New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog
RISING RATE OF SENIOR FILERS
In 2011 a noted bankruptcy legal scholar at the University of Michigan Law School published a working paper where he documented the rise in the rate of bankruptcy filing rates for elderly Americans. While the overall rate was only seven percent of the bankruptcy filing population, the rate has increased 177 percent for the 65-74 age group and a staggering 566 percent for the 75 and older age group. In May, 2015 the New York Times noted this new reality. There are certainly many factors at play in this dynamic, including a witch’s brew of fixed income, rising medical costs and high credit card debt for a majority of the bankruptcy filers. No doubt the recession of 2008, with its hard impact on housing and retirement was an additional major factor. Bankruptcy also has a favorable treatment of social security and retirement income savings.
BANKRUPTCY OVERVIEW