Open Bankruptcy Project

Bankruptcy Outcomes and Duration — Empirical Dataset v0.1

Name: Bankruptcy Outcomes and Duration Dataset v0.1
Creator: Open Bankruptcy Project
Published: 2026-04-27
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

First-pass empirical findings from 218,913 federal bankruptcy cases. Discharge rates, dismissal rates, conversion rates, and median case durations by chapter. CC BY 4.0.

Headline findings

85.9%

Chapter 7 discharge rate (102,105 cases analyzed). Median 104 days from filing to discharge.

41.0% / 37.1%

Chapter 13 discharge rate vs. dismissal rate (98,114 cases). The two outcomes are nearly equally likely — Chapter 13 is essentially a coin flip.

~4.7 years

Median time from Ch.13 filing to discharge when the plan completes successfully (1,728 days). Reflects standard 5-year plan duration.

5,577

Adversary proceedings analyzed in the sample. 33.2% terminated by dismissal; substantive merits decisions are a smaller fraction.

The full chapter-level breakdown

Chapter	Total	Discharged	Dismissed	Terminated other	Pending/unknown	Discharge rate	Dismissal rate
Chapter 7	102,105	87,689	1,930	9,970	2,516	85.9%	1.9%
Chapter 13	98,114	40,201	36,423	8,119	13,371	41.0%	37.1%
Chapter 11	5,637	264	885	2,500	1,988	4.7%	15.7%
Adversary Proceeding	5,577	2	1,850	3,667	58	0.0%	33.2%

Duration analysis

Days from filing to outcome. Quartile breakdown:

Chapter	Outcome	p25 (days)	median	p75	n
Ch. 7	discharged	98	104	126	87,683
Ch. 7	dismissed	38	82	199	1,928
Ch. 13	discharged	1,283	1,728	1,890	40,201
Ch. 13	dismissed	149	385	790	36,422
Ch. 11	discharged	486	1,090	2,332	262
Ch. 11	dismissed	112	258	504	885
AP	dismissed	117	208	366	1,848

What the numbers tell us

Chapter 7 is fast and reliable

For consumer Chapter 7 filers, the empirical answer to "how long does it take?" is about 3.5 months from filing to discharge (median 104 days). The discharge rate is high (85.9%); dismissals are uncommon (1.9%); the ~10% "terminated other" category includes conversions to Chapter 13 and other administrative endings.

Chapter 13 is a coin flip

The most surprising number for most practitioners and policy researchers: Chapter 13 dismissal rate (37.1%) is nearly equal to its discharge rate (41.0%). For every successful Chapter 13 plan, roughly one fails. This isn't usually how Chapter 13 is described to debtors at intake. The 4.7-year median duration to successful discharge means a long commitment with substantial failure risk.

Chapter 11 has low personal-discharge rate by design

Most Chapter 11 cases are corporate. Corporate Chapter 11 cases don't produce a personal discharge — they restructure or liquidate the entity. The 4.7% discharge rate reflects the small fraction of individual Chapter 11 cases. This isn't a Chapter 11 "failure" rate; it's a property of the chapter.

Adversary Proceedings rarely produce substantive merit rulings

Of 5,577 APs, only 2 are flagged as "discharged" outcomes (and those are likely data anomalies), 33.2% are dismissed (procedural or settlement), and most are "terminated other" (typically meaning settled, withdrawn, or closed administratively). The empirical pattern shows AP litigation is heavily settlement-driven; full litigation to merits judgment is unusual.

Methodology and caveats

Sample is from heavier-monitored districts

The 218,913-case sample is drawn from PACER pulls focused on a research subset of districts (KSBK, MOWBK, FLSBK, TXSBK, and others). Within-sample rates are sampling-bias resistant and should generalize to the broader federal docket; absolute district rankings reflect the data-collection focus.

Disposition classification follows the case-record fields (date_discharged, date_dismissed, date_termed). Cases without these dates are flagged as "pending or unknown." Some terminal outcomes (conversion, etc.) may be classified imperfectly because the underlying field structure varies across districts.

Open dataset

Full data files (CC BY 4.0):

disposition_overall_by_chapter.csv — top-line dispositions by chapter
disposition_by_district_chapter.csv — per-district + per-chapter breakdown
disposition_by_year_chapter.csv — year-by-year time series
duration_by_chapter.csv — quartile durations
filing_volume_by_year_chapter.csv — annual filing volume by chapter

Citation

Open Bankruptcy Project (2026). Bankruptcy Outcomes and Duration Dataset, v0.1.
501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 41-5159631).
URL: https://viz.openbankruptcyproject.org/outcomes-duration/
License: CC BY 4.0