What Are the Rules for Filing Bankruptcy Twice?

You can file bankruptcy twice, but federal law requires you to wait a set period between cases before you can receive a discharge in the second one. Filing bankruptcy twice is governed mostly by two things: the waiting period that controls whether your debts get wiped out, and the automatic stay rules that control whether creditors have to leave you alone while the case is pending. Both depend on which chapter you filed before and which chapter you’re filing now.

How Long You Must Wait Between Filings

The waiting period runs from the filing date of your earlier case to the filing date of the new one, and the length depends on the chapter combination.¹

Chapter 7 then Chapter 7: eight years.¹
Chapter 7 then Chapter 13: four years.²
Chapter 13 then Chapter 13: two years.²
Chapter 13 then Chapter 7: six years, with an exception explained below.¹

Nothing physically stops you from filing before the clock runs out. The clerk will accept the petition. But the court will deny your discharge, which means you’ll go through the whole process without wiping out any debts. In most situations that makes early filing pointless, with one strategic exception discussed later.

These rules apply when your earlier case ended in a discharge. If it ended in a dismissal rather than a discharge, the waiting periods above are not what controls your timeline — the dismissal rules in later sections are.

The 70 Percent Repayment Exception

The six-year wait from a Chapter 13 to a new Chapter 7 has a built-in escape hatch. If your Chapter 13 plan paid back at least 100 percent of your allowed unsecured claims, the six-year bar does not apply at all. You can also qualify if the plan paid at least 70 percent of those claims, as long as the plan was proposed in good faith and represented your best effort at repayment.¹

If you completed a plan that covered 70 percent or more, you may be eligible for a Chapter 7 discharge well before six years have passed. The court will look at your actual payment history and whether you genuinely put your best financial foot forward when the plan was proposed.

What Happens If You File Before the Waiting Period Expires

In a Chapter 7 filed too soon, the trustee can still liquidate your non-exempt assets, but your debts remain fully enforceable afterward. You get the downside of bankruptcy without the payoff.

In a Chapter 13 filed too soon, you can still propose and complete a repayment plan. That lets you use the bankruptcy process to catch up on secured debts like a mortgage. But the scope of what gets discharged at the end of the plan may be severely limited or eliminated entirely.

Debts the Court Already Refused to Discharge

If your earlier case ended with the court denying your discharge because of fraud, concealment of assets, or destruction of records, that denial follows those debts forever. Any debt that was listed or could have been listed in the earlier case stays permanently non-dischargeable in future filings.³ The same applies if you voluntarily waived discharge in the earlier case.

The Chapter 20 Strategy

There is one situation where filing a second case before the discharge clock runs out actually makes sense. Known informally as “Chapter 20,” the approach is to file a Chapter 7 first to wipe out unsecured debts like credit cards and medical bills, then file a Chapter 13 to deal with secured debts like mortgage arrears or a car loan — even though no Chapter 13 discharge will be available.

The Chapter 7 eliminates unsecured obligations and frees up income. The Chapter 13 then lets you propose a repayment plan for secured debts and gives you time to catch up on a delinquent mortgage or vehicle. Because the unsecured debt is already gone, your entire plan payment goes toward the secured obligations. In some circuits, Chapter 20 also allows lien stripping of wholly unsecured junior mortgages through the Chapter 13 plan.

Courts scrutinize Chapter 20 filings closely for good faith, and any debts that arise during the repayment plan will not be discharged if things go wrong. This is not a do-it-yourself maneuver.

The Automatic Stay Shrinks or Disappears for Repeat Filers

The automatic stay halts lawsuits, wage garnishment, foreclosure, and collection calls the moment your petition is filed. For first-time filers, that protection lasts through the whole case. Repeat filers do not always get the same treatment, and the trigger here is a prior dismissal, not a prior discharge.

One Prior Dismissal in the Past Year

If you had a bankruptcy case dismissed within the one-year period before your new filing, the automatic stay expires after just 30 days. To keep it in place, you have to file a motion before those 30 days run out and convince the court that the new case was filed in good faith. The court presumes bad faith if your circumstances have not substantially changed, or if the prior dismissal happened because you failed to file required documents, comply with court orders, or follow through on a confirmed plan. You can overcome that presumption, but the standard is clear and convincing evidence.⁴

Two or More Prior Dismissals in the Past Year

If two or more of your cases were dismissed in the past year, the automatic stay does not go into effect at all when you file. Creditors can continue foreclosure, garnishment, and collection as if you had not filed. To get any stay protection you have to file a motion within 30 days asking the court to impose the stay, and you face the same bad-faith presumption.⁴

This is where serial filers run into real trouble. People who file, get dismissed, and refile to stall a foreclosure find that the statute specifically anticipated the tactic.

The 180-Day Bar on Refiling

Separate from the stay rules, the Bankruptcy Code can block you from filing at all for 180 days after a dismissal in two specific situations:

Court-ordered dismissal for noncompliance. If the court dismissed your prior case because you willfully failed to follow court orders or failed to appear at required hearings, you cannot file again for 180 days.⁵
Voluntary dismissal after a creditor sought stay relief. If a creditor filed a motion to lift the automatic stay (usually to proceed with foreclosure or repossession) and you responded by voluntarily dismissing your case, you are barred from refiling for 180 days.⁵

During this 180-day period you are not eligible to be a debtor under any chapter. Even if you manage to file, a creditor can challenge your eligibility and have the case dismissed, and any stay you thought you had will not protect your property.⁶ The bar applies only to cases dismissed without a discharge.

Credit Counseling and Fees Start Over

Every bankruptcy filing requires a credit counseling session with an approved nonprofit agency within the 180 days before you file. A certificate from a previous case cannot be reused.⁵ Sessions can be completed by phone or online, and approved-agency fees are generally modest.

In an emergency, you can file before completing counseling if you certify that you tried to get services but could not within seven days of your request. The court may allow up to 30 days, and in some cases 45 days, to finish the requirement after filing. Miss that deadline and your case gets dismissed, which can trigger the 180-day refiling bar.⁵ You will also need to complete a debtor education course before discharge, and that one too has to be done fresh in the new case.

The filing fees reset too. A Chapter 7 petition costs $338, and a Chapter 13 petition costs $313.⁷ Chapter 13 filers can ask the court to pay in installments, but the full amount is eventually due. Attorney fees add significantly to the total, typically $1,200 to $2,500 or more for a standard Chapter 7, and higher for Chapter 13 because the case runs three to five years. A Chapter 7 stays on your credit report for ten years from the filing date and a Chapter 13 for seven, so two filings close in time will overlap and extend the period of impaired credit.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
6
United States Courts. Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy Basics
7
United States Courts. Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule