Filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy usually costs between $1,500 and $3,500 when you hire an attorney, and as little as $338 if you file on your own. Most of that spread is attorney fees. The court’s filing fee is fixed, the required education courses are cheap, and a handful of smaller expenses round things out. How much does Chapter 7 bankruptcy cost in your specific situation depends mostly on whether you hire a lawyer and how complicated your finances are.
The $338 Court Filing Fee
Every Chapter 7 case carries a $338 filing fee paid to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The amount is set federally and is the same in every district. It covers opening your case, assigning a trustee, and processing the petition.
You don’t have to pay it all at once. Form 103A asks the court to let you pay in installments, up to four payments spread across 120 days from your filing date. The court can extend that to 180 days for good cause.1Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 1006 – Filing Fee
If your household income is below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines and you can’t afford installments, the court can waive the fee entirely. You file Form 103B along with your petition.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 US Code 1930 – Bankruptcy Fees For 2026, 150% of the guideline runs roughly $23,940 for a single person and $49,500 for a family of four in the contiguous states, with higher thresholds in Alaska and Hawaii.
Attorney Fees
Hiring a bankruptcy attorney is the single biggest expense in most Chapter 7 cases. Fees typically fall between $1,500 and $2,500. Simpler cases in lower-cost markets can come in around $1,000, and complex cases with non-exempt assets or contested issues can push past $3,000.
Two things move the price. Location is the first: attorneys in major metro areas charge more than those in smaller markets. Case complexity is the second. Property that isn’t fully protected by exemptions, secured debts you want to keep paying, or likely objections from creditors all mean significantly more work. A clean, no-asset case where your exemptions cover everything is the cheapest version.
Most Chapter 7 attorneys want the full fee before they file. There’s a practical reason: once your case is filed, anything you still owe the attorney becomes an unsecured pre-petition debt that could be discharged along with everything else. Many lawyers will let you pay in installments over the weeks leading up to filing, but the balance has to be zero before the petition goes to the court.
Filing Without an Attorney
You can file Chapter 7 on your own, which is called filing pro se, and that removes the largest single cost. The U.S. Courts website provides free forms and allows anyone to file.3United States Courts. Filing Without an Attorney The courts themselves recommend hiring a qualified attorney, because court staff and the judge can’t give you legal advice, and mistakes can cost you rights you didn’t know you had.
Pro se works best when the situation is genuinely simple: all consumer debt, no significant assets, no recent transactions that might raise questions. If any part of your case is complicated, what you save on attorney fees can disappear fast into a dismissed case, assets you could have exempted, or debts that don’t get discharged because of paperwork errors.
Limited-Scope Representation
Some attorneys offer a middle ground sometimes called unbundled representation. The lawyer handles specific parts, like reviewing your petition, advising on exemptions, or appearing at the creditors’ meeting, while you handle the rest. It costs less than full representation, though availability varies by jurisdiction.
Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Courses
Federal law requires two separate courses, and you cannot skip either one. A credit counseling session comes before you file your petition. A debtor education course comes after filing but before the court will grant your discharge.4U.S. Department of Justice. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Information Both must come from a provider approved by the U.S. Trustee Program.5United States Courts. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Courses
Each course usually costs between $10 and $50. If your household income is below 150% of the federal poverty level, approved agencies must waive or reduce the fee based on your ability to pay.6U.S. Department of Justice. Frequently Asked Questions – Credit Counseling Most providers run online or by phone and take about an hour.
Smaller Costs That Add Up
A handful of smaller expenses are easy to miss when budgeting:
- Credit reports. You need them to list every creditor accurately. Annualcreditreport.com provides free copies.
- Printing, copying, and postage. A petition can run 60 pages or more, and you may need multiple copies for the court and trustee.
- Amendment fees. If you have to correct or add information to your creditor schedules after filing, the court charges $34 per amendment. Minor changes like updating a creditor’s address are free, and the judge can waive the fee for good cause.7United States Courts. Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule
- Property appraisals. If you own real estate or other valuable assets, you may need a professional appraisal to establish fair market value. A residential appraisal typically runs $300 to $650. Not every case requires one.
For a typical case, plan on roughly $50 to $150 in miscellaneous costs on top of the filing fee, courses, and attorney fees. Add appraisal costs on top of that if your assets call for one.
What the Trustee Costs You
Most Chapter 7 cases are “no-asset” cases, meaning nothing you own beyond your exemptions is worth selling. In those cases the trustee collects a small flat fee from the court and you owe nothing extra. If the trustee does liquidate non-exempt property, their compensation comes off the top of the sale proceeds before creditors are paid, on a statutory sliding scale that starts at up to 25% of the first $5,000 and drops from there.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 US Code 326 – Limitation on Compensation of Trustee This doesn’t come out of your pocket directly, but it matters if you’re trying to buy back a specific asset from the trustee at its value.
The Risk of Paying Twice: The Means Test
Before spending anything on a Chapter 7 filing, confirm you qualify. The means test compares your household income over the past six months to your state’s median for a household your size. Below the median, you pass automatically.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 US Code 707 – Dismissal of a Case or Conversion to a Case Under Chapter 11 or 13 Above the median, a second step subtracts allowed living expenses from your monthly income, and too much disposable income left over triggers a presumption that your filing is an abuse of the system. The court can dismiss the case or convert it to Chapter 13.
The cost risk here is doubling up. If you pay an attorney for a Chapter 7 and the means test disqualifies you, converting to Chapter 13 may mean paying again under a different fee structure. A good attorney runs the means test numbers before you commit to anything.
Total Cost by Approach
Pulling the numbers together, here’s what a typical Chapter 7 filing looks like depending on how you handle it:
- Pro se, no attorney: $338 filing fee plus $20 to $100 for courses and miscellaneous expenses. Total around $360 to $440, or less with fee waivers.
- Attorney, simple case: $338 filing fee, $1,500 to $2,500 in attorney fees, $20 to $100 in courses and miscellaneous costs. Total around $1,850 to $2,950.
- Attorney, complex case: Same base costs with attorney fees of $2,500 to $3,500 or higher, plus a possible $300 to $650 appraisal. Total $3,150 to $4,600 or more.
Most filers land somewhere between $1,500 and $3,000. If you qualify for the filing fee waiver and course fee waivers, attorney fees become essentially the only major expense. Bankruptcy costs money you may not have, and the installment and waiver options exist precisely because Congress recognized that.