10,160, up from the 6,353 filings in CY 2007.
• Chapter 13 filings were 362,762, up 12 percent from the 324,771 filings in CY 2007.
• Chapter 12 filings were down 8 percent in CY 2008, totaling 345. Chapter 12 bankruptcy filings in CY 2007 totaled 376.