Filing fees are the small part. Opening a Chapter 7 case costs $245, a Chapter 13 costs $235, and either way the court adds a $75 administrative fee. The lawyer is where the money goes: attorney fees for a Chapter 7 typically run about $1,250 to $2,000, and Chapter 13 representation starts at around $3,000.
What Each Line Item Costs
Below are the standard fees a consumer case runs into. Attorney fees vary with how complicated the case is, and court fee schedules change over time, so the current figures are worth confirming before budgeting.
| Cost | Chapter 7 | Chapter 13 |
|---|---|---|
| Court filing fee | $245 | $235 |
| Administrative fee | $75 | $75 |
| Pre-filing credit counseling | up to $50 | up to $50 |
| Post-filing course | about the same as pre-filing | about the same as pre-filing |
| Attorney fees | about $1,250 to $2,000 | start around $3,000 |
| Printing and mailing forms | varies | varies |
On the court side, Chapter 7 is the more expensive of the two: its filing fee sits $10 above Chapter 13's. That order reverses once a lawyer is involved, since a Chapter 13 case runs a multi-year repayment plan and costs more to handle.
Attorney Fees Are the Largest Line Item
Hiring a bankruptcy lawyer is usually the single biggest expense in the process. Where a case falls in the range depends on its complexity: the mix of secured and unsecured debt, property questions, and how much work the filing takes.
Filing without a lawyer is permitted, and some people prepare their own petitions using bankruptcy education courses. What that saves in fees it shifts into effort.
The forms are long, and the property exemption rules that decide what a filer keeps are set state by state, so the research falls on the filer.
When the Lawyer Gets Paid Depends on the Chapter
Payment timing works differently between the two chapters, and for someone with no savings left it can matter more than the sticker price.
The whole fee has to be in the attorney's hands before a Chapter 7 petition goes in, and the court's fees come after that. Only in a Chapter 13 can the bulk of the fee wait until the case is filed, and even then the attorney typically collects a retainer up front.
Picture someone with steady income who can't scrape together $2,000 in a lump. Under Chapter 7 that money has to be in hand before anything is filed. Under Chapter 13, part of the fee can be handled through the case itself once it's underway.
Bankruptcy courts also publish guidelines on what attorneys may charge, setting a "no look" fee amount for Chapter 13 cases and, in some courts, for Chapter 7 as well. A fee at or below that amount gets approved without further scrutiny.
Credit Counseling Is Required Twice, at Up to $50 a Course
Anyone filing has to complete credit counseling from a government-approved organization within 180 days before filing. The flat fee for that service runs up to $50. A second course is required after filing, and it costs about the same.
The 180-day window is the part people trip over. A certificate obtained early, while paperwork drags or money is being assembled, can fall outside the window by the time the petition is ready to go in, and then the course has to be taken again.
Printing and Mailing Add Small, Recurring Costs
Bankruptcy runs on paper. Forms get printed and mailed, sometimes more than once. Each amount is small on its own, and they keep coming as the case moves along.
Repayment Plan in Chapter 13, Discharge in Chapter 7
The chapter shapes the cost, so the mechanics are worth knowing before comparing fees.
Chapter 13 works through a repayment plan that runs three to five years, which is why steady income is a condition of filing. Secured and unsecured balances alike can go into that plan.
Missed mortgage payments are the standard illustration: spreading the arrears across the plan's term is what keeps a house out of foreclosure.
Chapter 7 has no repayment plan. It discharges unsecured debts such as credit card and medical debt, which is why it often fits people whose problem is a large pile of unsecured balances.
Two things happen once the petition goes in: a temporary automatic stay covers the debts, and a consumer bankruptcy trustee takes over the case.
That trustee's job is to go through the filer's finances, and selling property to pay creditors falls within it. Whether a given asset is safe from that comes down to the exemption list in the filer's state.
Ways Filers Cover the Cost
Charging money to someone who has run out of it is an obvious tension. Several routes exist:
- Cutting the attorney fee out entirely, either by preparing the petition alone or by finding a lawyer who takes the case pro bono. Some attorneys do offer free legal aid, though tracking one down takes research. Neither route touches the filing or administrative fees.
- Spreading the cost over time through a payment plan, which is also the structure a Chapter 13 case provides on its own.
- Putting a tax refund toward the attorney's fee.
- Asking the bankruptcy court to waive the filing fee, which it may approve in some cases. It's an application, not an entitlement.
No Minimum Debt Exists, but Attorneys Often Apply One
Nothing in the law sets a floor on how much debt a filer needs. Attorneys apply their own, though, and most won't take a case where less than $10,000 of the debt is dischargeable.
"Dischargeable" is doing real work in that sentence. Non-dischargeable obligations sit in a separate category and can include federal student loans, so someone whose balances are mostly of that type may be looking at a much smaller pool of debt than their statements suggest.
Ten Years on a Credit Report for Chapter 7, Seven for Chapter 13
The fees aren't the only price. Both chapters leave major negative marks on a credit history:
- A Chapter 7 can stay on a credit report for as long as 10 years from the filing date.
- A Chapter 13 mark lasts seven years.
Rebuilding credit can begin before those marks expire, but the timeline is fixed, and it belongs in the real cost of the decision.
How the Self-Prepared and Represented Paths Differ
A self-prepared Chapter 7 is the cheapest version of this process in dollars and the most demanding in time and research. A represented Chapter 13 sits at the other end: it costs the most, and it's also the version with a payment structure built into the case, so the fee doesn't have to be assembled before anything is filed.
Most bankruptcy attorneys offer a free consultation, and that's where the specifics of state exemptions and dischargeable balances get pinned down.
