What this tool does
Open Bankruptcy Project indexes every federal bankruptcy filing publicly available through PACER and the CourtListener / RECAP archive. The lookup above searches that index by debtor name and returns case-level metadata — case number, court, chapter, and date filed — with a link to the underlying public docket.
What you don't get: Social Security numbers, home addresses, financial schedules, or any other personal identifier. This is an index of case existence, not a copy of the underlying file.
Who uses bankruptcy public-records lookups
- Researchers and journalists studying consumer-debt patterns, district-level filing trends, and outcomes
- Attorneys verifying whether a party in another matter has filed bankruptcy
- Pro-se debtors looking up their own case number, district, or filing date
- Trustees and administrators confirming case status across districts
- Family members and estate administrators identifying filings by a deceased relative
- Counterparties in due-diligence (employers, landlords, lenders, business partners) — see legal note below
Why this is free
Federal bankruptcy filings are public records under 11 U.S.C. § 107. Access through PACER costs $0.10 per page, which adds friction even for legitimate research uses. Open Bankruptcy Project is a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 41-5159631) whose mission is to make these records searchable at no cost to the public.
The U.S. Supreme Court has held twice that publication of lawfully-obtained public-record information is constitutionally protected speech: Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 524 (1989) and Cox Broadcasting v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469 (1975). We rely on those holdings — and on the public-charity mandate of court-system transparency — to keep this lookup open.
Frequently asked questions
Are bankruptcy filings public records?
Yes. Federal bankruptcy cases are public records under 11 U.S.C. § 107, accessible through PACER. Some narrow categories (sealed records, certain juvenile dependents) are excluded, but the vast majority of filings are public from the moment the petition is docketed.
Is this site a paid service?
No. Free, no account, no ads, no affiliate links. The project is operated by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit on volunteer labor and public donations.
What information does the lookup return?
Case-level metadata only: debtor name (as filed), case number, court, chapter, date filed. No SSN, no DOB, no address, no financial schedules. For the underlying detail, follow the linked CourtListener / RECAP reference.
Can I use this for an employment or rental background check?
The lookup is an information index — not a CRA-issued consumer report. If you are making employment, tenancy, credit, or insurance decisions about a specific person based on a bankruptcy record, the Fair Credit Reporting Act probably applies; consult counsel and consider procuring a CRA-issued report.
Why might I not find someone who actually filed?
Sealed filings (rare); very-recent filings not yet indexed (typically 24-72 hours); spelling variants in the court record (hyphens, middle initials, suffixes like Jr./Sr.). Try the search with different spellings if the first attempt is empty.
What if the public record contains an error?
Corrections must be made at the source court. Contact the clerk of the issuing bankruptcy court to request a correction or motion to seal. We mirror upstream sources (PACER / CourtListener) and propagate corrections within 24-48 hours.
Browse by court district
Prefer to browse rather than search? OBP indexes all 94 federal judicial districts. A few high-volume starting points:
Citations and reach
Open Bankruptcy Project research has been cited by the federal judiciary in Suggestions 26-BK-3 and 26-BK-5 to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules. Our methodology is described on the Methodology page; the dataset behind this lookup is summarized in Statistics.