Will everyone find out if I file bankruptcy?
This question pops up from time to time in bankruptcy intakes. I understand the concern. Bankruptcy is a private issue, and we don’t want news of our bankruptcy filings to become local gossip.
Could everyone find out? Yes, sure I suppose technically everyone has the ability to look you up on PACER and find out that you filed bankruptcy. That information is technically public.
I think the more important questions is “will everyone find out?” When was the last time you logged into PACER to find out if someone had filed bankruptcy. Never. Odds are you don’t know what PACER is. The only people who know what PACER is are lawyers, paralegals, legal secretaries, legal interns… okay, only people who work in law offices.
So while it’s technically public, unless you tell someone, odds are they won’t find out. People will see it when they do a credit check and people who are listed on the mailing matrix will receive notice, but that’s generally it.
A lot of people file bankruptcy. It happens every day (well, every business day at least), but you don’t hear about it because, while the information is technically public, it just isn’t published anywhere and no one cares to look it up.
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