Bankruptcy Search

Every Bankruptcy Search answers one question, “has this person or company filed for bankruptcy, and is the case still open?”, and keeps the PACER image that backs the answer.

Read a result

A result lists each contact searched and, under it, every bankruptcy case PACER returned for that contact. No cases means PACER found no filing for the details given.

• Check every case. One person can have several filings over the years. An older, closed case usually doesn’t stop collection; an open one does.
• Check the match. A name-only search can return cases for other people with the same name. Compare the name the case was filed under, the state, and the last four digits of the SSN before you act.
• Read the messages. If a search stopped early, for example because a name returned more cases than your threshold allows, the contact carries a message saying so. Ask your power user whether to run a narrower search.

Case fields

Field	What it tells you
Case number	The court’s case number.
Chapter	The bankruptcy chapter, such as 7 or 13.
Court and state of filing	Where the case was filed.
Filing date	When the petition was filed. The automatic stay starts here.
Disposition and status	How the case ended, or that it’s still open.
Closed date and closed reason	When, and why, the case was closed.

Dates from the case summary

When your search includes the court’s case summary, a case also shows:

Date	Meaning
Discharged	The debtor received a discharge.
Dismissed	The case was dismissed.
Converted	The case changed chapter, for example from 13 to 7.
Reopened	A closed case was reopened.
Confirmation hearing and plan confirmed	Key dates for a repayment plan.
Transferred	The case moved to another court.
Joint dismissed and joint discharged	The same events for a joint debtor.
Date of last filing	The most recent entry on the case.

The case summary also lists the debtor’s attorney and the trustee, with their contact details where the court shows them.

For accounts under monitoring, cases can also carry the 341 meeting (meeting of creditors) date, time, and location, the proof of claim bar date, and the discharge complaint bar date.

Dockets

Each docket entry has its sequence number, filing date, text, and, where there is one, a link to the filed document.

PACER images

A search can return a PDF of the PACER screen it used, with the search criteria shown, whether a case was found or not. Keep it with the account as evidence that you checked, and when.

Depending on your settings, images may be grouped per person or per order, may have SSNs masked, and are named with your reference number so they file against the right account.

Bankruptcy in QBO

If your organization runs Bankruptcy Search from QBO, a bankruptcy is tracked as a case on the loan or account, with:

• Status, chapter, court, case number, case URL, filing date, and state of filing
• Bar date, POC filed date, and post-petition date
• Dismissed, discharged, converted, reopened, confirmation hearing, and transferred dates, and the disposition
• Debtor attorney and trustee contacts
• Asset, cramdown, and lien strip indicators

Proofs of claim and motions for relief

Proof of claim (POC) and motion for relief (MFR) are their own kinds of bankruptcy case. When one is created, QBO starts its workflow from the template your administrator set, so the steps, due dates, and worklist assignments begin straight away.

Order a search from a contact

Where your administrator has set it up, you can order a bankruptcy search from a borrower or contact. QBO queues the search and writes a Pacer Order Placed message to the contact, so the order itself is on the record. How results come back onto the record depends on how your installation is configured.

Note

Menu labels can vary by installation; your administrator can rename or hide options.