The number of bankruptcy filings in the federal courts has been on the rise for years and jumped 31.9 percent in 2009.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts released data Tuesday March 2nd, that shows that bankruptcies filed in the 12-month period ending December 31, 2009 totaled 1,473,675, up from 1,117,641 bankruptcies filed in 2008.
Data covers business and non-business debt, with the majority of bankruptcy
filings involving non-business debts. In 2009, the non-business debt filings totaled 1,412,838, up 32 percent from the 1,074,108 in 2008. Business filings totaled 60,837 in 2009, up 40 percent from the 43,533 business filings in 2008.