Yes, a Bankruptcy filing is public record, however it is extremely unlikely that anyone you know will find out if you have filed for bankruptcy unless they are a creditor of yours. Bankruptcy records are available at the Bankruptcy Court and on the internet for public viewing, however,  in order to find a party to a bankruptcy case one must usually obtain a username and password from the federal court system, which isn’t easy. The assets, liabilities, and income that are listed on the documents are considered public record and can be obtained by anyone. The identity of creditors and how much debt is owed to each of the creditors is also available for viewing.

Even though the bankruptcy filing is considered public record. Some information may be redacted from documents filed with the court. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 provides the bankruptcy filer with some privacy protections. The Rule states that an individual’s social security number, taxpayer-identification number, birth date, the name of an individual known to be a minor, or a financial account number may include only the last four digits of the social security number and taxpayer identification number, the year of the individual’s birth, the minor’s initials, and the last four digits of a financial account number.