High number of bankruptcy filings in Florida - Bills.com News

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High number of bankruptcy filings in Florida

Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009
By Lance Piper

Some people in the Sunshine State aren't finding their economic position all that bright, as many have filed for bankruptcy in order to get debt relief.

Recently the Miami Herald , citing numbers from Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, noted that the number of bankruptcies in the state hit 70,799 from January to September of this year. That marks a 48 percent rise in bankruptcy filings in the state whencompared to the same period of time in 2008.

The paper noted that the majority of bankruptcy filings were for people, rather than businesses. Of all bankruptcies filed in the state, 68,186 were personal filings.

"Most of those are Chapter 7 bankruptcies, meaning outright liquidation to pay off creditors, rather than Chapter 11, which involves restructuring debt payments," the Herald reported said.

Both home prices and unemployment are pushing up bankruptcy rates in the state. According to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in Florida was 10.7 percent in August. In August of 2008, the unemployment rate in the state was 6.5 percent.

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