If you are considering bankruptcy, you may wonder if you fit the description of the common bankruptcy filer.

According to The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt by Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law School and Smith Business Solutions:

• Couples filing jointly make-up 44% of all bankruptcy filings
• 30% are women filing bankruptcy alone
• 26% of the bankruptcy filers are men who are filing alone
• The average age of a bankruptcy filer is 38
• Another statistic says the most bankruptcy filers are slightly more educated than the general population
• Two out of three bankruptcy filers have lost a job
• Half of all bankruptcy filers have experienced a serious health problem
• 91% of bankruptcy filers have suffered a job loss, medical event or divorce
• The states that have the highest bankruptcy rates are Tennessee, Utah, Georgia, and Alabama

The US Government provides additional statistics on bankruptcy filers including the mean scheduled debt of both Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Chapter 13 bankruptcy filers per state which can be found at this web site.

It’s ok if you do not fit the description of a common bankruptcy filer.  As an Indianapolis Bankruptcy Attorney, I have seen debtors of all ages, from eighteen to over seventy, seeking advice on how to address financial issues.  The important thing to remember is that you are not alone.  Although the number of Indiana bankruptcies has decreased from 2010 to 2011, there were still over 30,000 bankruptcies filed in this State alone with the majority of those occurring in the southern district of the State.