Access to Consumer Bankruptcy

Abstract

Over the past decade, each year, about a million households filed bankruptcy. This figure initially may loom large. But when compared to the one-third of Americans who have fallen behind on debt payments, the one in seven Americans who face debt collection calls every year, and the hundreds of millions of Americans burdened with debt, the figure becomes more significant for its seemingly relative fewness. Financial distress undoubtedly leads people to seek bankruptcy protection, but the path to filing is more complicated than mere finances. Indeed, on a purely financial basis, far fewer households than one might estimate would benefit financially from bankruptcy actually file. As with people’s use of the legal system more generally, whether someone will file bankruptcy depends on a variety of factors often identified under the umbrella of “access to justice.”