Bankruptcy filings increased in all 50 states in 2009. The states with the highest filing rates were Nevada, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Indiana. Those with the sharpest increases over 2008 filing rates were Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming and Utah, all of which saw increases of between about 60 percent and 80 percent, according to Professor Ronald Mann of Columbia Law School, who analyzed the data. At the county level, the highest bankruptcy rates occurred in three suburban counties in the South around Memphis, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia.
Bankruptcies are affecting wider layers of the population, the data indicate. Courts have seen an increase in joint-bankruptcy filings, suggesting that more families are seeking protection from their creditors.
“I can’t see over the top of the files on my desk,” Cathleen Moran, a California bankruptcy attorney..
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