Bankruptcy filings in the Middle District of Florida are the second highest in the country, behind only the Los Angeles district. No end is in sight. “It’s a difficult time,” Jacksonville Division Chief Bankruptcy Court Judge Paul Glenn said...

Five years ago, bankruptcies soared to record levels as debt-strapped consumers raced to seek court protection before Congress changed the law to curb what had been considered an epidemic of filings. For a while, filings dropped, but the recession has...

Bankruptcy doesn't always work as advertised. For starters, not all debts - including student loans, some tax liabilities and child-support obligations - can easily be shed, if at all. Also, not all applicants can qualify for the type of filing they...

Bankruptcy filings are nearing the record 2 million of 2005, when a new law took effect that was aimed at curbing abuse of the system. Filings could reach 1.7 million this year, says law professor Robert Lawless, but few experts believe that debtors are...

If you're thinking about bankruptcy, here are some things to consider: Even if you can't afford to file for bankruptcy, you can ask a lawyer for some basic information. It's important to find out about the statute of limitations for the debt you owe. And...

Jacksonville area bankruptcy filings in March hit the highest level in more than four years, and local bankruptcy attorneys say it could get worse this year before it gets better. According to U.S. Bankruptcy Court records for the Jacksonville division...

With Memphis and the nation mired in a deep recession last year, you might expect the path from neighborhoods and businesses to U.S. Bankruptcy Court would be more heavily trod than usual. Not so. Although debtors filed 19,774 cases in 2009 -- the...

"Everyday Cheapskate" columnist Mary Hunt wrote recently that bankruptcy is a moral failing. Hunt's opinion isn't a random swipe -- it is based on personal experience after she slowly clawed her way out of a $100,000 credit card debt without declaring...

Tampa bankruptcy trustee Terry Smith grimly jokes that the landmark 2005 overhaul of bankruptcy law was supposed to make it harder to file. You would never know it, based on the surge in cases from debt-riddled individuals and businesses across the Tampa...

New bankruptcy filings continue to rise, and experts say they don't expect a turnaround just yet. Area bankruptcies jumped during the first three months of the year, and filings for March marked the highest single month since Congress overhauled the...

In the fourth-floor courtroom of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of California, which serves San Diego and Imperial counties (pop. 3.4 million), Chief Judge Peter W. Bowie's docket is overflowing. Bowie has 77 Chapter 13 bankruptcies...

With the U.S. economy experiencing its worst downturn in more than half a century, one would think that personal bankruptcy filings would be through the roof. But that has not been the case. Filings are just beginning to edge upward to levels seen before...

There were 505 bankruptcy filings in February, a historic high for that month in New Hampshire. It's the highest number since the bankruptcy laws were changed in 2005, and comes after a record January, when 381 bankruptcies were filed here. Bankruptcy...

Red and green numbers kept flickering on a presentation screen as five brothers pointed out credit-card debt, consumer debt, mortgage debt and a ballooning national debt as their father tried to explain why it's patriotic to file for bankruptcy. These...

As the mortgage melt down paralyzed the economy across the US and throughout New York State, one company in the center of the storm had all the business it could handle. The little-known law firm of Steven J. Baum PC, which is based in suburban Buffalo,...

The end of the year tends to be a slow time for bankruptcies, but as Christmas approached last month, Saratoga Springs attorney Ron Kim filed 10 new cases....

Personal bankruptcies rose more than 30 percent last year, with more than 1.4 million protection filings. Many middle-class Americans sought relief after losing jobs, seeing their businesses fail or facing foreclosure. In 2005, Congress overhauled the...

Sharply higher numbers of people and businesses in Louisiana sought refuge from debt in federal bankruptcy court, crippled by the housing collapse, credit cards and sharply lower retail sales. According to the Administrative Office of United States...

Melissa Ritts had a $60,000-a-year job as a computer programmer, a credit score in the mid-700s, a savings account and money set aside for her retirement. But in 2002, the Euclid resident, now 36, lost her job during the MCI WorldCom scandal while living...

Of the 16 bankruptcy cases heard one recent morning at the federal courthouse downtown, most sounded the same. Debtors described unemployment, underemployment, high mortgage payments, stifling credit card debt — factors that drove nearly 1,200 people...

While he was at a free legal clinic last week, Memphis bankruptcy attorney Bruce Ralston struck up a conversation with a woman whose background would have made her a hot commodity once upon a time. That is, until the recession displaced professionals...

When Gregg Felice's parents deeded their home to their two children five years ago, he borrowed the money to buy out his sister's share of the house. It seemed like a good idea at the time, he said, but what was a good idea in 2004 turned sour with the...

Last fall, I lamented that too few people navigating the stresses of bankruptcy were aware of emotional and mental-health resources in the community. Now, that's changing. This week, the Orlando Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court's Middle District of...

Personal bankruptcies soared last year in Western states hit hardest by the real-estate bust. In states such as California, Arizona and Nevada, where housing prices soared and then collapsed during the past decade, consumer bankruptcy filings rose...

One in 50 Georgia households declared bankruptcy in 2009 between January and November, leaving the state with the third-highest personal bankruptcy rate in the nation. Georgia’s crowded federal bankruptcy courts handled 66,925 filings during the first...