Open Bankruptcy Project

Empirical research and free tools for bankruptcy court transparency.

We build free, open-source tools that screen millions of federal bankruptcy cases for statutory compliance failures. Our research has been cited by the Federal Rules Advisory Committee. We operate on volunteer labor and public donations.

By the Numbers

4,895,163 Cases Screened
94 Federal Districts
391,951 Prior Filers with Zero
Eligibility Verification
46 Educational Domains
1,040+ Pages of Free Content
$0 Cost to Users
26-BK-3 Federal Rules Committee
Citation
501(c)(3) Nonprofit
(Determination Pending)

Three Pillars of the Project

Pillar 1

Screening Tools

Automated discharge eligibility screening across all 94 federal bankruptcy districts. Our screener cross-references 4.9 million cases against statutory filing bars that courts have no systematic mechanism to check.

Pillar 2

Empirical Research

Data-driven analysis of bankruptcy outcomes, attorney performance patterns, and enforcement gaps. Methodology validated by faculty at UC Berkeley School of Law.

Pillar 3

Public Education

68-domain network covering every major bankruptcy statute in plain English, with calculators, guides, and Spanish-language resources. No ads, no intake forms, no acquisition.

Suggestion 26-BK-3

Our empirical data and screening methodology have been formally accepted by the federal judiciary.

Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules
Suggestion 26-BK-3 -- Automated Section 1328(f) Discharge Bar Screening

In March 2026, the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules accepted our empirical data and screening methodology as Suggestion 26-BK-3, proposing automated Section 1328(f) discharge bar screening in federal courts. The submission demonstrated that 391,951 prior filers in the FJC dataset had no systematic eligibility verification at the point of filing, representing a structural gap in the administration of bankruptcy cases.

View on uscourts.gov →

68 Domains. 1,500+ Pages. All Free.

Every site in the network is free, ad-free, and open source. No attorney referral fees. No data harvesting. No intake forms.

Consumer Resources
whatischapter7.com Chapter 7 overview for consumers whatischapter7.org Chapter 7 overview (.org mirror) chapter13plan.org Understanding the Chapter 13 plan lienstripping.org Lien stripping in Chapter 13 nondischargeable.org Guide to nondischargeable debts bankruptcyfreshstart.org Fresh start after bankruptcy reaffirmationagreement.org Reaffirmation agreements explained bankruptcytaxes.org Tax obligations in bankruptcy bankruptcyhardship.org Hardship discharge -- Section 1328(b) voluntarypetition.org Filing the voluntary petition canifileagain.org Repeat filing eligibility calculator howtofilebankruptcy.org Step-by-step filing guide garnishedwages.org Wage garnishment and bankruptcy bankruptcystudentloans.org Student loans in bankruptcy howmuchdoesbankruptcycost.com Bankruptcy cost breakdown bankruptcycost.org Filing fees, attorney fees, total costs chapter7vs13.org Chapter 7 vs Chapter 13 comparison bankruptcymeanstest.org Means test guide and calculator 524injunction.com Section 524 discharge injunction filebankruptcyagain.com Repeat filing eligibility guide bankruptcydismissed.com What happens when bankruptcy is dismissed prosequestion.com Pro se bankruptcy FAQ creditcarddebtbankruptcy.org Credit card debt and bankruptcy debtconsolidationvsbankruptcy.com Debt consolidation vs bankruptcy debtsettlementvsbankruptcy.com Debt settlement vs bankruptcy debtrelieforbankruptcy.com Debt relief options compared debtvalidationletter.org Debt validation letter guide debttoincomeratio.org Debt-to-income ratio calculator creditcardforgiveness.org Credit card forgiveness options averagecreditcarddebt.org Average credit card debt statistics rebuildcreditafterbankruptcy.com Rebuilding credit after bankruptcy keepmycarinbankruptcy.com Keeping your car in bankruptcy keepmyhouseinbankruptcy.com Keeping your house in bankruptcy buyacarafterbankruptcy.com Buying a car after bankruptcy buyahouseafterbankruptcy.com Buying a house after bankruptcy bankruptcydenied.com What to do when bankruptcy is denied filebankruptcywithoutlawyer.com Filing bankruptcy without a lawyer bankruptcyexemptionsbystate.com State-by-state exemption lookup

Open Source. Open Data. Open Methodology.

Everything We Build Is Open Source

Our code, our data, our methodology. We believe public court data belongs to the public. Every tool we build is released under open source licenses and available for inspection, replication, and improvement.

View on GitHub

Anti-Acquisition Clause

The Open Bankruptcy Project cannot be sold, merged, or acquired. This provision is written into our articles of incorporation and is unamendable. We exist to serve the public, permanently.