There is no limit on how many times you can file Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but federal law sets an eight-year wait between discharges. The clock runs from the date your previous Chapter 7 petition was filed, not from the date you received the discharge or the date the case closed. File sooner and the court will deny your new discharge at the end of the case, leaving you with every debt you walked in with.
The Eight-Year Rule Between Chapter 7 Discharges
A bankruptcy court cannot grant you a Chapter 7 discharge if you already received one in a case filed within the previous eight years.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge The anchor date is the filing date of the earlier petition. If your first Chapter 7 was filed on March 1, 2020, you are eligible for a new Chapter 7 discharge in a case filed on or after March 1, 2028.
Nothing physically stops you from filing earlier. The clerk will accept the petition and the case will move forward. But at the end, the court denies the discharge, and you will have surrendered any nonexempt assets for nothing. The same eight-year wait applies if your prior discharge came under Chapter 11.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge
If Your Last Case Was Chapter 13 or Chapter 12
A prior discharge under Chapter 13 or Chapter 12 generally requires a six-year wait, measured from the earlier filing date, before you can receive a Chapter 7 discharge.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge Two exceptions eliminate the six-year bar entirely:
- You paid 100 percent of allowed unsecured claims in the earlier plan.
- You paid at least 70 percent, the plan was proposed in good faith, and it represented your best effort.
If either applies, you can seek a Chapter 7 discharge immediately.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge
Filing Chapter 13 After a Chapter 7
If you just finished a Chapter 7 and are thinking about Chapter 13 next — a sequence often called Chapter 20 — the Chapter 13 case must be filed at least four years after the Chapter 7 filing date for you to receive a Chapter 13 discharge.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge Between two Chapter 13 discharges, the wait is two years.
Filing Chapter 13 inside that four-year window is still legal, and some people do it on purpose. Chapter 7 wipes out dischargeable unsecured debts; the follow-up Chapter 13 uses a court-supervised plan to catch up on obligations Chapter 7 cannot touch, like mortgage arrears or recent taxes. You lose the Chapter 13 discharge, but if the plan pays those surviving debts in full, the discharge adds nothing. Chapter 20 can also help if your debt balances exceeded the Chapter 13 debt ceilings before the Chapter 7 brought them down.
The Automatic Stay Shrinks for Repeat Filers
Filing bankruptcy normally triggers an automatic stay that halts collections, garnishments, and foreclosures. For repeat filers, that protection is cut short.
If you had one bankruptcy case dismissed in the 12 months before your new filing, the automatic stay in the new case expires 30 days after filing. To keep it in place, you have to file a motion asking the court to extend the stay and win a hearing before the 30 days run out, proving the new case was filed in good faith. The court presumes bad faith if the prior case was dismissed for failing to file required documents, failing to provide adequate protection to creditors, or failing to perform under a confirmed plan. Rebutting that presumption takes clear and convincing evidence.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
If two or more of your cases were dismissed in the previous 12 months, no automatic stay takes effect at all when you file again.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay Creditors can keep collecting, garnishing, and foreclosing from day one. You can still ask the court to impose a stay, but you carry the full burden of rebutting a bad-faith presumption, and you have no protection in the meantime.
Dismissals Are Not Discharges
A dismissal closes a case without wiping out debts. Because it grants no relief, a dismissal usually does not trigger the eight-year or six-year waits that follow a discharge. The circumstances still matter.
Federal law imposes a 180-day refiling bar after a dismissal in two situations:4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
- The court dismissed your case because you willfully disobeyed court orders or failed to appear.
- You voluntarily dismissed your own case after a creditor had already filed a motion to lift the automatic stay.
A dismissal with prejudice goes further. The judge can bar refiling for a set period, typically at least 180 days but potentially longer, and in severe cases can prohibit you from ever discharging the specific debts that existed when the earlier case was dismissed. Judges have broad discretion to set those penalties based on the conduct involved.
What You Have to Do Every Time You File
Clearing the waiting period is not the whole picture. Every Chapter 7 filer, repeat or not, has to meet the same baseline requirements each time.
Credit Counseling
Within the 180 days before you file, you must complete a briefing from an approved nonprofit credit counseling agency, by phone or online.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor Narrow exceptions exist for emergencies with no approved agency available, for people with disabilities, and for active-duty military in a combat zone. If the counseling produced a debt management plan, you have to file it with the court.
The Means Test
Chapter 7 is reserved for people who cannot repay. The means test compares your household income to the median for your state at your household size. Fall below the median and you pass. Exceed it and a detailed disposable-income calculation determines whether the filing is considered abusive.5United States Courts. Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy Basics You take the test fresh every time you file. Qualifying before does not mean you qualify now — income, expenses, and household size change.
Filing Fee
The court filing fee for a Chapter 7 case is $338. You can request installment payments or, if your income is below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, apply for a fee waiver.
Debts a Repeat Filing Will Not Erase
Some debts survive every Chapter 7, no matter how many you file. These include child support and alimony, most student loans, recent taxes, debts from drunk-driving injuries, criminal restitution, and debts incurred through fraud.5United States Courts. Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy Basics If those are what is weighing on you, refiling Chapter 7 will not solve the problem.
Credit Report Consequences of Multiple Filings
A Chapter 7 stays on your credit report for up to 10 years from the filing date.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does a Bankruptcy Appear on Credit Reports File a second Chapter 7 eight years after the first and the earlier filing can still show for up to two more years while the new one starts a fresh 10-year clock. A repeat filer can carry bankruptcy entries on a credit report for close to two decades. Lenders, landlords, and employers running credit checks see each filing separately, and borrowing after a second bankruptcy is harder and more expensive than after a first.
Confirming Your Prior Filing Date Before You Refile
Every waiting period in this article runs from a filing date, not a discharge date or a closing date. Being a few months off can cost you the discharge. The most reliable way to pull your filing history is through PACER, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system. A free account lets you search by name across all federal courts and find any bankruptcy case in which you were a debtor.7United States Courts. Find a Case (PACER) The docket report shows the filing date, the chapter, and whether the case ended in discharge or dismissal.8Public Access to Court Electronic Records | PACER. Federal Court Records Most bankruptcy court clerk offices also have public terminals that pull the same records.