Pacer ???

[joenjenking]

New to this forum.. but i have seen a lot about this PACER site...Is it free? can i go in there and view my documents or is it only for my attorney?

THANKS

[Cali]

It is only free if you can get it at the courthouse or somewhere that offers it for free.

The cost is .08 per page. And they bill you once you hit 10$.

[BK2008]

You can set up a log-in to view your account. You pay with a debit card at the end of the billing cycle.

No, it isn't free...it's .08 per page you view.

http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/

[Cali]

Duplicate

[joenjenking]

AHh thanks!

[soleprop]

can someone clarify this for me?

The per-page charge applies to the number of pages that results from any search,
regardless of the number of pages viewed, printed, or downloaded. Searches that result
in no matches incur a charge for one page of data

my question is, if a page of results comes up ($.08) and it has a link to a 30 page document, do i also get charged for that document even if i don't click on it?

i've never seen the pacer interface so i have no idea what i'm talking about. i just don't want to end up spending $100 a month because i'm an obsessive researcher ;).

thanks!

[lrprn]

my question is, if a page of results comes up ($.08) and it has a link to a 30 page document, do i also get charged for that document even if i don't click on it?

In most cases you must open a document to be charged the $0.08/page rate.

Frankly there is very little information you will be able to gather from PACER that will be useful in your case before you file. That kind of obsessive research is what often gets folks into trouble on PACER.

After you file, the way to keep the charges at a minimum is to check PACER once a week and look for the 'last date' something has been added to your case. If the date is the same, then nothing's been added and there's no need to go forward.

If the date has changed, the first place to check is History - you can see any newly added documents there and decide whether to open them or not.

[Flamingo]

No one really needs PACER unless you absolutely have to have it for peace of mind or if you can afford to run up more bills and pay them or if you simply have to view everyone's bankruptcy in your state. Someone recently posted on here running up over $700 in charges on there and not being able to pay them and wanted to put the charges in their BK filing. That's how bad it can get. For free your attorney can send you a complete update on your case from the Trustee to your email. Ours sent one to us ever quarter (all we had to do was ask) and the Trustee every six months sent a 6 month report of what was paid in and what was paid out. We never utilized PACER. There is enough anxiety in BK without gleaning through pages of stuff that is not in layman's terms and a single entry on there if you don't understanding it can mean basically nothing and drive one nuts with worry.

[BK2008]

I've checked it about once every few week.

I've only ran it up to $6.16 so far...

Tomorrow is my discharge date (supposedly). I will give it a few days to post and see if it says 'discharged".

[soleprop]

i don't have a lawyer, and i want to see what filed bks look like. i don't expect they all look the same, but just to make sure i'm on the right path, i guess. that's all i was thinking. i'd like to see examples of completed forms.

filing pro se with no experience in this stuff is like being blind.

and yeah i know., if i had a lawyer...but i can't afford one. that's that. thanks for the info on pacer!

[AngelinaCatHub]

OK, with my unique situation, I have racked up $125 this month. Watch what you do. I'm not happy with this, but I have different probs than most (in my opinion). 'Hub

[Priceless ProSe]

I dont know if this would be legal, but perhaps if you guys would start file sharing with one another then everyone would have examples of cases. My guess would be between the person that spent 700 bucks and a few like him/her you all would have enough filed BKs to keep you happy for a loooonnnggg time

You would defenitely want to find a legal way to do this first. Im sure you couldnt go posting them up to this site, but unless it is prohibited you could email them between one another (and im not saying it is or isnt prohibited)

[soleprop]

i don't know why it would be prohibited as bks are a matter of public record...but i'm no expert on much of anything...

[lrprn]

The reason sharing completed forms doesn't work in bk is because (1) states differ widely in how much is allowed on their exemptions and how much income is considered median during the six months before filing; (2) trustees differ widely in how they interpret the bk forms; (3) courts vary widely in how they interpret the bk law in their area; (4) every filer's situation - assets, what they wish to keep, how their income sets up during the six months before filing....I could go on and on.

Bankruptcy is a lot more than just filling in forms. There's a tremendous difference in almost every area of how what goes onto the forms is interpreted across the country. What may work perfectly for one filer creates a disaster for another.

Can forms be shared? Yes - there's no rule against it. However, should forms be shared? No, because almost no filing is identical to another.