ST. PAUL, Minn. — The number of bankruptcy filings in Minnesota has dropped significantly since their peak in 2010.

Court records show bankruptcies are down 35 percent since then.

Melissa Jacoby is a bankruptcy expert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jacoby tells Minnesota Public Radio News that we shouldn’t assume filings are down because the economy is recovering.

She says bankruptcy filings are not necessarily aligned with the overall economy. Jacoby says the bigger factor driving bankruptcy filings is people’s debt levels.