It's an option that a growing number of consumers are facing. Despite the increased cost and inconvenience of declaring personal bankruptcy as a result of legislation passed three years ago, filings have jumped substantially in the last few months. More than 4,000 bankruptcy petitions were filed per day in March and April, on average, according to the bankruptcy data and management firm Automated Access to Court Electronic Records (AACER). That's up more than 30 percent from a year earlier and the highest number since the law went into effect. "There's a real sense of financial panic out there," says John Colwell, a bankruptcy attorney in San Diego who has seen his business increase 50 percent in the last year. "And I don't see it abating anytime soon."
