Will my employer find out about my bankruptcy? 23 Answers as of June 22, 2011

Nearly all courts require that your Chapter 13 payment be made by garnishment on your paycheck.

When you file for bankruptcy it is public record so anybody can look it up. However it is not likely your family will go looking for your bankruptcy filing. Your employer on the hand may be contacted if you are going to be making payment plan payments out of your paycheck. Your HR department will have to enter in the wage garnishment. Check with a local bankruptcy attorney to learn about your jurisdictions local rules.

They will only find out if they search the court docket to see if you filed.

Your employer and others will find out about your bankruptcy in two instances, if they are listed as creditors or if you tell them.

In our jurisdiction, a wage order to the employer is required. However, an automatic withdrawal from a bank account may be permitted under certain circumstances. You should ask your attorney what options are available in your jurisdiction.

Anyone can find out that you filed for bankruptcy if they search for the information. It is public information but not easily found. If you don't tell probably no one will know about it.

Probably, as Ch. 13 payments ate normally made through payroll deduction. You might be able to convince the Trustee to accept automatic deductions from your bank account. t's a public document, so anyone who wants to go to the trouble of looking could find out. I've seldom, if ever, had a client tell me this happened.

The trustee often insists that you agree to a wage assignment for your chapter 13 payment. If you have good cause to convince the trustee otherwise, you may avoid this, but it really depends on the trustee.

Only if you tell them or they are a creditor of yours.

A bankruptcy case is the same as any other civil matter and therefore is a matter of public record. However, I generally find that the only people that find out about it are the ones you tell and anyone who runs your credit.

Generally speaking, the only people who get notice of the bankruptcy are your creditors, so unless your employer is a creditor, no they should not find out.

First of all, your post tells me that you made the almost always disastrous mistake of filing pro se. You need to fix that mistake TODAY. Pro se Chapter 13s almost always fail and could cost you dearly in loss of assets and the inability to benefit properly from a Chapter 13. You have to get a lawyer (and pray that you did nothing yet that is irreparable). If you had retained counsel you would already know that your employer HAS to know. In almost every district, the court will not approve your plan unless you do a payroll deduction, and if you filed correctly, you needed to file your Employee Deduction Order at the time you started your 13. Most Trustees will always object to Direct Pay. Your family and friends may or may not find out. The case is a public record. So it's easy to find out if they want to.

If you tell them or if the Chapter 13 Trustee has to impose a wage order for the plan payments.