Bankruptcy filings drop in calendar year 2004; second heaviest year in history.(Headline)

Bankruptcy filings in the federal courts dropped nearly 4 percent in calendar year 2004, according to data released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Total bankruptcies fired in the 12-month period ending December 31, 2004, totaled 1,597,462, down 3.8 percent from the 1,660,245 petitions filed in the 12-month period ending December 31, 2003. Despite the decline for 2004, total filings still exceed the 1.5 million bankruptcies first reported in 2002.

New Bankruptcy Judgeships Requested

The Judicial Conference of the United States has recommended to Congress that 47 bankruptcy judgeships be created in 31 judicial districts. The last bankruptcy judgeships were authorized in 1992. Since that time the total number of bankruptcy filings has crossed the one-million mark; they have totaled over 1.5 million for the last three years. The result has been a nearly two-thirds increase in the caseload of bankruptcy judges nationwide.

Business And Non-Business Filings

The majority of bankruptcy filings are non-business filings and in CY 2004, they totaled 1,563,145, a 3.8 percent decline in non-business filings from the 1,625,208 bankruptcy petitions filed in CY 2003. The number of business filings, totaling 34,317 in CY 2004, fell 2.1 percent from the 35,037 reported in CY 2003.

First Quarter Filing FY 2005

The last three months of CY 2004 were the first quarter of the Judiciary's 2005 fiscal year. The number of bankruptcies filed during the first ...