Bankruptcy in the Northern District of Illinois

The court

The Northern District of Illinois is served by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The court hears cases in its Eastern Division (Chicago) and Western Division (Rockford).

Filings by year

The table below counts every case in the searchable record for this district by filing year (earlier decades aggregated). Filing dates are recorded on nearly all indexed cases, so this is the page's primary volume picture.

Chapter breakdown, where recorded (partial)

Coverage note: a filing chapter is recorded for 2.1% of the Northern District of Illinois cases in this dataset (10,070 of 486,762); the remainder are counted in the total but not attributed to a chapter, so the per-chapter figures below are floors, not the full picture.

*Years before 2011 are omitted from this breakdown (chapter coding is sparsest there); the full-volume table above covers all years.*

Among cases with a recorded chapter, Chapter 7 filings declined over the period shown, and Chapter 13 declined over the period shown. These reflect only chapter-coded records (2.1% of all cases in this district), not total filings.

Judges

The following judges appear on Chapter 11 cases in the Northern District of Illinois in the enriched dataset, with the number of cases on which each is recorded:

Chapter 11 outcomes

Of the 289 Chapter 11 cases identified in the searchable index for the Northern District of Illinois, judge- and status-level enrichment is data pending for this district, so open and terminated counts are not yet available.

Chapter 13 outcomes (FJC 2008-2024)

Chapter 13 outcome data for the Northern District of Illinois, from the FJC Integrated Database (FY 2008-2024; denominator = the 238,789 Chapter 13 cases filed in this district in that window):

Of 238,789 Chapter 13 cases filed here between 2008 and 2024, 67,571 ended in a discharge. Section 1328(f) bars a Chapter 13 discharge for debtors who received a prior discharge within specified look-back periods; a prior case that was dismissed rather than discharged does not trigger the 1328(f) bar, though other limits (like Section 109(g)) can apply. Check a specific case with the eligibility checker, or read the plain-language 1328(f) explainer.

How this district compares

Nationally, the FJC Integrated Database of about 8 million bankruptcy terminations analyzed for 2008-2024 shows an overall discharge rate of 58.3% and a dismissal rate of 41.7% (of the 8M analyzed terminations). Outcomes vary sharply by representation: pro-se Chapter 13 debtors reach discharge about 2.9% of the time versus roughly 47% for represented Chapter 13 debtors (FJC 2008-2024).

Frequently asked questions

Which court handles bankruptcy in the Northern District of Illinois? The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois handles federal bankruptcy filings for the district. The court hears cases in its Eastern Division (Chicago) and Western Division (Rockford).

What chapters do people file here? Across the searchable record, filings appear under Chapters 7, 11, 12, and 13. Where a chapter is recorded, Chapter 7 is the most common in the Northern District of Illinois. Chapter 7 (liquidation) and Chapter 13 (individual repayment plan) are the most common nationwide; Chapter 11 (reorganization) is used mainly by businesses and higher-debt individuals; Chapter 12 is for family farmers and fishermen.

How does the Northern District of Illinois compare to the rest of the country? National outcome rates come from the FJC dataset described above (8M terminations, 2008-2024). This page reports the district's own case counts from the searchable federal record; where the district's FJC outcome rate is available it is shown in "How this district compares."

Where can I find the judges and trustees for this district? See the judges directory and trustees directory, and the Illinois overview for state-level context.

Data and methodology

• Case counts are of the searchable federal record (a national index of about 9.8 million

cases), filtered to the Northern District of Illinois (source district code ilnbk). This is a count of records in that index, not an official court statistic.

• Chapter is recorded for 2.1% of these cases; per-chapter counts are floors.
• Judges and Chapter 11 status come from an enriched dataset of Chapter 11 cases (judge

recorded on a share of them that is data pending for this district); attorney data is sparse for older cases.

• National rates (58.3% / 41.7%, and the pro-se gap) are from the **FJC Integrated Database,

~8 million terminations analyzed 2008-2024** -- the baseline for all rates on this page. The 9.8M figure is the size of the searchable index only and is never used to compute a rate.

• Names: individual debtor names are reduced to initials; business names are kept. This page

reports aggregates only.

• As of: 2026-07-04. Data: FJC Integrated Database; the Open Bankruptcy Project searchable

index; CourtListener-derived enrichment. A project of the Open Bankruptcy Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. General information only, not legal advice.

Data notes

• Judges and Chapter 11 open/terminated status are data pending for the Northern District of Illinois: the enriched Chapter 11 dataset holds no rows yet for district ilnbk (other districts were enriched first). Requested slices are logged in enrich_requests.md (Chapter 11: 289 indexed cases); these sections populate once that enrichment lands.
• Chapter coverage is 2.1% (10,070 of 486,762); per-chapter and per-year chapter counts are floors over the coded subset, not total filings.
• Year counts are indexed cases, not official court filing totals; index coverage varies by year and 2026 is partial (through 2026-03-24).