There is no minimum amount of debt you need to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Federal law sets no dollar floor, so you could file with a few thousand dollars in debt if you wanted to. What the law does set is a ceiling: as of the April 1, 2025 adjustment currently in effect for 2026, your unsecured debts must be below $526,700 and your secured debts must be below $1,580,125.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor You also need a regular source of income, because Chapter 13 works by funding a court-supervised repayment plan that runs three to five years.
The more useful question for most people is not whether they have enough debt to qualify, but whether they have enough debt to make filing worthwhile. The fixed costs of a Chapter 13 case put a practical floor under it even though the statute does not.
Why a Very Small Debt Usually Isn’t Worth It
The court filing fee for Chapter 13 is $313, and the full amount is due when you file your petition. Attorney fees are the larger expense. Most bankruptcy courts set a “no-look” fee the court presumes is reasonable without itemization, and that fee typically runs $3,000 to $5,000, with most of it rolled into your repayment plan so you only pay a few hundred dollars up front. On top of that, the Chapter 13 trustee collects a percentage of every plan payment, capped by federal law at 10 percent and commonly running 4 to 10 percent depending on the district.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 586 – Duties; Supervision by Attorney General
If your debt is small enough that you could pay it off within a few months on your own, bankruptcy will almost certainly cost more than the debt itself. That is the real floor.
If your income is low, Chapter 7 may also be a better fit. The means test compares your monthly income against the median income for your state and household size, and filers below the median can usually discharge most unsecured debts in a few months without a multi-year plan. People whose income exceeds the state median are generally steered toward Chapter 13 because the law assumes they can repay some portion of what they owe.3United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics
Maximum Debt Limits for 2026
The debt ceilings are set by federal statute and adjusted every three years for inflation. The latest adjustment took effect April 1, 2025, and applies throughout 2026. To qualify for Chapter 13, you must owe less than:
- $526,700 in unsecured debt, which includes credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, and other debts not backed by collateral.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
- $1,580,125 in secured debt, which includes mortgages, car loans, and other debts where the lender can repossess collateral if you default.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
Exceeding either limit disqualifies you. If your debts are too high, a bankruptcy attorney may recommend Chapter 11, which has no debt ceiling but is more complex and expensive.
Which Debts Count Toward the Limits
Only debts that are both “non-contingent” and “liquidated” count toward the caps. A debt is liquidated when the dollar amount is fixed and certain, such as a $15,000 credit card balance. A debt is non-contingent when you definitely owe it right now, without some future event needing to happen first. A potential liability from a lawsuit that has not been decided is typically contingent and unliquidated, so it would not count against your caps.
The classification matters at the margins. If you are close to either limit, a debt mislabeled as secured when it is really unsecured (or the reverse) could push you over the line in one category and lead to dismissal. If you are anywhere near the ceilings, have a bankruptcy attorney audit your debts before you file.
How Mortgage Arrears Factor In
Your full mortgage balance counts toward the secured debt limit, and past-due payments on the mortgage are generally treated as part of the secured claim. One of the main advantages of Chapter 13 is that it lets you catch up on arrears through your repayment plan while keeping your home, as long as you resume making regular mortgage payments going forward.3United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics If the mortgage balance alone puts you near the $1,580,125 secured cap, adding a car loan or other secured debt on top can disqualify you.
You Also Need Regular Income
Chapter 13 requires enough regular income to fund monthly payments to a court-appointed trustee over the life of your plan. Income can come from wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, commissions, or seasonal work.3United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics
How much income you have also drives how long your plan runs. If your income falls below the median for your state and household size, you commit to a three-year plan, though the court can approve a longer one for cause. If your income exceeds the median, the plan generally must last five years, and no plan can run longer than five.3United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics
The court looks at your “disposable income,” meaning what is left after subtracting reasonable living expenses from your monthly earnings. Those expense deductions follow IRS National Standards, which set allowable monthly amounts by family size. For example, the standard for food, clothing, and miscellaneous necessities is $839 per month for a single person and $2,129 for a family of four.4Internal Revenue Service. National Standards: Food, Clothing and Other Items If your disposable income after those deductions is not enough to fund your proposed monthly payments, the court will not confirm the plan.
Self-Employment and Irregular Income
If you are self-employed or earn seasonal income, the court calculates your “current monthly income” by averaging what you received from all sources over the six months before you filed. Courts are split on whether self-employed filers must use gross business revenue or can subtract ordinary business expenses when running that calculation, and the answer can meaningfully change your plan payment. An attorney familiar with how your local court handles the issue can help you prepare accurate figures.
The Minimum You’ll Actually Spend
Even with no statutory debt minimum, a Chapter 13 case has a real cost floor. At a minimum, you are looking at:
- $313 court filing fee, due at filing. Chapter 13 filers cannot request a fee waiver or pay the fee in installments the way Chapter 7 filers sometimes can.
- Attorney fees, typically in the $3,000 to $5,000 range, with most of the amount built into your plan payments rather than paid up front.
- A trustee percentage of up to 10 percent on each plan payment, taken out of what you pay in rather than billed separately.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 586 – Duties; Supervision by Attorney General
- Two required courses, each typically $10 to $50: a credit counseling session completed within 180 days before you file, and a financial management course completed before your final plan payment. Skipping the first will get your case dismissed; skipping the second can block your discharge.5United States Department of Justice. List of Credit Counseling Agencies Approved Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. 111
Added together, those costs are why most people filing Chapter 13 are dealing with debts well into the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, even though nothing in the statute says they have to be. The question to work through with an attorney is not whether you have enough debt to qualify, but whether Chapter 13 gives you something, such as curing mortgage arrears, protecting a co-signer, or restructuring secured debt, that justifies the cost over Chapter 7 or paying the debts down directly.