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According to a new study, bankruptcy reform laws have made filing for bankruptcy a more expensive and cumbersome procedure. The study funded by the American Bankruptcy Institute Anthony H.N. Schnelling Endowment Fund and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Endowment for Education found that as a result of bankruptcy reform laws, filing costs have increased for both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy petitions. The study examined 11,221 Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 consumer bankruptcy filings at random. These findings accounted for about 0.12% of the total consumer bankruptcy filings between 2003 and 2009.

Those bankruptcy reform laws are contained in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. The study by the American Bankruptcy Institute found that since those bankruptcy laws went into effect, there has been an increase in debtor attorneys’ fees, filing fees and the debtor education fee. Those increases have been seen for both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings. As a result, California bankruptcy attorneys have found that the bankruptcy filing system has become not just more expensive, but also more complicated to use.

As part of these bankruptcy reform laws, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Production Act of 2005 included additional paperwork requirements for debtors. These additional paperwork requirements have meant extra time spent on filings, and a more complex filing procedure. The new requirements have also added to the costs of a bankruptcy filing.
The reform laws also imposed new obligations not just on people filing for bankruptcy but also their attorneys and trustees. These also inflated costs and increased the time required to file for a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.