Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9037

Rule 9037: Redacting Personal Identifiers in Federal Bankruptcy Filings

What the rule requires, where exposures happen, and the pending Rules Committee amendments.

Two federal Rules Committee suggestions from this research are now in the record.

Suggestion 26-BK-3 addresses automated discharge-bar screening under 11 U.S.C. § 1328(f). Suggestion 26-BK-5 addresses Rule 9037 compliance in Official Forms 121 and 309E1. Both are pending before the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules and the Standing Committee.

Deeper reading in this cluster

Remediation workflow Forms 121 & 309E1 Published case law Clerk notification templates

What Rule 9037 requires

Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9037(a) limits the personal identifiers that can appear in a federal bankruptcy filing. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, a filer may include only:

Rule 9037(h) provides a mechanism for parties and non-parties to move the court to redact personal identifiers from a filing that did not comply, whether the filer redacts voluntarily or the court orders redaction after notice.

Where exposures happen

Official Form 121

Statement About Your Social Security Numbers. The form is non-public on the court's internal record, but the debtor's full SSN can migrate into related documents if those documents reuse the SSN field.

Official Form 309E1

Notice of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case (Subchapter V debtor). A publicly-docketed notice. Full SSNs reproduced here reach PACER, commercial docket monitoring services, and secondary republishers such as RECAP.

Contract-template exposure

The larger volume of Rule 9037(a) exposure arises when a creditor files a proof of claim or a motion with an attachment generated from a contract template that embeds the debtor's full SSN or guarantor's SSN as a printed field. Each new filing that attaches the same template reproduces the identifier.

Once a document reaches PACER, redaction does not cure the prior disclosure. Commercial docket-monitoring services, RECAP, academic researchers, and private archives commonly retain copies of filings. A subsequent motion under Rule 9037(h) removes the identifier from the court's current version but not from external copies already captured.

Scale of the pattern

Research underlying Suggestion 26-BK-5 used the free RECAP archive of federal court filings to identify Rule 9037(a) violations tied to a single contract template. The scan found violations across multiple federal judicial districts and states, with hundreds of individual identifiers affected in the sample reviewed. The exposure is not attributable to any one court clerk, trustee, or filer. It is a template-level systemic pattern, which is why the proposed amendments focus on template-integrity, screening at the ECF upload point, and clerk notification.

What to do if your SSN appears on PACER

  1. Identify the docket entry. Note the case number, document number, attachment number, and the specific page where the identifier appears.
  2. Notify the clerk of court. A written notice to the clerk identifying the exposure preserves a remedial record. The clerk may restrict access pending motion.
  3. File a motion under Rule 9037(h). A party or affected non-party may move the court to redact the personal identifier from the filing or to seal the filing and substitute a redacted version.
  4. Preserve a copy of the unredacted filing. Not to republish. To document the exposure in the event redaction is contested or delayed.
  5. Consider secondary republishers. RECAP and commercial docket services typically respect court orders restricting access, but removal is not automatic. Separate requests may be required.

Suggestion 26-BK-5 -- the proposed amendments

The five proposed amendments forwarded to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules and the Standing Committee are designed to reduce the volume of Rule 9037(a) exposure at the template and workflow level rather than relying on post-hoc redaction:

  1. Auto-sealing event code for documents flagged as containing personal identifiers under Rule 9037, triggered at the docketing layer.
  2. Template-integrity audit for Official Forms containing personal-identifier fields, run on a recurring schedule.
  3. Pre-acceptance screening at the ECF upload point, catching violations before they reach the public docket.
  4. Non-cure provision codifying that redaction after PACER publication does not remedy prior disclosure, and that earlier disclosure remains relevant to any protective-order or supplemental-remedy analysis.
  5. Mandatory clerk notification to affected individuals when their personal identifier is discovered on a public filing, independent of whether the filing has been redacted.

For the full text of the suggestion as submitted to the Committee, see the public record at uscourts.gov/forms-rules/records-rules-committees/suggestions/dan-brown-26-bk-5.

Open Bankruptcy Project cross-references

Open Bankruptcy Project National Statistics Discharge Screener Section 1328 Discharge Section 329 Counsel Fees Discharge Bars Section 524 Discharge Injunction Notice of Right to Cure Wage Garnishment and Bankruptcy Vacating Judgments in Bankruptcy Fresh Start After Bankruptcy

Further reading

This page provides general information about federal rules of bankruptcy procedure and pending rules-committee suggestions. It does not constitute legal advice. If a filing in your case contains a personal identifier that should have been redacted, consult a qualified bankruptcy attorney or contact the clerk of the court where the filing was made.