How to Find Personal and Business Bankruptcy Filings
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PACER provides online access to bankruptcy court records.The Court of Appeals for the state of New York in Albany image by Ritu Jethani from Fotolia.com
Register with the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) website, which has lots of online court case information, including bankruptcy cases. Anyone can register at PACER. The registration process is cumbersome, and is handled by mail rather than online, so allow time up to 10 days for the registration process. PACER is designed for legal professionals, so be prepared for a lot of legal jargon when using the site. Note that there is no charge for searching, but there is a small charge for retrieving documents from the system. Once you have your log-in information, you can search PACER for the names of people or businesses of interest to you. The system will return bankruptcy cases, and, if requested, will also provide other legal cases in the federal court system. - 2
Lexis offers access to bankruptcy case information.credit card image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com
Sign up for LexisNexis via credit card. Lexis (the legal half of LexisNexis) is a very rich resource for legal cases, with a much more powerful search interface than at PACER. It's very useful to have access to Lexis when you need to find bankruptcy filings or other court cases. Though LexisNexis is mostly accessed through institutional subscriptions, they also have credit card access for one time or occasional use. - 3
D&B gives a quick overview of business bankruptcy and credit history.credit 3d sign image by onlinebewerbung.de from Fotolia.com
Check companies at Dun & Bradstreet. D&B is a major provider of business credit information, and it sells company-specific reports that cover not only credit history, but legal actions, including bankruptcy filings.
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