1328f.org

The Bankruptcy Transparency Network (BTN) is a free, open-source collection of websites covering nearly every major area of U.S. consumer bankruptcy law. As of March 2026, the network spans 57 public GitHub repositories, 478 content pages across 48 custom domains -- all hosted at zero monthly cost on GitHub Pages.

Every site in the network is backed by the same underlying dataset: the Federal Judicial Center Integrated Database, containing 4.9 million bankruptcy cases filed between fiscal years 2008 and 2024. This is the largest publicly available dataset of U.S. bankruptcy outcomes, covering all 94 federal judicial districts.

What the Network Covers

Each major bankruptcy statute has its own dedicated site with 8 to 12 deep pages covering the law, how courts have interpreted it, common misconceptions, and practical guidance for debtors, attorneys, trustees, and researchers. The network includes interactive tools -- eligibility screeners, filing calculators, means test estimators, and timeline builders -- that let users apply the data to their own situations without needing a PACER account or legal training.

Every page includes FAQ schema markup for Google featured snippets, making the information discoverable directly from search results. The sites are designed to surface accurate, citation-backed answers to the questions people actually search for -- questions that are too often answered by attorney advertising or lead-generation sites with no accountability for accuracy.

Sites by Category

Filing Basics

• howtofilebankruptcy.org -- Step-by-step overview of the consumer bankruptcy filing process
• chapter7vs13.org -- Side-by-side comparison of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13
• meanstest.org -- The BAPCPA means test: who qualifies, how it works, what the data shows

Discharge Bars

• 727a8.com -- The Chapter 7 discharge bar under Section 727(a)(8)
• dischargebar.org -- All discharge bar provisions across bankruptcy chapters
• section1328.org -- Section 1328 discharge requirements and the (f) subsection bar
• 1328f.com -- The original screener tool: check discharge eligibility across 4.9 million cases

Creditor Protections

• automaticstay.org -- The automatic stay under Section 362, including violations and remedies
• relieffromstay.org -- Motions for relief from the automatic stay: grounds, procedure, and data
• dischargeinjunction.com -- The post-discharge injunction under Section 524 and enforcement gaps

Attorney Quality

• bankruptcymalpractice.org -- Bankruptcy malpractice patterns and how to identify them
• bankruptcymill.org -- What defines a bankruptcy mill: a data-driven framework
• dismissalrate.org -- Understanding dismissal rates as a measure of attorney performance

Specialized Topics

• lienstripping.org -- Lien stripping in Chapter 13: removing junior liens from underwater homes
• bankruptcytaxes.org -- Tax debts in bankruptcy: what is dischargeable, what is not
• bankruptcystudentloans.org -- Student loan discharge under the Brunner test and recent developments
• codebtorstay.org -- The codebtor stay in Chapter 13 under Section 1301

How It Works

The entire network runs on GitHub Pages -- free static hosting provided by GitHub for open-source projects. There are no servers to maintain, no databases to manage at runtime, and no hosting bills. The sites are pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Interactive tools that query the FJC database use client-side sql.js, running SQLite directly in the user's browser.

Total investment: approximately $398 in domain registrations. Monthly hosting cost: $0. No ads. No tracking beyond basic Google Analytics for measuring reach. No paywalls. No gated content.

Open Source and Open Data

Every line of code is public. Every dataset is derived from public federal court records -- the FJC Integrated Database, PACER Case Locator exports, and the CourtListener RECAP archive. The GitHub organization hosts all 57 repositories, each with source code, data processing scripts, and documentation sufficient for independent replication.

The network is a project of the Open Bankruptcy Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (determination pending). The nonprofit was founded on a simple principle: public court data should be freely accessible to the public, not locked behind $0.10-per-page PACER fees or buried in commercial databases that only institutional subscribers can afford.

Policy Impact

Data from the Bankruptcy Transparency Network formed the empirical basis for Rules Suggestion 26-BK-3, a proposal to amend Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 4004. The suggestion -- that courts should independently verify discharge eligibility under Sections 727(a)(8), 727(a)(9), and 1328(f) rather than relying on parties to raise objections -- was accepted by the Rules Committee on March 23, 2026, and is currently before the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules.

The screening methodology identified 264 confirmed violations in a 7-district sample where debtors received discharge despite filing within the statutory bar window. No party objected. No court caught it. The data made the enforcement gap impossible to ignore.

Get Involved

Every page is free. Every tool is open source. Every dataset is derived from public federal court records. If you are a researcher, attorney, or journalist interested in collaborating, visit our Research Collaboration page.