http://www.torah.org/advanced/weekly-halacha/5765/bamidbar.html
QUESTION: In the U.S. and other countries, the law allows one to declare personal bankruptcy which frees him from the obligation of paying back his debts. Does the halachah, too, recognize the concept of personal bankruptcy?
DISCUSSION: No, it does not. While one who declares personal bankruptcy is not legally obligated to pay back his debts, he is still obligated to pay them back under Torah law. Thus one who avoids paying his debts because he has declared bankruptcy violates the Torah prohibition against stealing. (11) Even if one filed for bankruptcy years back and he has all but forgotten about his debts since he was legally exempt from paying them, he is still obligated to make every effort to pay back all of his debts, either to his creditors or, if they are no longer alive, to their estate. The legal concept of “statute of limitations” is not recognized by the halachah.(12)
11 See Koveitz ha-Poskim 26, pg. 221; Minchas Yitzchak 3:134; Pischei Choshen, Halvahah 2, note 63; Koveitz Meishiv ba-Halachah 9:129 and 10:141.
12 Pischei Choshen, Halvahah 2, note 72.