According to the data compiled by Automatic Access to Court Electronic Records, the numbers indicate a decrease of personal and business bankruptcy filings.

“The record for bankruptcy filings was 2.1 million in 2005. About 630,000 sought protection from creditors in U.S. courts in the two weeks before changes to federal bankruptcy laws took effect in October of that year. Filings by individuals and businesses in 2009 jumped 32 percent over the previous year to 1.44 million.

Chapter 11 filings by companies seeking to reorganize or liquidate totaled 1,214 in April. Through the end of last month, Chapter 11 cases this year totaled 4,933. If that rate holds for the rest of the year, there will be about 3 percent fewer such cases filed in 2010 than in 2009. Including Chapter 7 liquidations, business bankruptcy filings totaled about 29,250 this year through April.”

You can read the full article: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-04/u-s-bankruptcy-filings-fell-4-percent-in-april-from-march.html

Michelle