Bankruptcy Petitions Filed and Pending, by Type and Chapter statistics

[For years ending June 30. Covers only bankruptcy cases filed under the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978. Bankruptcy: legal recognition that a company or individual is insolvent and must restructure or liquidate. Petitions "filed" means the commencement of a proceeding through the presentation of a petition to the clerk of the court; "pending" is a proceeding in which the administration has not been completed]



Item	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996


Total, filed	360,329	367,866	374,734	344,275	364,536	477,856	561,278	594,567	642,993	725,484	880,399	972,490	918,734	845,257	858,104	1,042,110

Business ¹	47,415	56,423	69,818	62,170	66,651	76,281	88,278	68,501	62,534	64,688	67,714	72,650	66,428	56,748	51,288	52,938
Nonbusiness ²	312,914	311,443	304,916	282,105	297,885	401,575	473,000	526,066	580,459	660,796	812,685	899,840	852,306	788,509	806,816	989,172

Voluntary	358,997	366,331	373,064	342,828	362,939	476,214	559,658	593,158	641,528	723,886	878,626	971,047	917,350	844,087	856,991	1,040,915
Involuntary	1,332	1,535	1,670	1,447	1,597	1,642	1,620	1,409	1,465	1,598	1,773	1,443	1,384	1,170	1,113	1,195

Chapter 7 ³	265,721	255,098	251,322	232,994	244,650	332,679	397,551	423,796	457,240	505,337	612,330	679,662	638,916	578,903	581,390	712,129
Chapter 9 ⁴	1	4	3	4	3	7	10	3	7	7	20	15	9	17	12	10
Chapter 11 ⁵	7,828	14,059	21,207	19,913	21,425	24,443	22,566	18,891	17,465	19,591	22,495	24,029	20,579	17,098	13,221	12,859
Chapter 12 ⁶	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	4,824	3,099	1,717	1,351	1,358	1,634	1,434	976	904	1,063
Chapter 13 ⁷	86,778	98,705	102,201	91,358	98,452	120,726	136,300	148,771	166,539	199,186	244,192	267,121	257,777	248,246	262,551	316,024
Section 304 ⁸	1	0	1	6	6	1	27	7	25	12	4	29	19	17	26	24

Total, pending	361,664	461,287	537,306	577,567	608,945	728,577	808,504	814,195	869,340	961,919	1,123,433	1,237,357	1,183,009	1,134,036	1,090,446	1,169,112

X Not applicable.
1 Business bankruptcies include those filed under chapters 7, 9, 11, or 12.
2 Bankruptcies include those filed under chapters 7, 11, or 13.
3 Chapter 7, liquidation of non-exempt assets of businesses or individuals.
4 Chapter 9, adjustment of debts of a municipality.
5 Chapter 11, individual or business reorganization.
6 Chapter 12, adjustment of debts of a family farmer with regular income, effective November 26, 1986.
7 Chapter 13, adjustment of debts of an individual with regular income.
8 Chapter 11 U.S.C., Section 304, cases ancillary to foreign proceedings.

Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Statistical Tables for the Federal Judiciary.

http://www.uscourts.gov/publications.html TERMS

BANKRUPTCY A legal procedure for dealing with debt problems of individuals and businesses; specifically, a case filed under one of the chapters of title 11 of the United States Code (the Bankruptcy Code).

BUSINESS BANKRUPTCY A bankruptcy case in which the debtor is a business or an individual involved in business and the debts are for business purposes.

CHAPTER 7 The chapter of the Bankruptcy Code providing for liquidation, i.e., the sale of a debtors nonexempt property and the distribution of the proceeds to creditors.

CHAPTER 11 A reorganization bankruptcy, usually involving a corporation or partnership. (A chapter 11 debtor usually proposes a plan of reorganization to keep its business alive and pay creditors over time. People in business or individuals can also seek relief in chapter 11.)

CHAPTER 12 The chapter of the Bankruptcy Code providing for adjustment of debts of a family farmer, as that term is defined in the Bankruptcy Code.

CHAPTER 13 The chapter of the Bankruptcy Code providing for adjustment of debts of an individual with regular income. (Chapter 13 allows a debtor to keep property and pay debts over time, usually three to five years.)

LIQUIDATION A sale of a debtors property with the proceeds to be used for the benefit of creditors.

*

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/879_bankruptcy_petitions_filed_and_pending_by.html

These tables are based on figures supplied by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce and are subject to revision by the Census Bureau.

Copyright © 2006 Photius Coutsoukis and Information Technology Associates, all rights reserved.