A bankruptcy is an encumbrance imposed upon a property to secure payment of taxes, usually due to the debtor’s failure to pay real property taxes, personal property taxes or income taxes.
In due diligence investigations, bankruptcy searches can be used to evaluate the financial status or integrity of individuals or to determine whether a property one is considering for purchase is free of encumbrance.
Our nationwide bankruptcy searches utilize our access to proprietary records to quickly identify historical and current bankruptcy filings. Name-based or address-based searches can be performed to identify liens associated with a specific individual or parcel of real property. When conducting an investigation of an individual, bankruptcy searches can be performed without obtaining a release from the subject.
Credit reports, of course, require advance notification and a signed release.
Our bankruptcy searches can:

• Identify the names of all debtors associated with a specific lien,
• Determine the original filing date of a bankruptcy,
• Identify the filing number associated with a bankruptcy,
• Determine the dollar amount of the lien,
• Identify the filing location of a lien,
• Identify the release date of a prior bankruptcy, and
• Determine whether a bankruptcy is still active.

A bankruptcy search can provide valuable insight into one’s existing financial status. Bankruptcy searches are often paired with civil judgment searches, as both represent unpaid debt and can open the door to a wealth of ancillary information.