Record Breaking Bankruptcy Filings Reported in Calendar Year 2001

Total bankruptcies filed in calendar year 2001 broke all records, shooting up 19 percent to 1,492,129 in the 12-month period ending December 31, 2001. Filings in calendar year (CY) 2001 totaled 1,492,129, compared to filings totaling 1,253,444 in CY 2000. The jump was marked by substantial increases in both business and non-business filings, according to data released by the Administrative Office.

Over the last six years, bankruptcy filings in federal courts have fluctuated, but have never dropped below the million mark first broken in 1996.

The increase in filings during 2001 may be due to a number of reasons, among them a slowing economy and a bankruptcy bill pending in Congress that would impose stricter limits on consumer debt dischargeability. Consumers may have filed for bankruptcy in anticipation of the bill's passage.

Despite the 90.6 percent increase in bankruptcy filings since 1990, no new bankruptcy judgeships have been created since 1992. Bankruptcy reform bills passed by the House and Senate contain new judgeships and extend several temporary bankruptcy judgeships, but a final conferenced version of the two bills has not been passed by Congress.

In CY 2001, increases were seen in bankruptcies filed under all chapters with one exception. Chapter 7 filings were up 22.8 percent to 1,054,975; Chapter 13 filings were up 10.8 percent to 425,292; and Chapter 11 filings rose 15.6 percent to 11,424. Only Chapter 12 filings fell in 2001, going from 407 in 2000 to 383 in 2001.

For CY 2001 nonbusiness totaled 1,452,030, an increase of 19.2 percent over the 1,217,972 filings in CY 2000. Business filings totaled 40,099, up 13 percent from the 35,472 bankruptcy business cases filed in CY 2000. The last three months of 2001 were the first quarter of the Judiciary's fiscal year. The number of bankruptcies filed during the first quarter of the Judiciary's 2002 fiscal year (October 1-December 31, 2001) was up 17.7 percent to 364,921, from the 310,169 filings for the first fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2001 (October 1-December 31, 2000). The Judi-ciary's fiscal year begins October 1.

For more information on bankruptcy, go to the Judiciary's website at www.uscourts.gov/bankbasic.pdf Bankruptcy statistics are available at www.uscourts.gov under Newsroom.