[cercis]

Have you ever looked at a bankruptcy filing? Honest question.

I've looked at too many to count. Here is what they consist of:

All debts broken down by type (mortgage, car, medical, legal, credit card, other unsecured). You must list ALL debts.

All income, broken down by regular and not regular (I don't remember the correct term).

Then, you must be prepared to explain any large expenditures you've had over the last year (and this may be longer since the new rules went into effect). This is to prevent any asset protection from creditors.

Then you have to list your assets. And if the trustee thinks you are lying, they will investigate everything you own. Each state has different "homestead" lists (I think it's odd that bkr is a fed program but the homestead is controlled by states) and you are allowed to keep what is your homestead, anything else is subject to seizure and sale by the trustee.

So, just examining bankruptcy records provides a very detailed picture. Extremely detailed. The amount of information I can find out about a bkr filer is staggering and often after having reviewed the documents I end up having a faintly guilty, "snooper" vibe.