According to the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, bankruptcy filings leaped 35 percent from one year to the next as consumers and businesses alike confronted an economic downturn that saw investment portfolios tanking, loan money drying up, and joblessness and foreclosures rising.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts reported Thursday that 1,306,315 bankruptcy petitions were filed nationwide in the year ending June 30, 2009.

Businesses and consumers had filed 967,831 petitions during the previous twelve month period.

While the raw number of business filings brought in the most recent twelve month period reported was much smaller than the number of consumer filings, the rate of increase was much higher. Business bankruptcies shot up 63 percent, rising from 33,822 in the year ending June 30, 2008 to 55,021 during the following twelve months.

Obviously this increase is attributable to general economic conditions and areas hurt greatest by the economic downturn have seen similar spikes. Although not discussed by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin article, bankruptcy petitions filed in the South Florida area have no doubt seen a similar spike.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts did report that the greatest rate of increase in filings from the year ending June 30, 2008 to the following twelve months was seen in petitions brought under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 11 bankruptcies allow a business to continue operating while it establishes a plan to repay creditors. Chapter 7 filings, often called no-asset bankruptcies, rose 47 percent during the same time period (Chapter 7 bankruptcies exempt certain assets while the debtor’s remaining property is sold to repay creditors).

For more information on Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcies, particularly with respect to Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the South Florida area, please visit our website at http://www.carterpa.com.

If you bankruptcy questions, The White Law Group may be able to help. To speak to a securities attorney, please call our Chicago office at 312-238-9650.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.

To learn more about The White Law Group, visit http://whitesecuritieslaw.com.