How Long After Bankruptcy Can You File Again?

You can file bankruptcy again as soon as two years after your previous filing date, or you may have to wait as long as eight, depending on which chapter you filed before and which chapter you want to file next. The four combinations each carry their own waiting period, and the clock always runs from the date the earlier petition was filed, not from the date the court granted your discharge. Getting this wrong is expensive: the court will accept a premature petition and take your filing fee, then refuse to discharge your debts at the end.

The Four Waiting Periods at a Glance

Federal bankruptcy law sets a specific waiting period for each pairing of prior chapter and new chapter:

Chapter 7 after a prior Chapter 7: eight years
Chapter 13 after a prior Chapter 7: four years
Chapter 13 after a prior Chapter 13: two years
Chapter 7 after a prior Chapter 13: six years, with exceptions that can eliminate the wait entirely

These are the periods that must pass before the court will grant a discharge in your new case. Nothing stops you from filing sooner. The problem is what happens at the end.

When the Clock Starts

Every waiting period runs from the filing date of the previous petition, not the date the court granted the discharge or closed the case.¹ This matters most in Chapter 13, where discharge does not arrive until you finish a three- to five-year repayment plan. Someone who filed Chapter 13 on January 1, 2021 and received a discharge in 2024 measures the waiting period from January 1, 2021.

Because of this rule, the two-year wait between successive Chapter 13 cases is often already satisfied by the time the first plan ends. The plan itself lasts longer than the waiting period.

Chapter 7 After a Prior Chapter 7: Eight Years

If you received a Chapter 7 discharge, you must wait eight years from that filing date before you can receive a discharge in another Chapter 7 case.² This is the longest waiting period in the system.

You can technically file a new Chapter 7 before the eight years are up. The court will accept the petition and the automatic stay will temporarily halt creditor actions. But the court will not grant a discharge. You would go through the entire case and come out still owing your debts. The filing fee is non-refundable, and any attorney fees are gone.

Chapter 13 After a Prior Chapter 7: Four Years

If waiting a full eight years is not workable, Chapter 13 may be available sooner. You can receive a Chapter 13 discharge four years after the filing date of your prior Chapter 7 case.³ Under Chapter 13, you repay a portion of your debts over a three- to five-year court-approved plan. This path can address obligations that Chapter 7 did not clear, such as overdue mortgage payments or certain tax debts.

Chapter 13 After a Prior Chapter 13: Two Years

If you completed a Chapter 13 plan and received a discharge, you can receive another Chapter 13 discharge two years after the filing date of the first case.³ For most filers, this period has already run by the time the first plan concludes.

Chapter 7 After a Prior Chapter 13: Six Years, With Exceptions

Switching from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 requires a six-year wait from the Chapter 13 filing date.² Two exceptions remove the wait entirely:

Your Chapter 13 plan paid 100% of allowed unsecured claims.²
Your plan paid at least 70% of allowed unsecured claims and the court finds the plan was proposed in good faith and represented your best effort.¹

The “best effort” standard is not automatic. A judge evaluates whether you genuinely put your available income toward the plan rather than minimizing payments. If your income was low enough that 70% was legitimately all you could manage, that works in your favor.

If Your Prior Case Was Dismissed Instead of Discharged

A dismissal is different from a discharge. Dismissal means the court closed your case without eliminating any debts, often because of missed paperwork deadlines, skipped hearings, or missed plan payments. The waiting periods above do not apply the same way, because they measure the gap between discharges.

Standard Dismissal

Under federal law, a standard dismissal does not prevent you from filing a new case or discharging debts that would have been dischargeable in the dismissed case.⁴ You can refile immediately. Most dismissals fall into this category and happen for procedural reasons.

The 180-Day Bar

Federal law bars you from filing any new bankruptcy case for 180 days if either of these happened in your prior case:

The court dismissed your case because you willfully failed to follow court orders or appear before the court.
You asked the court to dismiss your own case after a creditor had already filed a motion to lift the automatic stay.

Both situations appear in Section 109(g) of the Bankruptcy Code.⁵ The second rule is aimed at filers who use bankruptcy to pause a foreclosure or repossession, dismiss once the threat passes, and refile later when the creditor tries again.

Dismissal With Prejudice

In serious cases of abuse, a bankruptcy court can dismiss a case with prejudice and impose a specific period during which you cannot file any new bankruptcy case. There is no fixed statutory time limit for this kind of bar. The judge sets the duration based on the circumstances, and it can run months or years. Courts typically reserve this for bad faith, unreasonable delay that harms creditors, or repeated abuse of the process.

The Automatic Stay Trap for Repeat Filers

Even when you are legally allowed to refile, the protection you receive from creditors shrinks sharply if you have had recent cases. The automatic stay is the legal shield that halts lawsuits, wage garnishments, foreclosures, and most other collection actions the moment you file. For first-time filers, it stays in place throughout the case. For repeat filers, it may not.

One Prior Dismissal in the Past Year

If you had a bankruptcy case dismissed within the year before your new filing, the automatic stay expires after 30 days.⁶ After that, creditors can resume collection as if no bankruptcy existed. To keep the stay, you must file a motion before the 30 days expire and show the court that your new case was filed in good faith.⁷

The law presumes your new case was not filed in good faith if the prior case was dismissed because you failed to file required documents, failed to follow a confirmed plan, or if your financial situation has not meaningfully changed. Overcoming the presumption requires clear and convincing evidence, which is a high bar.⁶

Two or More Prior Dismissals in the Past Year

If you had two or more cases dismissed within the year before your new filing, no automatic stay goes into effect at all.⁶ Creditors can continue garnishing wages, pursuing foreclosure, and taking other actions as if you had never filed. You can ask the court to impose a stay, but the same good-faith presumption applies, and until a judge grants that motion, you have no protection.⁷

A filer facing imminent foreclosure who files a third case expecting the usual relief will discover that the filing alone does nothing to stop the sale.

What a Second Filing Still Requires

Satisfying the waiting period is not the only hurdle. Your second case has to clear the same procedural requirements as a first case, and some of them reset.

Credit counseling and debtor education. Every individual filer must complete two separate courses: a credit counseling session before filing the petition, and a debtor education course after filing but before the court will enter a discharge.⁸ Certificates from your previous case do not carry over. Joint filers each need their own certificates for both courses.

Filing fees. Federal court filing fees are $338 for Chapter 7 and $313 for Chapter 13. Chapter 7 filers who cannot afford the fee can apply for a waiver. Chapter 13 filers are expected to pay the fee as part of their repayment plan.

The means test. A new Chapter 7 case requires passing the means test again. If your household income over the past six months exceeds the median for your state, you may be pushed into Chapter 13 instead, no matter how long ago your prior Chapter 7 was filed.

Credit report. A second bankruptcy creates a separate entry. Chapter 7 cases stay on your report for ten years from the filing date; Chapter 13 cases stay for seven years. Each filing runs its own clock, so the second case does not reset the first, but two bankruptcy entries visible at once makes rebuilding credit considerably harder.

1
United States Bankruptcy Court. Prior Bankruptcy – How Soon Can I Get Another Discharge
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 727 – Discharge
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 1328 – Discharge
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 349 – Effect of Dismissal
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
7
United States Bankruptcy Court. The Effect of Repeat Filing on the Automatic Bankruptcy Stay
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 521 – Debtor Duties