United States Code
11 U.S.C. § 112 — Prohibition on disclosure of name of minor children
Section 112 keeps a minor child's name out of the public bankruptcy file. You may still be required to give information about a child involved in your case, but the section says you cannot be required to disclose the name in the public record. The name may be required in a nonpublic court record, which the court, the United States trustee, the trustee, and any auditor may examine but may not disclose.
Bankruptcy files are public. If you have children, one of the first worries is whether their names end up in a document anyone can pull up. This section is the one paragraph of the Bankruptcy Code that speaks directly to that, and it separates the information a case may require from the record that information goes into.
Does my child's name go in the public bankruptcy record?
The section states that the debtor may not be required to disclose the name of a minor child in the public records in the case. The public file is the part of the case record open to anyone, and this provision keeps the child's name out of it. Read what the text actually does: it removes a requirement to disclose. It speaks to what you can be compelled to put in the open file, not to every document that might ever mention a child. Where the case calls for a minor child's identity, the section directs that identity into a separate nonpublic record instead. The provision is short and has no lettered subsections, so the whole rule is the single paragraph reproduced below this overview.
What information about my child can I still be required to give?
The section is explicit that information may still be required. It opens by saying the debtor may be required to provide information regarding a minor child involved in matters under this title. What the provision changes is where the child's name goes, not whether the case can ask about the child at all. The text draws its line around one fact — the name — and leaves the rest of the information about a minor child untouched. The section also contemplates that the name itself can be required, so long as it is recorded in the nonpublic record the provision describes rather than in the public file. In other words, this is a rule about the record, not a rule that removes the child from the case.
Who is allowed to see the nonpublic record with my child's name?
The text names a defined group. The nonpublic record is maintained by the court and made available by the court for examination by the United States trustee, the trustee, and the auditor (if any) serving under section 586(f) of title 28, in the case. The section then places a duty on that same group: the court, the United States trustee, the trustee, and such auditor shall not disclose the name of the minor child maintained in the nonpublic record. So the name moves into a closed record with a stated audience, and that audience is directed not to pass it on. The provision does not lay out how the record is created or maintained beyond saying the court maintains it and makes it available to those parties.
What does this section not say?
The provision is written around one fact — the name of a minor child — and it is worth knowing where the text stops. By its own words it does not address other details that might identify a child, and it sets out no form, no filing procedure, and no remedy. It runs in one direction: it removes a requirement to disclose the name in the public record and points to a nonpublic record instead. Questions about how a particular court maintains that nonpublic record, or what happens if a name has already been placed in a public filing, are not answered anywhere in this text. Those are questions for the clerk of the bankruptcy court handling the case or for a bankruptcy attorney, and any answer should come from a source that actually addresses them.
When was this rule added to the Bankruptcy Code?
The credit line at the end of the section shows it was added by Public Law 109–8, title II, section 233(a), on April 20, 2005, at 119 Stat. 74 — part of the broad 2005 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code. The section has carried no lettered subsections, which is why it is cited simply as 11 U.S.C. § 112 with nothing after the number, and why an overview cannot point you to a subsection (a) or (b) here. The entire operative rule is the one paragraph. If you are reading a court form or a trustee's instruction that refers to keeping a minor child's name out of the public case file, this is the statutory provision behind that reference, and the verbatim text is directly below.
This summary is our plain-English explanation, written to help you find the right part of the text below. The section itself is the authority — where the two differ, the text controls.
Text of 11 U.S.C. § 112
Reproduced in full from the official source, verified as of July 2026. View it at the source.
The debtor may be required to provide information regarding a minor child involved in matters under this title but may not be required to disclose in the public records in the case the name of such minor child. The debtor may be required to disclose the name of such minor child in a nonpublic record that is maintained by the court and made available by the court for examination by the United States trustee, the trustee, and the auditor (if any) serving under section 586(f) of title 28, in the case. The court, the United States trustee, the trustee, and such auditor shall not disclose the name of such minor child maintained in such nonpublic record.
(Added Pub. L. 109–8, title II, §233(a), Apr. 20, 2005, 119 Stat. 74.)
Notes and amendment history
Published by the official source alongside the section above. These notes record how the text has changed over time and the reasoning behind those changes. They are not the operative rule — the enacted text is the section itself.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
Section effective 180 days after Apr. 20, 2005, and not applicable with respect to cases commenced under this title before such effective date, except as otherwise provided, see section 1501 of Pub. L. 109–8, set out as an Effective Date of 2005 Amendment note under section 101 of this title.
Guides that rely on 11 U.S.C. § 112
Plain-language explanations on this site that cite this section.
By Antonio G. Jimenez, Esq. · Florida Bar No. 21022
Last reviewed July 27, 2026 · Sources verified July 27, 2026 · How we verify
Every figure on this page is drawn from a primary legal source and checked against our canonical legal database before publication. Bankruptcy.law is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
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