Who Gives Notice

• A notice of bankruptcy is an official action taken by the bankruptcy court on behalf of debtors. As such, it is the court that will give the official notice of the commencement of bankruptcy proceeding and any order for relief. The usual person to do this is the bankruptcy clerk, though the court may direct another person to take the action.
  
  

Dissemination

• Besides being mailed to creditors, official bankruptcy notices must be published at least once a week for three consecutive weeks in at least two different newspapers. The first newspaper must be one of general circulation in the district where the bankruptcy case is filed, and the second newspaper must be one of general circulation among bond dealers and bond holders that the court designates.
  
  

Use Preferred Address

• It is the debtor's duty to provide the bankruptcy court with a list of all his creditors and their addresses. To avoid delays in mailing, the debtor needs to make sure that the creditors' preferred mailing addresses are used. These can be found on the National Creditor Registration Service database. Creditors who have multiple mailing addresses can register for free and list the address that they wish all notices and correspondence about bankruptcy proceedings sent to.
  
  

Problems

• Sometimes bankruptcy notices will go awry in the mail or are sent to a wrong address. Notices are time-sensitive, so any delays could mean that a creditor doesn't have time to make a claim against the debtor. However, if the creditor didn't receive notice in time or the notice is lost in the mail, then an official bankruptcy notice is deemed not to have been sent. This means that it won't be held against the creditor because the delay was due to reasons beyond his control.