All Reports
The Bankruptcy Transparency Network: 478 Pages, 48 Domains, $0 Hosting
57 public GitHub repositories, 478 content pages across 48 custom domains, interactive tools, and a 4.9 million case FJC database. Total cost: ~$398 in domain registrations. $0 monthly hosting. All open source.
114 Courts Granted Discharge When Federal Law Said No (Multi-District Sample)
In a verified multi-district sample, 264 bankruptcy cases where the statutory discharge bar applied. 114 received discharge anyway. How attorneys certified false answers on sworn petitions and courts had no mechanism to catch it.
Who Watches the Watchmen? Enforcement Gaps in Consumer Bankruptcy
The U.S. Trustee Program oversees bankruptcy in 88 districts, but enforcement is reactive, under-resourced, and blind to cross-district patterns. No federal database tracks attorney outcomes.
The Filing Fee Trap: What Bankruptcy Actually Costs When It Fails
A failed Chapter 13 costs $3,400-$5,700+ in non-refundable fees. Filing fees, attorney retainers, mandatory counseling, and a credit scar for up to 10 years -- all for a case that accomplished nothing.
The Infrastructure of Bankruptcy Failure
Four commercialized industries profit from consumer bankruptcy without accountability for outcomes: coverage attorney marketplaces, petition preparers, mandatory credit counseling, and debt relief steering.
How We Screened 4.9 Million Bankruptcy Cases
Technical walkthrough of the Section 1328(f) screening methodology: data sources, filing-date-to-filing-date calculation per In re Blendheim, de-staling procedures, and verification against docket records.
How to Read Your Attorney's PACER Record
A plain-English guide to using free public court records to evaluate a bankruptcy attorney's track record. What to look for, what the numbers mean, and how to compare outcomes against baselines.
Prior-Filing Discharge Rates Under Section 1328(f): National Analysis
Of 1,627,116 Chapter 13 debtors with prior bankruptcies, 391,951 received discharges. National analysis of discharge rates for prior filers by district, with enforcement gap identification.
BAPCPA at 20: What the Data Shows
Twenty years after the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, an empirical assessment of its major consumer provisions: the discharge bar, the means test, credit counseling, filing fees, and their measurable effects on 4.9 million cases.
The Means Test at 20
BAPCPA's means test channels above-median-income debtors from Chapter 7 into Chapter 13. Twenty years of data shows the majority of channeled debtors fail to complete their plans, raising questions about whether the provision reduces abuse or merely shifts costs.
Mandatory Credit Counseling
BAPCPA requires pre-filing credit counseling and post-filing financial management courses. After twenty years, the diversion rate remains below 3%, and no measurable improvement in repeat filing or plan completion rates has been documented.
Repeat Filers and the Discharge Bar
Section 1328(f) bars discharge for repeat filers within specified time windows, but no automated enforcement mechanism exists. Prior filers complete Chapter 13 at a rate of 24.1%, and 264 confirmed violations have been identified in a 7-district sample.
Chapter 13 Dismissal Rates by District: National Analysis
Chapter 13 has a national completion rate of approximately 33-40%. Dismissal rates vary by more than 30 percentage points across federal districts. Attorney quality is the strongest predictor of outcomes.
What Is a Bankruptcy Mill? A Data-Driven Definition
No standard empirical definition of "bankruptcy mill" exists. This report proposes a data-driven framework using 8 measurable indicators, validated against published sanctions opinions from federal courts and state bar authorities.
Measuring Bankruptcy Attorney Performance Using Public Data
A methodology for measuring attorney performance using PACER data: control group construction, metric selection, statistical validation, and interpretation guidelines. Designed for replication in any federal district.
Section 109(g): The Filing Bar for Dismissed Debtors
Section 109(g) bars filing within 180 days of a prior dismissal. Enforcement is inconsistent. 85.3% of fail-then-refile chains in one analyzed portfolio occurred within 180 days. How the filing bar connects to Section 1328(f) as a two-layer protection.
Section 727(a)(8): The Chapter 7 Discharge Bar
The Chapter 7 discharge bar: 8 years for a prior Chapter 7, 6 years for a prior Chapter 13. How it relates to Section 1328(f), enforcement differences, and a complete table of all bar combinations across chapters.
Research Literature
Academic papers, empirical studies, and scholarly sources on consumer bankruptcy outcomes, discharge rates, and attorney performance.
Interactive Charts
Embeddable Data Charts
Free iframe-ready charts for journalists, researchers, and bloggers. Embed bankruptcy data visualizations on any site.
Chapter 13 Dismissal Rate Chart
Interactive comparison of Chapter 13 vs Chapter 7 dismissal rates from 4.9 million federal cases.
Filing Cost Breakdown
What a failed Chapter 13 actually costs -- filing fees, attorney retainers, counseling, and credit damage.
Impossible Discharges Chart
Courts that granted discharge when federal law said no -- verified multi-district violation data.
These reports are powered by the same data behind the 1328f.com screener. Try the eligibility checker to test individual cases, or read the plain-English explainer for a non-technical overview of Section 1328(f).