It takes time and commitment to find business partners who are willing to work with you and who are honest. Most people start out honest, but can become disillusioned or they could have had a misunderstanding or they could have seen an opportunity to get ahead. Whatever the reason, it is important to start with the best type of partners you can. To make money in business, you must have a partner who is at a minimum trustworthy and responsible. One way to find out if someone is trustworthy is to look at their bankruptcy records.

It's not very hard to do a bankruptcy check. All you have to do is look up public court records. These court records will show you everything and anything your partner could have gone to court for, including any bankruptcy filings. If they had a business or several businesses and they filed more than one business bankruptcy, you'll probably want to think again about partnering with them.

Another thing that a person's bankruptcy records could tell you is how much money that person was in the hole and when they had to file. If it was a relatively small amount and the bankruptcy took place five years ago, it may not be fair to make a judgement. If they filed bankruptcy for hundreds of thousands of dollars and they did it several times, you probably don't want to get involved with them. If it is someone you know personally, you could talk to them about it and try to understand their situation.

When you file for bankruptcy, it doesn't make you a crook. There could be several different reasons for your bankruptcy filing. It's not necessarily fair to judge someone by a bankruptcy filing but it is good to know. Looking at a potential partner's bankruptcy records could give you a better look at who they are and how they handle finances.