U.S. Consumer Bankruptcy Filing Statistics: What the Numbers Actually Count

How are consumer bankruptcy filings actually counted?

Every bankruptcy case starts with a petition filed in a bankruptcy court, and federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over those cases, so a bankruptcy case cannot be filed in state court. Each of the 94 federal judicial districts handles bankruptcy matters, and in almost all districts the cases are filed in the bankruptcy court. A filing count is therefore a count of petitions docketed in those courts, sorted by the chapter each petition was filed under. The vast majority of cases are filed under chapter 7, chapter 11, or chapter 13. A petition may be filed by an individual, by spouses together as a joint case, or by a corporation or other entity, so one counted case can represent two people or none. That is the first thing to hold onto when you read any headline number: case counts and people counts are not the same measurement.

What changes the numbers from one period to the next?

A filing count is a snapshot of cases opened, not of cases finished, and several things move a case after it is first counted. A Chapter 7 case filed by an individual whose debts are primarily consumer debts may be dismissed, or converted with the debtor's consent to a case under chapter 11 or 13, if the court finds that granting relief would be an abuse of the provisions of that chapter, under 11 U.S.C. § 707. The same section allows dismissal for cause, including unreasonable delay, nonpayment of required fees, or failure to file required information. The Northern District of Illinois warns filers plainly that a case will be dismissed if required documents are not filed. Eligibility rules shape who appears in the counts at all: 11 U.S.C. § 109 sets who may be a debtor under each chapter. So movement between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 totals reflects both how many petitions arrived and how those cases were later classified.

What does federal law say about which cases get counted?

Bankruptcy is federal law, and the categories the statistics use come from the Bankruptcy Code itself. Only a person that resides or has a domicile, a place of business, or property in the United States, or a municipality, may be a debtor under 11 U.S.C. § 109. That section also lists who cannot be a debtor under chapter 7, including railroads, most banks and insurance companies, and similar institutions, so those entities never appear in a Chapter 7 count. Definitions in 11 U.S.C. § 101 fix what terms like person, lien, and municipality mean across the whole title, which is what lets a case counted in one district mean the same thing in another. Filing fees are set per chapter by federal law, making them among the few figures that are genuinely uniform nationwide. We publish no trustee-surcharge figure for a Chapter 13 case, so that cell is left blank rather than filled with a zero.

Where do state and local differences change the picture?

Bankruptcy is federal, but three things vary below the national level. First, the U.S. Trustee Program, a component of the Department of Justice, oversees the administration of bankruptcy cases and private trustees in most of the country, while in Alabama and North Carolina the Bankruptcy Administrator program operates instead, and the approved credit counseling and debtor education provider lists for those two states are published separately. Second, districts publish their own local rules and local forms, and a local form may be required where one exists. Third, what a filer may claim as exempt is recorded on Schedule C, The Property You Claim as Exempt, and the amounts differ by state; those figures are published on the state exemption pages rather than here. None of this changes what a filing is, but it does mean two districts' numbers are not perfectly interchangeable, and it is why district-level figures are usually more informative than a single national average.

What does a real filing statistics page look like?

Take one real example. The Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota publishes graphed monthly Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filing statistics, with a slider to move between years and hover values for exact monthly counts. That is the shape most official filing data takes: cases opened, split by chapter, by month, for one district. Reading it tells you how many cases were opened. It does not tell you how those cases ended, how many individual people were involved, or anything about the debts inside them. Filings are public records, and credit reporting agencies collect case information from PACER, the judiciary's public access system; Louisiana's bankruptcy courts explain that the court itself does not report to credit bureaus and does not verify what appears on a credit report. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, agencies may report a bankruptcy case for up to ten years.

What documents produce the statistics?

The statistical categories come straight off the forms. A consumer case begins with the Voluntary Petition for Individuals, Official Form 101, and the debtor also files statements listing assets, income, liabilities, and the names and addresses of all creditors and how much they are owed. The schedule set includes Schedule A/B for property, Schedule C for exempt property, Schedule D for secured claims, Schedule E/F for unsecured claims, Schedule G, Schedule H for codebtors, Schedule I for income, and Schedule J for expenses, plus the Statement of Financial Affairs and the Summary of Assets and Liabilities and Certain Statistical Information. Chapter 13 cases add Form 122C-1, and Form 122C-2 where the completed form shows income above the median. Courts docket a Statistical Summary of Certain Liabilities as its own filing event. Because these filings are public records, the underlying data is auditable rather than estimated.

• Official Form 101 — Voluntary Petition for Individuals
• Official Form 106Sum — Summary of Assets and Liabilities and Certain Statistical Information
• Official Form 107 — Statement of Financial Affairs
• Official Forms 122C-1 and 122C-2 — Chapter 13 current monthly income and disposable income

What should you ask a lawyer?

Statistics can tell you that many people are in the same position. They cannot tell you what happens in your case, and neither the court nor the U.S. Trustee Program can advise you: court employees cannot give legal advice, and the U.S. Trustee Program is prohibited from providing legal advice to private individuals. That leaves a lawyer, a legal aid clinic, or a reduced-fee service. State bar associations, law schools, and legal aid clinics keep lists of attorneys, and the clerk of the bankruptcy court or the state bar may know of free or reduced-fee help. Attorneys who provide bankruptcy services must disclose in writing what they will do and what it costs, and the Bankruptcy Code restricts what a debt relief agency may say and requires specific written disclosures under 11 U.S.C. § 526 and 11 U.S.C. § 527. Bring specific questions rather than general ones.

• Which chapter fits the facts of my income, my property, and my debts, and what does that choice turn on?
• What does filing cost in this district once your fee and the required courses are included?
• Which of my debts would be excepted from discharge, and why?
• What has to be filed, and by when, so the case is not dismissed for a missing document?
• Is there anything about my situation that makes filing a poor fit right now?

Frequently asked questions

How many people file bankruptcy in the United States each year?

We do not publish a verified national filing count, and we will not estimate one. The official numbers are case counts kept by the federal courts, and each of the 94 federal judicial districts handles its own bankruptcy matters. Some districts publish their own filing statistics directly, such as the graphed monthly Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 figures from the District of Minnesota. Case counts also differ from people counts, because a married couple may file one joint case.

Are Chapter 7 filings more common than Chapter 13 filings?

We do not publish verified counts for either chapter, so we will not say which is larger. What the official sources do say is that the vast majority of all bankruptcy cases are filed under chapter 7, chapter 11, or chapter 13, and that the two consumer chapters work differently: chapter 7 involves liquidation of non-exempt property, while chapter 13 involves a court-approved repayment plan funded by regular income.

Where do official bankruptcy filing statistics come from?

They come from the courts' own dockets. A bankruptcy case is a public record, and filings can be viewed at the courthouse or through PACER, the judiciary's Public Access to Court Electronic Records system. Individual districts publish summaries drawn from that data; the District of Minnesota, for example, posts graphed monthly Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filing counts. Credit reporting agencies gather case information from those same public records.

Does a married couple filing together count as one case or two?

A joint case is a single case filed by a married couple, so it is counted once even though two people are in it. That is one reason a filing count and a headcount of people who filed are different measurements. The court generally mails one copy of each notice to a couple who list the same mailing address, unless they file a statement asking for separate copies.

Do filing statistics tell you how cases ended?

No. A filing count records that a petition was docketed, not the outcome. Cases can be dismissed for cause, converted to another chapter, or closed with a discharge, and some debts are excepted from discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 523 regardless of the chapter. If you want to know what commonly happens after filing in your area, that is a question for a local bankruptcy lawyer, not for a filing chart.

Sources

• 11 U.S.C. § 109 — Who may be a debtor · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 101 — Definitions · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 707 — Dismissal of a case or conversion to a case under chapter 11 or 13 · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 523 — Exceptions to discharge · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 526 — Restrictions on debt relief agencies · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 527 — Disclosures · official source
• 28 U.S.C. § 1930 — Bankruptcy fees · official source
• Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8
• Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 9
• Bankr. D. Minn. official page — Graphed Chapter 7 & 13 Filing Statistics [https://www.mnb.uscourts.gov/graphed-chapter-7-13-filing-statistics]
• COB official page — Understanding Bankruptcy
• Bankr. D. Md. official page — Legal Overview
• Bankr. S.D. Ill. official page — Bankruptcy Overview
• Bankr. E.D. La. official guidance — Chapter 13 Form Packet
• Bankr. E.D. La. official guidance — Chapter 7 Form Packet
• Bankr. S.D. Ga. official page — Filing Requirements - Chapter 13 Petition
• CANB official page — Statistical Summary of Certain Liabilities | United States Bankruptcy Court
• Bankr. W.D. La. official page — FAQs
• Bankr. N.D. Ill. official page — A bankruptcy case WILL BE DISMISSED if these required documents are not filed.
• Bankr. D. Haw. official page — Forms
• U.S. Bankr. Ct. D. Alaska, The Forms Individuals and Married Couples Need to File Bankruptcy
• USTP Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Consumer Information
• CANB official page — Notice to Individual Consumer Debtor Under § 342(b) of the Bankruptcy Code (Bankruptcy Reform Act) | United States Bankruptcy Court

Related

• Find your local bankruptcy court
• What bankruptcy actually costs to file
• 11 U.S.C. § 101 — Definitions
• Bankruptcy glossary
• Build your personalised roadmap