It is really not hard for you to find out if a person or a business has filed for bankruptcy in the past. You will also be able to find out who they filed against, and what type of account they filed against, and when the case was discharged. Because this information is a part of the public court system it is available to everyone, for eternity. The best news is a large portion of these records can be obtained from the internet. Look for a website called PACER. This stands for Public Access to Court Electronic Records. You will have to register to view the information on this site, and you will not be allowed to register online. You will have to register via the mail service and you may wait as long as ten days to two weeks before you receive your final answer from the process of registration. PACER was actually designed to be used by people in the legal professions, so you have to wade through all the legal jargon they use on the site, however, once you get started using the database you can not only find out about bankruptcy filings, you will have access to other types of legal cases that were heard in the federal court system. Another good resource site is LexisNexis. Lexis is a great way to find out information regarding legal cases and they seem to have a better search engine than PACER has. You will have to use your credit card to access information on Lexis.
They are designed for institutions to be able to set up accounts, but they do have provisions allowing for one time use with a credit card. You can also go to websites of the county court houses in the vicinity of the past addresses you know for the individual in question. To file for bankruptcy you must do so in a court located within a certain distance from your home, so it stands to reason these courthouses will still have the information on file. Not all of them will have went digital with all of their files but a large portion of them have, and this could save you some time and money.
