The number of bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts fell 3.9 percent in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2005, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Bankruptcy cases totaled 1,590,975 for that period, compared to 1,654,847 bankruptcy filings in the 12-month period ending March 2004. Bankruptcy filings remain above the 1.5 million mark first broken in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2002.

      Non-business filings for March 2005, totaled 1,559,023, down 3.6 percent from the total non-business filings of 1,618,062 filings in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2004. Business filings in March 2005, totaled 31,952, down 13.1 percent from the 36,785 bankruptcy cases filed in the 12-month periods ending March 31, 2004. Here are the F-2 bankruptcy statistics tables for the 12-month and 3-month period ending March 31, 2005, and the F-2 Table comparing 2004 and 2005: Table F (12 Month Period) (pdf) and Table F-2 (3 Months Period) (pdf), and Table F-2 (12 Months Period) (pdf).

Filings by Quarter
     The number of bankruptcies filed during the second quarter of the Judiciary’s fiscal year 2005 (January 1, 2005-March 31, 2005) was 401,149, up 7.9 percent from the first quarter (October 1- December 31, 2004), during which filings totaled 371,668. The Judiciary’s fiscal year ends September 30. Statistics for previous quarters can be found on the Judiciary’s website at www.uscourts.gov/bnkrpctystats/statistics.htm#quarterly.

Filings by Chapter
     Filings fell under all bankruptcy chapters. Chapter 7 filings dropped 3.0 percent, from 1,176,654 in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2004, to 1,141,715 in 2005. Chapter 13 filings dropped 5.2 percent, from 465,878 in March 2004 to 441,838 in March 2005. Chapter 11 filings fell 38.9 percent, from 11,649 in 2004 to 7,115 in 2005. Chapter 12 filings dropped 67.0 percent from 573 in March 2004 to 189 in March 2005.

     Chapter 7 is designed to allow individuals to keep certain exempt property while the emaining property is sold to repay creditors. Under Chapter 13 bankruptcy, creditors may be repaid in installments, in full or in part, over a 3- to 5-year period. Chapter 11 provides for a business to continue operations while formulating a plan to repay its creditors. Chapter 12 is designed to meet the needs of financially distressed family farmers and now, with the enactment of bankruptcy reform legislation, includes family fishermen as a group entitled to relief under the chapter. Once the only temporary chapter in the Bankruptcy Code, Chapter 12 has become permanent. Chapter 9 provides protection for a financially distressed municipality from its creditors while it develops and negotiates a plan for adjusting its debt.

     For more on bankruptcy, go to the Judiciary’s website at www.uscourts.gov/library/bankbasic.pdf or to http://www.fjc.gov/federal/courts.nsf. Local bankruptcy court rules can be found at http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/bk-localrules.html. A breakdown of the latest data on bankruptcy filings follows and also is available on the Judiciary’s website under Bankruptcy Statistics at www.uscourts.gov/bnkrpctystats/bankruptcystats.htm.

Quarterly Filings*

     *Because of on-going corrections to the bankruptcy database, the quarterly data may not total to the most recent annual figures.

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