Bankruptcy is a very unfortunate situation and can happen even to seasoned businessman or to a new entrepreneur. To avoid falling into such a trap one should ensure to keep his or her financial health in a very good state. Filing bankruptcy is not an easy job and one has to go through a very complex process involving lot of complex court procedure. Also it affects badly your financial rating for securing loans, which you may need for business development or for your personal requirements at any future stage of your life.

Bankruptcy is a law provided for those who are unable to pay their debts and this law is utilized to provide them with a way of paying their creditors. Since there is no debtor's prison any more, no one has to worry about going to prison because of not being able to pay. Instead, bankruptcy consolidates the debts and sets up a schedule by which the debts can be paid.

One of the main purposes of Bankruptcy Law is to give a person, who is hopelessly burdened with debt, a fresh start by wiping out his or her debts. Actually life is not always fair. Most people that file for bankruptcy do so out of necessity not because they simply want to avoid paying their debts. Of all the people that file for personal bankruptcies, nearly 40% of them file due to some financial crisis outside of their control. In many cases this financial crisis is some serious health issue.

The debtor has to file the bankruptcy report in the court to stop further payment of interest on the borrowings on account of his inability to repay with declaration that his income is not going to improve in the near future as well. This requires furnishing causes of bankruptcy viz. losses in business, family dispute, job loss, poor health or illness, heavy expanses on treatment, natural calamity resulting in damage to assets or business etc.

Economic and social changes have prompted the need for reform on the bankruptcy laws through the years. The past couple of decades have seen changes in the financial world as well as social upheaval. With credit flooding the nation the past several decades, consumer debt has sky rocketed and the rate of default on credit cards has caused many to seek bankruptcy protection. Medical problems, divorce and job losses have caused most of the Chapter 7 bankruptcies.

A record number of bankruptcies were filed in the 1980s and early 1990s. Job losses and business losses accounted for this record number of bankruptcies. Many small businesses closed during this period, but also large companies such as Texaco, Continental Airlines, Greyhound and Pan Am also filed for bankruptcy. This large number of bankruptcy filings put the bankruptcy courts in a bind to handle all of them; thus, they utilized the assistance of bankruptcy professionals to speed up the court procedure. These professionals were approved by the court to act as examiners and mediators.