From the U.S. Courts: Bankruptcy Filings Up 34 Percent over Last Fiscal Year

Bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts for fiscal year 2009 totaled 1,402,816, up 34.5 percent over the 1,042,993 filings reported for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2008, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.



The federal Judiciary’s fiscal year is the 12-month period ending September 30. The bankruptcies reported today are for October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009.

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For the 12-month period ending September 30, 2009, business filings totaled 58,721, up 52 percent from the 38,651 business filings in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2008. Non-business filings totaled 1,344,095, up 34 percent from the 1,004,342 non-business bankruptcy filings in September 2008.

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This graph shows the bankrutpcy filings over the last year per 1,000 population by states and territories.Nevada makes sense with close to 70% of homeowners underwater . And Michigan is the state with the highest unemployment rate , and a large percentage of homeowners underwater. But I'm not sure why Tennessee is #2.