Puerto Rico’s total bankruptcies down 8% in ’12
U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Old San Juan (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)
Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy filings were down 8 percent during the 12-month period that ended in December 2012, when a total of 10,362 petitions were filed at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, according to preliminary statistics offered Wednesday by local research firm Boletín de Puerto Rico.
The total was 907 cases below 2011’s results, the numbers showed.
In December alone, there were 825 cases filed, representing a 10.2% drop in comparison to the same month in 2011.
When broken down, the majority of cases filed in December came from individuals who filed 529 petitions seeking protection under Chapter 13, which allows for people to set up a repayment plan that uses their income to gradually eliminate their debt.
Meanwhile, there were 278 Chapter 7 cases filed, seeking total liquidation of assets.
There were 16 Chapter 11 filings, or those that allow businesses to continue operating as they reorganize their finances, while only 2 farmers filed for Chapter 12 protection from the court, to keep creditors at bay.
