| Tracking Number | 26-BK-3 |
|---|---|
| Submitter | Dan Brown, Open Bankruptcy Project |
| Date Accepted | March 23, 2026 |
| Status | Pending consideration, Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules |
| Subject | Rule 4004 -- requiring verification of discharge eligibility under 11 U.S.C. Section 1328(f) |
Consumer Subcommittee Memo
Suggestion 26-BK-3 is cited in the Consumer Subcommittee memo within the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules' April 2026 agenda book. The subcommittee recommends asking the Federal Judicial Center to study court practices related to verification of discharge eligibility under Section 1328(f).
This represents the first instance of empirical, data-driven research from an independent nonprofit being formally cited in an Advisory Committee agenda book as the basis for a proposed Federal Judicial Center study.
The Enforcement Gap
Approximately 391,951 cases in which prior filers received discharges without evidence of 1328(f) eligibility verification -- 27.4% of all prior filers with known dispositions across all 94 federal bankruptcy districts.
Section 1328(f) of the Bankruptcy Code imposes time-based bars on repeat discharge eligibility. A debtor who received a Chapter 7 discharge within four years, or a Chapter 13 discharge within two years, is ineligible for a subsequent Chapter 13 discharge. Despite this statutory mandate, there is no systematic mechanism in the federal courts to verify eligibility at the point of filing.
Our analysis of the FJC Integrated Database identified nearly 400,000 cases in which these bars should have been evaluated but were not -- resulting in discharges granted without documented eligibility review.
Data and Approach
The analysis uses the Federal Judicial Center's Integrated Database, the most comprehensive public record of federal bankruptcy filings in the United States, covering all consumer filings from 2008 through 2024.
The methodology cross-references the ORIGIN field (which indicates whether a case involves a prior filing) with the DIESSION field (disposition/outcome) to identify cases in which:
(1) the debtor had a prior bankruptcy filing within the statutory lookback period, and (2) the subsequent case resulted in a discharge, with (3) no documented evidence that the court or trustee verified compliance with Section 1328(f) timing requirements.
This approach produces a conservative lower bound. The actual number of unverified discharges is likely higher, as the FJC data does not capture every prior filing relationship and the ORIGIN field is known to be underreported in some districts.