The number of Utahns who sought the ultimate solution to too many bills piling up on their kitchen tables and too few dollars in their bank accounts increased 25 percent during the first six months of 2007.

Those results marked a continuation of an upward trend in Utah that began almost immediately after enactment of the federal Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which initially resulted in a sharp decline in the number of bankruptcies filed nationwide.

"A lot of people thought that the number of bankruptcies would come back [nearer pre-reform levels] a lot quicker, but that has proved not to be the case," said David Sime, clerk of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Utah. "Instead, we've been seeing a slower, more steady increase."

In all, 2,970 Utahns filed for bankruptcy since the first of the year, Sime said. There were 2,368 petitions filed in the comparable period in 2006. That compares with the peak year of 2003, when there were 11,348 filings, and 2005's total of 10,259.

Although the 2005 bankruptcy reform legislation was designed to make it more difficult for individuals to walk away from their debts, many observers point out the underlying causes that push people to declare themselves insolvent - job losses, divorce and unexpected medical problems - remain.

"Though bankruptcy filings are still low from a historical outlook, new cases are being filed at much higher rates than a year ago as more households feel the stress of high debt burdens, a trend that is likely to continue," said Samuel J. Gerdano, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute, which studies the cause of personal insolvencies.

In Utah, though, it could have been worse.

Utah Foundation President Steve Kroes, whose organization has studied Utah bankruptcy filings, said the rise in home values in the state over the past several years may have helped dampen the pressure on some individuals to file for bankruptcy.

"Having equity in a home is a huge tool for individuals to use" when they run in debt problems, he said. "It has helped a lot of people."

He remains concerned about what might happen to bankruptcy filing numbers if housing prices decline in Utah as they have recently in many other states.

Of the 2,970 Utahns who filed for bankruptcy so far this year, 58 percent sought relief under Chapter 7, in which a trustee is appointed to liquidate a person's assets and distribute the proceeds to creditors.

The other 42 percent filed for Chapter 13, a type of bankruptcy that allows a person under the supervision of a court-appointed trustee to formulate a plan to repay their debts over time, typically three to five years.

steve@sltrib.com