How we search

Every check runs in two layers. First, a screen of public bankruptcy court records: an index of federal bankruptcy dockets, business and consumer, drawn from the courts' own public filing feeds across all U.S. bankruptcy courts, usually within a day of filing. This layer is free and runs on every search. Second, when PACER is enabled for your account, a search of the PACER Case Locator, the federal judiciary's own nationwide index, which is the authoritative source and the only one that can clear a matter.

When the public screen finds a candidate, the PACER step also looks that specific case up by its case number, so a filing the name index missed still gets PACER-verified status. Using two sources means a filing one misses, the other can catch.

A matter can carry the debtor, a d/b/a, and any number of guarantors, individual or corporate. Each name is a separate search in both layers. A clean debtor never stands in for an unsearched guarantor, and a match on one name is reported against that name.

Business names are searched under their spelling variants as well, because court indexes store names as literal text. A filing under "Acme Widgets" is found by a search for "Acme Widgets, LLC". Known aliases should be entered as their own names; an alias is not found by searching the legal name.

PACER does not show a debtor's SSN or EIN, but it can tell us whether a case carries a given last four digits. When PACER finds a bankruptcy case under a matter's name and your organization has entered the last four digits of the business's EIN or the guarantor's SSN, we run one more PACER search for that name, limited to that number. The digits go to PACER only, never to the public screen, and are never shown in results or logs.

• Name and number match an open case. Very likely your debtor. The matter stays in review with a one-click hold; the system still does not hold it on its own.
• The number is not on the case. Likely a different debtor with the same name. The matter stays in review with low confidence. It is never cleared automatically.
• Could not be confirmed either way. For example, a matter with several guarantors and one SSN, or a confirmation search that did not finish. The name match is reviewed as usual.

Each confirmation search is billed by PACER like any other search, typically one page, and runs only when a name has already matched.

• Clear to proceed. A PACER search found no bankruptcy debtor record for any searched name at the time of the search. It is dated, it is due for a re-check on your organization's schedule, and it is the only status that can be certified. Only PACER-backed searches produce it.
• No public record found. The public screen found nothing and no PACER search has been conducted. This is not a clearance. It is re-screened automatically on the same window.
• Possible bankruptcy match, review required. One or more candidate dockets matched a searched name. Each candidate is shown with its court, case number, chapter, filing date, a link to the public docket, and a direct link to the case on PACER. A name match does not confirm identity; a reviewer decides. Where an SSN or EIN check ran (below), the status says whether it matched.
• Bankruptcy hold. A reviewer confirmed that a matched case belongs to your debtor. The system never holds a matter automatically.
• Search failed. A source could not be reached or did not finish. It is never treated as clear, nothing is charged for an incomplete search, and the check should be run again.

Absence of a match is not proof that no bankruptcy exists. Indexes lag, courts differ in what they publish, and a filing can be entered under a name you did not search. A match is not proof that the debtor is your debtor. Nothing in the product is legal advice, and decisions about whether to file, enforce, collect, or hold are made by you and your attorneys.

Monitored matters are re-checked automatically when their window lapses, and matters on hold are watched for case dismissals so you learn when collection may lawfully resume. Alerts go to your organization's owners and admins by email. Timing depends on the sources' own update cycles; monitoring runs daily, not instantly.

Every search, result, decision, and bulk-run authorization is written to your audit trail, exportable at any time. PACER charges by the page; those charges are itemized on your invoice or billed by PACER directly to your own account if you connect one. The public screen is free.

Questions about this document or our practices: admin@stayclearance.com