If you are a private person, you may be embarrassed or self-conscious about your decision to file for bankruptcy. You most likely will not want to share this course of action with your friends or co-workers.
Although your bankruptcy filing, like every bankruptcy filing in the country, is a matter of public record, it is very unlikely that anyone you know will find out that you have filed. This is because so many people file that only high profile bankruptcies filed by celebrities ever get reported in the newspaper.
Further, when we talk about bankruptcy filings being part of the public record, you would have to know how to log in to the Clerk of Court’s filing system and how to search for new filings.
Two Situations Where People You Know May Find Out About Your Filing
There are two instances where neighbors or co-workers are more likely than not to find out about your filing. First, if you file Chapter 13 in the Northern District of Georgia, your case has to be funded using a payroll deduction. This means that the payroll supervisor at your employer will receive a notice from the Clerk of Court directing your employer to withhold and send in a set amount per paycheck to fund your Chapter 13 plan.
Second, if you choose to surrender your house in your bankruptcy, after you move out, the foreclosing lender may market your house as being part of a “bankruptcy sale.”
Ultimately, your decision to file for bankruptcy should be made based on your own economic reality and your financial needs. You cannot and should not base your financial decisions on concerns about what someone else may think.
Bankruptcy is a legal and effective economic tool to help you reorganize or start over and your decision to file should be based on your financial needs only.
