According to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, bankruptcy filings for the second quarter of the fiscal year-the three-month period ending March 31, 1995-are up 5 percent from the previous quarter, the first time quarterly filings have increased since June 30, 1994. Filings in the second quarter totaled 212,626. The increase is spread across all chapters of bankruptcy filings, except for nonbusiness chapter 11.
The upturn of bankruptcy filings with the second quarter has notably slowed the rate of decline in filings for the twelve-month period ended March 31, 1995. Filings were down by only 2.3 percent when compared to the same period in 1994. The annual percentage decrease in filings had been declining steadily. When computed for twelve-month periods in 1994, filings decreased 9 percent in March, 8 percent in June, 7 percent in September, and 5 percent in December. Despite the slide, bankruptcy filings in federal courts have remained above the 800,000 mark since 1991. March 1995's figures stand at 838,959.
Of the total number of bankruptcy cases filed in the twelve-month period ending March 31,1995, there were 568,565 chapter 7 cases, or straight liquidations, down slightly from the 590,191 chapter 7 cases filed in the same period in 1994. The next largest group of bankruptcy filings were under chapter 13, totaling 255,382 -up slightly from the 249,087 chapter 13 cases in the twelve-month period ending March 31, 1994. There were also 14,055 chapter 11 and 916 chapter 12 bankruptcies filed in the year ending March 31, 1995.
Chapter 7 is designed for individuals or businesses who wish to start over but cannot pay their debts from their incomes. Under this chapter, the individual debtor is permitted to keep certain exempt property, and the remaining property is sold to repay creditors. Under chapter 13, creditors may be repaid, in full or in part, in installments, over a three- to five-year period. Chapter 11 allows a business to continue to operate while devising a plan to repay creditors, and chapter 12 is designed to meet the needs of financially distressed family farmers.
A breakdown of the latest data on bankruptcy filings per district follows.
Chap.7 Chap.11 Chap.12 Chap.13
212,626 143,309 3,290 252 65,762
Total Chap. 7 Chap. 11 Chap. 12 Chap 13
13,123 7,314 2,913 252 2,631
Total Chap. 7 Chap.11 Chap.13
199,503 135,995 377 63,131
Quarterly Bankruptcy Filings
3 MONTH TOTAL PERIOD ENDING FILINGS*
MAR. 31, 1995 212,626
DEC. 31, 1994 201,618
SEPT. 30, 1994 208,187
JUN. 30, 1994 216,213
MAR. 31, 1994 206,565
DEC. 31, 1993 206,570
SEPT. 30, 1993 215,498
JUN. 30, 1993 229,406
MAR. 31, 1993 222,694
DEC. 31, 1992 228,562
SEPT. 30, 1992 236,810
JUN. 30, 1992 250,622
MAR. 31, 1992 252, 733
DEC. 31, 1991 234,383
SEPT. 30, 1991 231,743
JUN. 30, 1991 246,430
MAR. 31, 1991 231,017
DEC. 31., 1990 209,798
SEPT. 30, 1990 192,555
JUN. 30, 1990 196,677