At economic conditions worsen for people, it is no surprise that bankruptcy filings rose 22.6% in Kansas and 34.5% in the United States this past year.  Filings have steadily climbed since the so-called bankruptcy reform act went into effect in 2005.

Four people for every 1,000 in Kansas filed bankruptcy, ranking Kansas 31st in the nation.  Kansas had 10,588 bankruptcy cases filed compared with 8,637 cases filed the previous year.  A total of 1.4 million bankruptcy cases were filed in the U.S. for the federal fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.  That compares with slightly over a million (1,042,806) filed in fiscal year 2008.

The federal court system keeps the count and released its most recent statistics yesterday.   The 10th Circuit, which is the region of the country covering Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah, saw an increase of 36.8% in bankruptcy filings.

Our neighbors to the east had an 18.7% and 27.4% increase in bankruptcy filings in the two districts in Missouri.  Nebraska saw a 14.3% increase.  The highest increase in bankruptcy filings in the region was experienced in Colorado at 35.1%.  Oklahoma’s three districts had increases of 32.4% in the north,  30.6% in the east and 28.4% in the west.