Archive for category: Bankruptcy Statistics

According to the United States Bankruptcy court, the number of people filing bankruptcy in California continues to decline from the peak established in 2010.  A lot of recent reports have mentioned the steady improvement of the nations economy.  Based upon the California bankruptcy numbers, it definitely seems like the California economy is improving, as fewer and fewer people have filed for bankruptcy protection over the last couple of years.

As you can see from the numbers, the Central bankruptcy district of California was especially hard hit during the down economy, as bankruptcy filings climbed from 58,636 in 2005 to a peak of 146,352 in 2010.  The Central bankruptcy district has jurisdiction in the seven-county region, comprised of Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, San Luis Obispo County.  The Eastern district bankruptcy court was also busy

The most common type of personal bankruptcy is Chapter 7, which is a “liquidation” process that typically results in a bankruptcy trustee selling the petitioners assets and dispersing the funds to creditors of record.  Although there are bankruptcy exemptions that allow those filing chapter 7 to retain some of the personal property and assets.  The chapter 7 bankruptcy code does require petitioners to complete a certified bankruptcy credit counseling course before their bankruptcy can be finalized.

Below are the bankruptcy filings in California from 2004 through 2012 according to http://www.uscourts.gov/Statistics/BankruptcyStatistics/

	Northern Bankruptcy District	Central  Bankruptcy District	Eastern  Bankruptcy District	Southern   Bankruptcy District
2012	25,610	97,062	33,965	16,025
2011	33,379	128,145	46,192	20,669
2010	38,926	146,352	55,023	23,710
2009	35,692	119,134	50,609	21,911
2008	23,720	75,482	35,623	15,645
2007	14,211	39,137	20,970	8,988
2006	9,059	21,869	11,446	5,342
2005	25,662	72,354	32,054	13,634
2004	21,353	58,636	21,353	11,003