The number of Utahns filing for bankruptcy protection has increased 56 percent during the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year.

Through March this year, 3,066 bankruptcies have been filed, more than half of them last month.

The March filings were a 73 percent jump over filings in March '08, said David Sime, clerk of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah. March's 1,395 cases surpassed 2008's busiest month, October, when 1,036 cases were filed. "That's the biggest increase we've seen in a long time," Sime said.

Bankruptcy filings seem statistically to come in waves, he noted, and if current numbers follow the traditional monthly patterns, something in the neighborhood of 15,000 bankruptcies could be filed by the end of the year. In 2008, there were a total of 9,256 bankruptcies filed.

While the bankruptcy court doesn't drill down into the filings to gather statistics on how people accumulate the debt, Stephen Kroes of the Utah Foundation said falling home values, a tighter credit market and rising unemployment are the most likely possibilities. "People go bankrupt when they're not insured and have large medical expenses," he said, adding that divorce can also drive bankruptcy, although there is no reason to believe that's suddenly rising right now.

Kroes said that when home prices rise, foreclosures stay down, perhaps in part because people rely on their home equity to help with their debts. When home prices fall, foreclosures go up and fewer people use or can even get equity loans.

"If you can't get that to help consolidate payments on other types of debt, you're more likely to file," he said. " And clearly unemployment is on the rise" and will drive some bankruptcies, too.

As has been typical, the majority (62 percent in 2009) of first-quarter filings were for Chapter 7 — which includes liquidation of assets in exchange for a fresh start.

Chapter 7 accounted for 1,894 of the filings, while 1,154 filed for Chapter 13, which includes "debt adjustment."

E-mail: lois@desnews.com