You can file bankruptcy for free if your household income is below 150 percent of the federal poverty line: the court will waive the $338 Chapter 7 filing fee, the required credit counseling and debtor education courses offer fee waivers at the same income level, and free legal help is available through legal aid organizations and nonprofit filing tools. If your income is a little higher, you can still avoid paying anything upfront by spreading the fee across installments. The sections below walk through each of these free or no-cost options and what the court expects from you in return.
Getting the $338 Filing Fee Waived
The standard Chapter 7 filing fee is $338. Federal law lets the bankruptcy court waive it entirely if your household income is below 150 percent of the federal poverty line and you cannot afford to pay even in small installments.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1930 – Bankruptcy Fees For 2026, the poverty line for a single person is $15,960, so 150 percent comes to $23,940. For a family of four, the threshold is $49,500.2HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. 2026 Poverty Guidelines
Meeting the income number alone will not get you the waiver. The judge also weighs your monthly expenses, any liquid assets, and whether you could realistically pull together partial payments over time. If you have no disposable income left after basic necessities, the court grants a full waiver. You request one by filing Official Form 103B (Application to Have the Chapter 7 Filing Fee Waived) with your bankruptcy petition.3United States Courts. Official Form 101 Voluntary Petition for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy Expect to show a detailed breakdown of income and expenses on that form.
Paying Nothing Upfront With Installments
If your income is above the waiver threshold but you cannot write a $338 check at the courthouse, ask to pay in installments. The court can split the fee into up to four payments, with the final one due no later than 120 days after you file. A judge can extend that to 180 days for good cause.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 1006 – Filing Fee You request this by filing Official Form 103A with your petition.
Two rules bite while you are still paying. Miss a scheduled installment and your case can be dismissed outright. And you cannot pay an attorney or anyone else for help with your case until the filing fee is fully paid; court costs come first.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 1006 – Filing Fee
Where to Get Free Legal Help
Filing without a lawyer is allowed, but free professional help is worth pursuing before you start the forms on your own. The Legal Services Corporation funds nonprofit legal aid organizations in every federal judicial district in the country. These organizations handle civil matters including bankruptcy, and their services are free to applicants with household incomes at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty level.5Legal Services Corporation. What is Legal Aid? Local bar associations also run volunteer lawyer programs where private attorneys take pro bono bankruptcy cases. Both typically limit their help to Chapter 7, because Chapter 13 repayment plans involve ongoing court supervision that is harder to provide for free.
If you don’t qualify for legal aid or there is a waitlist, a nonprofit called Upsolve offers a free online tool that walks you through preparing Chapter 7 forms. The tool works for straightforward cases: you generally must earn below your state’s median income, cannot own a home, and must be filing individually rather than jointly. It does not handle Chapter 13 cases or situations involving pending lawsuits or recent business ownership.
Non-attorney petition preparers are a third option. They can type and organize your forms based on information you provide, but they cannot give legal advice, explain strategy, or represent you in court. Courts can disallow any fee that exceeds the value of the services provided, and a preparer who tells you to hide assets or income faces tripled fines.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 110 – Penalty for Persons Who Negligently or Fraudulently Prepare Bankruptcy Petitions
Free Credit Counseling and Debtor Education
Chapter 7 requires two short courses from agencies approved by the U.S. Trustee Program. Before you file, you must complete a credit counseling session covering your budget, your debts, and whether alternatives such as a debt management plan might work. It’s available online, by phone, or in person, and usually takes about an hour.7United States Courts. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Courses Most agencies charge between $10 and $50, but they are required to offer reduced fees or full waivers based on ability to pay. If your household income is below 150 percent of the poverty level, you are presumptively entitled to a fee waiver or reduction, so ask the agency directly before or during enrollment.8U.S. Department of Justice. Frequently Asked Questions – Credit Counseling The certificate you receive must go in with your bankruptcy filing or the court will dismiss the case.
After you file but before the court can wipe out your debts, you must take a second course called debtor education or personal financial management. It covers budgeting, money management, and using credit going forward.9U.S. Department of Justice. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Information Price range and fee-waiver rules match the pre-filing session. You then file Official Form 423 to prove completion, generally within 45 to 60 days after your meeting of creditors, depending on local rules. Miss that deadline and the court can close your case without granting a discharge.
The Forms You’ll File
Every form you need is free on the U.S. Courts website. The main document is Official Form 101, the Voluntary Petition for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy.10U.S. Courts. Voluntary Petition for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy Everything you write is signed under penalty of perjury, so accuracy matters.
Alongside the petition, you file schedules that lay out your full financial picture:
- Schedules A/B and C list everything you own, from furniture and bank accounts to retirement funds, and indicate which items you are claiming as exempt from being sold.
- Schedules D and E/F list every debt you owe, separating secured debts like a mortgage or car loan from unsecured debts like credit cards and medical bills.
- Schedules I and J show your current monthly income and expenses.
- Form 122A-2 is the means test calculation.
- Form 107, the Statement of Financial Affairs, covers recent financial transactions, lawsuits, and property transfers over the past few years.
Add Form 103B for a fee waiver or Form 103A for installments. The U.S. Courts website gives line-by-line instructions. Omitting assets or debts is one of the most common pro se mistakes, and it can get your case dismissed, your discharge denied, or in serious cases trigger criminal charges for bankruptcy fraud.
After You File
Once the clerk accepts your petition and your credit counseling certificate, you get a case number and the automatic stay takes effect, blocking collection calls, wage garnishment, and foreclosure while the case is pending.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay About 20 to 40 days later, you attend a short hearing called the 341 meeting of creditors. A bankruptcy trustee, not a judge, places you under oath and asks whether your forms are complete and accurate. Bring a government-issued photo ID, proof of your Social Security number, recent bank and investment statements, and documentation for the expenses on your means test. The meeting typically lasts five to ten minutes.
If no creditor objects and you file your debtor education certificate on time, the court issues a discharge order roughly 60 days after the first scheduled date of the 341 meeting. The discharge erases your personal liability on qualifying debts, and creditors are permanently barred from trying to collect them.
Make Sure You Actually Qualify for Chapter 7
Free filing only helps if you are eligible to file Chapter 7 at all. The court uses a means test to screen out people who could repay. If your average monthly income over the six months before filing is at or below your state’s median for a household your size, you pass automatically.12United States Courts. Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy Basics Above the median, a more detailed calculation on Form 122A-2 subtracts allowable living expenses and required debt payments and multiplies the remainder by 60 months. If the result exceeds a statutory threshold, the court presumes abuse and you will likely need to file Chapter 13 instead, which is a repayment plan rather than a liquidation.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 707 – Dismissal of a Case or Conversion You can rebut the presumption with special circumstances such as serious medical expenses.
Debts a Chapter 7 Discharge Won’t Erase
A free filing still leaves certain debts on the books. The following obligations survive Chapter 7 regardless of your financial situation:14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
- Child support, alimony, and other domestic support obligations.
- Recent income taxes and taxes where no return was filed.
- Government-backed and most private student loans, unless you prove undue hardship in a separate court proceeding, which is a high bar.
- Debts obtained through fraud or false pretenses, if the creditor challenges them in court.
- Debts for death or personal injury caused by driving while intoxicated.
- Court-ordered criminal restitution.
For fraud-based or willful-injury debts, the creditor has to object within 60 days of the 341 meeting. If no one objects, those debts are discharged along with everything else.12United States Courts. Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy Basics
What You Give Up by Not Hiring a Lawyer
Filing on your own is legal, but the federal courts themselves warn that mistakes can affect your rights. Pro se filers must follow the same Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and local rules as attorneys.15United States Courts. Filing Without an Attorney Common pitfalls include choosing the wrong exemptions and losing property you could have kept, failing to list all creditors so some debts never get discharged, missing the means test calculation and having the case dismissed for presumed abuse, and overlooking the deadline for the debtor education certificate. If your case involves a home, a business, significant non-exempt assets, or debts a creditor is likely to challenge, the complexity jumps and free legal help becomes especially important. Call your local legal aid office before filing anything you are unsure about.