How to Find Bankruptcy Records in Illinois
What is Bankruptcy?
Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding for people, businesses and other entities who cannot pay their outstanding debts to creditors. This process enables the debtors to pay back a portion or all of their debts. This helps the debtor repay their outstanding while also creating an opportunity for the creditors to get their repayment. The rules for bankruptcy are drawn up in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the cases are managed by the federal courts.
The court considers most of the information of a bankruptcy case as public and thus is available for viewing and accessing to general masses. Further below are several methods broken down for you to find information on Illinois bankruptcy public records.
How to find bankruptcy reports in Illinois?
There are various ways to find out information about current or past bankruptcy records in Illinois. The procedures to obtain the information might vary slightly in different courts, but the Bankruptcy Court, Chicago, provides the below options to find information on bankruptcy cases.
1) Information Online
Public Access to Court Electronic Records or PACER is an electronic service provided by the federal Judiciary for public access to information on bankruptcy. A user must first create an account to gain access. PACER provides information about the case and the docket by accessing the federal appellate, bankruptcy courts, district courts and also locator for a PACER case, in case one is unaware of the location of the filed case.
2) Information via phone
One can access certain case information that is commonly asked by simply calling the toll free voice case information system. They can be called 24/7 and one would require to furnish their complete name or social security number and case number.
Illinois Bankruptcy Records via VCIS at (866) 222 – 8029.
3) Information in person
Each Bankruptcy Court divisional office has installed terminals. These can be accessed by the public free of cost. You can find relevant information on bankruptcy records, Illinois.
4) Obtaining Paper copies of case
To obtains document copies of Illinois public bankruptcy records one must have the relevant case number. The copy of the documents can be then acquired by either accessing PACER, by post or in person. However, there might some fees applicable for photocopies for searching the court record. You could refer to the fee schedule made by the Bankruptcy Courts for more information.
5) Illinois Public Bankruptcy Records Certified Copies
One can also easily obtain certified duplicates of the Illinois Bankruptcy Records either via post or in person directly from the divisional office where the case was filed. The docket number of the required document and the bankruptcy case number will be required to furnish for acquiring the copies. A minimal fee could apply, details of which could be obtained from the Fee Schedule.
6) Information on cases older than a year
If one requires information on bankruptcy cases in Illinois that are older than 1 year, they can be obtained from NARA (National Archive and Records Administration), Perris, California. You can visit the official NARA website to affirm if a case has been archived.
You can get the information either by writing to the records department at the relevant divisional office of where the case was filed. On acquiring the mentioned information one simply needs to place a request for records with NARA directly.
