개인파산의 현황과 법적 과제

Abstract

The personal bankruptcy is positioned as a system that has an important function of essentiality for the debtor's economical fresh start today. Since the financial crisis in 1997, the number of people filing for bankruptcy is increasing. Only 329 petitions for personal bankruptcy were filed in 2000. However, the figure has started to rise to 672 in 2001 1,335 in 2002 and 3,856 in 2003. According to the Supreme Court, the number of people who filed for bankruptcy reached 150,000 in 2007, a 10-fold increase in three years. The reason has been attributed to the credit card crisis in 2003, dull economic growth after 2004, and lenient individual petition for bankruptcy system by the court. Although the positive function of its essentiality, the bankruptcy abuse is at issue. The first part of this paper tries to evaluate the present situation of the personal bankruptcy. Some conclusions of this paper refer to the United States Bankruptcy Code has been amended most recently through Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. It would be essential to continue theoretical and practical study to establish a more efficient and systematic personal bankruptcy procedure.