Just how busy is Miami bankruptcy lawyer Michael Brooks these days?

''If I wanted to schedule appointments Monday through Sunday, 9 to 6, I could do it,'' Brooks said. ``It's getting to the point where we're turning away business.''

After a two-year lull, of sorts, in filings following changes in the bankruptcy law in 2005, South Floridians are once again finding refuge in bankruptcy court in abundant numbers.

Nearly 13,500 personal bankruptcy filings were recorded in the first nine months of this year in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, an increase of 75 percent from the almost 7,700 filed during the same period in 2007.

By comparison, consumer bankruptcy filings nationally rose about 32 percent through September versus the same period a year ago, according to data compiled by the National Bankruptcy Research Center and released by the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Bankruptcy trustees and lawyers attribute the surge in filings in South Florida to the area's rising tide of foreclosures, brought on by falling property values and costly mortgage loans.

''In the old days, people were saving their home from foreclosure [by filing for bankruptcy],'' said Jeffrey Tromberg, a lawyer for the Florida Debt Relief Center in Fort Lauderdale. ``Now, more often than not, they are walking away from their home. They are no longer even attempting to save their home in bankruptcy.''

People opting to give up their property still file for bankruptcy because, otherwise, they could be on the hook for the difference between what the lender gets from a foreclosure sale and what the borrower owes, Tromberg noted.

A Chapter 7 liquidation allows a debtor to discharge debt.

RISINGS COSTS

''People are surrendering these properties left and right,'' Brooks said.

Most of what Brooks sees are people who bought multiple investment properties on the west coast of the state or north of Palm Beach County and who can no longer keep up with what they owe because of rising interest rates, insurance costs and property taxes.

Richard Hastings, a consumer strategist for investment banking firm Global Hunter Securities in Newport Beach, Calif., who tracks bankruptcy filings, said the faster rise in bankruptcies in South Florida compared with the rest of the country also has a lot to do with the area's economy.

''You have too many jobs in the lower-paying service'' sectors, such as leisure and hospitality, Hastings said.

Bankruptcy trustee Joel Tabas in Miami said the average debtor he sees earns about $30,000 a year and owes $50,000 to $60,000 in credit-card debt.

''It's very hard to pay back,'' Tabas said. ``People don't have the capacity to borrow anymore.''

PAST OBLIGATIONS

''People are struggling to pay daily bills, so they obviously can't pay past obligations,'' added Barry E. Mukamal, a Miami bankruptcy trustee.

Despite the dramatic increase in filings from a year ago, the numbers are still way below those earlier this decade -- when more than 30,000 consumer bankruptcies were filed a year from 2001 to 2003 in South Florida.

Almost 36,000 cases were filed in 2005, but many filed in anticipation of the change in the bankruptcy law. Under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, debtors exceeding certain incomes are tested on their financial means to determine whether their case should be dismissed or converted from a Chapter 7 to a Chapter 13. Under a Chapter 13, a debtor must repay a portion of his debts.

In 2006, only about 7,400 consumer bankruptcies were recorded in South Florida. Last year, the number rose to almost 11,000.

Meanwhile, the number of businesses filing for bankruptcy has jumped, too, as consumers cut back on spending.

TWICE THE NUMBER

In the first nine months of this year, 1,030 businesses filed for bankruptcy in South Florida, almost double the number for the same period in 2007.

South Florida is on pace to record the highest number of business bankruptcy filings since at least 1990. Since then, the most business filings in any one year was 1,138 in 1992.

Tabas sees retailers and restaurateurs with revenues off by 30 percent or more. He has gone to their landlords to try to renegotiate the leases. None have been willing, though.

''I think ultimately these guys might be defaulting on their lease obligations and closing their businesses if they can't get concessions from their landlords,'' Tabas said.

Most bankruptcy professionals expect bankruptcy filings to continue to climb well into next year.

After all, Mukamal noted, bankruptcy is a lagging indicator of economic conditions.

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