To look up bankruptcies in New York, search the federal court system, because bankruptcy is a federal matter and no record of it exists in state courthouses. You have three practical ways in: the online PACER system, a free phone lookup called McVCIS, or a visit to the clerk’s office at one of New York’s four federal bankruptcy courts. Which one you use depends on how much detail you need and whether you want to see the actual documents.
Find the Right District First
New York has four federal bankruptcy court districts, and a case is filed where the debtor lives or, for a business, where it’s based. You need to know the county before you can pick the court.
The Southern District covers Bronx, Dutchess, New York (Manhattan), Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, and Westchester counties.1United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York The Eastern District covers Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, Richmond (Staten Island), Nassau, and Suffolk.2United States Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of New York. About the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York The Northern District covers most of upstate east of the Finger Lakes, split into Albany, Utica, and Syracuse divisions.3United States Bankruptcy Court. Northern District of New York Counties The Western District covers the rest, including Erie, Monroe, Niagara, and the counties running down to the Southern Tier.4United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York. Western District of New York
One wrinkle: Columbia, Greene, and Ulster counties share jurisdiction between the Southern and Northern Districts, so a debtor from those counties could have filed in either court. If that’s your situation, plan to check both.
What to Have Ready
At minimum you need the debtor’s full legal name. Search any former names or business aliases too, because a filing might sit under a name the person no longer uses. A rough filing date helps you cut through duplicates when the name is common. If you already have the case number, you can pull the file directly and skip the guesswork.
Searching Through PACER
Public Access to Court Electronic Records, known as PACER, is the main online route into federal bankruptcy files. Register for an account at pacer.uscourts.gov by providing your name, contact information, and billing details. Once you’re in, you can search by party name, case number, or filing date.
You have two ways to search. The PACER Case Locator at pcl.uscourts.gov works as a national index that pulls data from every federal court overnight, so new filings show up within about 24 hours.5PACER. PACER Case Locator Use it when you don’t know which district the case is in. For real-time information on a specific case you’ve already located, go to that district court’s own site.
PACER charges $0.10 per page to view documents, capped at $3.00 per document.6PACER. PACER Pricing: How Fees Work If your total for the quarter comes to $30 or less, the fees are waived.7PACER. Pricing Frequently Asked Questions For a one-off lookup, that usually means you pay nothing. Academic researchers with a defined project can apply for a broader fee exemption across multiple courts.8PACER. Fee Exemption Request for Researchers
Free Ways to Look Up a Case
By Phone Through McVCIS
The Multi-Court Voice Case Information System gives basic case details free at (866) 222-8029. Call from a touch-tone phone and a computer-generated voice reads back the case number, filing date, chapter filed, the debtor’s attorney and trustee, the assigned judge, case status, discharge date, and deadlines for proofs of claim.9United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York. Multiple-Court Voice Case Information System (McVCIS) You can’t see documents this way, but it’s enough to confirm someone filed and get the outline of the case.
At the Clerk’s Office
Any of the four bankruptcy courts will let you view electronic case files on public access terminals at no charge.10United States Courts. Bankruptcy Case Records and Credit Reporting This is the only way to see the actual documents without paying. Printed copies still cost per-page fees comparable to PACER’s. Call ahead to confirm hours and walk-in procedures.
What’s in the File
Federal law makes bankruptcy papers and dockets public records open to inspection at reasonable times.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 107 – Public Access to Papers A typical case file includes:
- The bankruptcy petition, which starts the case, identifies the debtor, states the chapter filed (7, 11, 12, or 13), and estimates total assets and debts.
- Schedules of assets and liabilities listing what the debtor owns and every debt owed.
- A list of creditors with names and contact information.
- A statement of financial affairs covering recent income, property transfers, and pre-filing payments.
- A discharge order, if the court granted one. Not every case ends in discharge, so this may be absent.12United States Courts. Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy Basics
What You Won’t See
Public doesn’t mean unredacted. Under Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9037, filings show only the last four digits of Social Security and taxpayer ID numbers, only the year of birth, only the last four digits of financial account numbers, and only initials for minors.13Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 9037 – Protecting Privacy for Filings
The court can also restrict access when there’s a risk of identity theft or other harm, seal information that qualifies as a trade secret or confidential commercial data, and block material it considers scandalous or defamatory.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 107 – Public Access to Papers Expect some docket entries to be sealed or partially redacted, especially in cases with business trade secrets.
Older Cases at the National Archives
After a case has been closed for a certain period, the court transfers the file to the National Archives and Records Administration. If a case appears in PACER but you can’t open the documents, this is usually why.
You can order archived files through NARA’s online ordering system. The docket sheet alone costs $35. A set of pre-selected documents also costs $35. The entire case file costs $90 and covers up to 150 pages; larger files add labor charges billed in 15-minute increments at $22 each, and NARA notifies you before processing if the file crosses that threshold. Certified copies add $15 to any order.14National Archives and Records Administration. Bankruptcy Case Files – Order Reproductions Turnaround varies, and older files stored at regional facilities can take several weeks, so plan ahead if you’re working against a deadline.