Chapter 11 Filings Increased 37 Percent During Q1 2026

Global instability, inflation, and high interest rates are posing challenges to small businesses, a bankruptcy expert said.

A person arrives at the U.S. District Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan on Jan. 9, 2020. Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Commercial Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings jumped by 37 percent in the first quarter of 2026 from the same period last year, the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) said in an April 3 statement.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy seeks to reorganize a company’s debts and enable the entity to remain operational and become solvent. This is the most common bankruptcy filing made by businesses. According to the institute, there were 2,422 commercial Chapter 11 filings in the first quarter of 2026, up from 1,764 filings in the same quarter of 2025.