— Bankruptcy filings for January through June have increased 12 percent over the same time last year.

Filings at the end of last year in the U.S. Eastern District of Oklahoma were up 29 percent ahead of 2008, court records reflect.

“Now, they’re up another 12 percent, said Eastern District Chief Deputy Fred Burkes.

A steady climb began in 2006, he said.

“They will continue to go up every year,” said Gerald Miller, who is Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee for the Eastern District of Oklahoma as well as a bankruptcy attorney.

Bankruptcy laws changed in October 2005, and a lot of people filed in anticipation, Miller said.

“The new laws made it harder and added burdens to debtors,” Miller said.

People in dire financial straits at that time who didn’t file did so within two years to stop garnishments, Miller said.

 “It became more expensive to file and more complex for attorneys. That’s because of doing a means test,” Miller said.

Your mean income takes into consideration the number of people living in the household and deductions allowed, he said.

The new bankruptcy laws were a creation of the credit card companies, Miller said. They claimed a lot of people had been abusing the system and lobbied for reform.

Without proof of such abuse, they contended a number of people were discharging their debts although they made enough money to pay back some of those debts, Miller said.

With the new laws, simple forms have been replaced with six-page forms. It’s become much like filing an income tax return, Miller said.

“People had to bring in pay stubs for the last six months — which most didn’t keep. They had to go to employers to get records,” Miller said.

Some lost jobs after they filed and before the bankruptcy was complete, adding to their problems and their attorney’s, he said.

“The new law penalizes those who have income higher than the median,” Miller said. “Most people are well below the median income.”

About 99 percent of those who take Chapter 13 bankruptcy and pay off a large portion of their debts, do so on a five-year plan.

Possible sanctions for attorneys in connection with alleged fraud in bankruptcy filings has caused some attorneys to get out of the business, Miller said. It wasn’t so much they would do something to get sanctioned, but the process became more complicated and too burdensome, he said.

He estimates there are as many as 85 percent fewer bankruptcy attorneys than there once were. Mark Bonney, a bankruptcy attorney and Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, said he believes that figure is more like 50 percent.

Because there is a lot more work to bankruptcy cases now, some attorneys don’t want to invest that amount of time, Bonney said.

People who drop their bankruptcy proceedings because they believe the payback is too hard will continue to be beholden and continue to be hassled by creditors, Miller said.

With the new bankruptcy laws comes the mandatory responsibility to go to credit counseling and attend a financial management course. Some are over the Internet and last from an hour to an hour and a half, Miller said.

About 45 percent of debtors in Chapter 13 don’t make it all the way through, Bonney said.

A large number are dismissed because people lose their jobs. Some are then converted to Chapter 7s, he said.

“About 20 percent, one in five, never make it to confirmation because they shouldn’t have filed Chapter 13 to begin with,” Bonney said.

In researching bankruptcies, Bonney said he has learned that of those filing Chapter 13 bankruptcies:

• 20 percent have been to the casino in the last six months.

• Fewer than one in five have substantial medical bills, he said.

• Most had a job loss that lasted six months. If they regained employment, typically it was at 70 to 80 percent of what they were making, but they were still trying to restructure their debt.