Bankruptcy filings set record

Kevin Rademacher

Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2005 | 8:42 a.m.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for those in the bankruptcy business.

From Oct. 1-16, there were 7,154 bankruptcy cases filed in the Las Vegas office of U.S. Bankruptcy Court's Nevada District. During the same period in 2004, only 453 cases were filed, said Patricia Gray, bankruptcy court clerk.

This year 22,963 cases have been filed statewide, Gray said. That already beats Nevada's busiest bankruptcy year, 2003, when 20,118 cases were filed.

The rush came ahead of the implementation on Monday of a series of new bankruptcy rules. Under the new system, petitioners will be required to seek credit counseling.

They will be subject to a "means test" to determine if they can pay back their debts over time. If so, those petitioners will be placed into Chapter 13 reorganization instead of a Chapter 7 liquidation, in which debt is wiped away.

Las Vegas bankruptcy attorney Benjamin Childs said he filed about 60 bankruptcy petitions in the past six weeks.

"Normally, I would file about 10 in a good month," he said, pointing out that filing before Monday would have been a good idea for someone planning to file in the next several months anyway.

Attorney Christopher Burke emphasized that consumers can still seek bankruptcy protection, but it could be more complicated.

"Yes, there have been some changes, but people can still file," he said. "There's more to do, but they can still file."

Kevin Rademacher can be reached at 259-4069 or at kevinr@lasvegassun.com.