Recently, the administrative office of the United States
courts has come out with two reports detailing recent bankruptcy filing
statistics. On October 22, 2013, the office released its official report to congress
regarding 2012 bankruptcy statistics. On October 24, 2013, the office released
some additional statistics for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013.
These figures show that approximately 1.1 million total bankruptcies were filed in FY 2013 nationwide (1,072,807 non-business bankruptcies and 34,892 business bankruptcies). This is down from 1.26 million total filings in FY 2012 and 1.47 million filings in FY 2011. In Massachusetts, the decline is even starker:
In FY 2013, 13,201 bankruptcy cases were filed in the District of Massachusetts, down almost 26% from 17,793 filings in FY 2012, down approximately 38% from 21,208 filings in 2011, and down approximately 44% from 23,619 filings in 2010.
During FY 2013, only 1,509 bankruptcy cases were filed in the four Western Massachusetts counties of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire.
Given the trend over a period of several years, how these figures should be interpreted is somewhat of a mystery. Could they indicate an improving economy, difficulties obtaining credit, that more people are ineligible for bankruptcy given past filings, an inability to afford the bankruptcy process, or something else entirely?
Spencer A. Stone, Esq.
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