The 180-day rule in bankruptcy is really two separate federal rules that happen to share the same 180-day window. One, under 11 U.S.C. § 541(a)(5), pulls certain windfalls into your bankruptcy estate if you become entitled to them within 180 days after you file. The other, under 11 U.S.C. § 109(g), blocks you from filing a new bankruptcy case for 180 days after a prior case was dismissed under specific circumstances. Both matter, and mixing them up is a common and expensive mistake.
Which Windfalls Get Pulled Into the Estate
When you file Chapter 7, almost everything you own at that moment becomes property of the bankruptcy estate. Federal law then stretches the estate to reach three specific things you become entitled to within 180 days after filing:
- Property you receive by bequest, devise, or inheritance from someone who dies during that window.
- Property you receive from a spouse through a property settlement agreement or divorce decree.
- Proceeds you’re entitled to as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy or death benefit plan.
Those three categories are the entire list. Wages you earn after filing, gifts from living relatives, and lawsuit settlements unrelated to divorce fall outside the rule.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 541 – Property of the Estate Congress drew the line here to stop a specific move: someone expecting a large inheritance rushing to file, wiping out debts, and collecting the windfall clean.
How the 180-Day Clock Runs
The countdown starts the day your petition is filed. It does not shift with the meeting of creditors, the discharge order, or the case-closing date. What controls is when your legal right to the asset came into existence, not when the money actually lands in your account.
For an inheritance, the trigger is the date the person died. If a relative dies on day 179, the inheritance belongs to the estate even if probate drags on for two years and you receive nothing until long after your case closes.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 541 – Property of the Estate Life insurance works the same way. The insured’s date of death is the trigger, not the date the check is cut. Death on day 181 means the proceeds are yours.
For divorce property, the trigger is the date the settlement agreement is signed or the decree entered. If you’re filing bankruptcy in the middle of a divorce, the timing of each document matters.
Conversion Does Not Reset the Clock
If your case starts as a Chapter 13 and later converts to Chapter 7, the 180 days run from the original petition date. The statute is explicit: conversion does not change the date of the filing of the petition.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S.C. 348 – Effect of Conversion File Chapter 13 on January 1, convert on June 1, and your 180-day window still closes around June 30.
Chapter 13 Reaches Further Than 180 Days
This is where filers get caught off guard. In Chapter 13, the bankruptcy estate includes essentially all property you acquire after filing, not just the three windfall categories, and not just within a 180-day window. The estate captures what you receive until the case is closed, dismissed, or converted.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 1306 – Property of the Estate
Because Chapter 13 plans run three to five years, that is a much wider net. An inheritance in year four is still estate property. The trustee or a creditor can ask the court to raise your plan payments to account for it. A significant windfall during a Chapter 13 plan will usually mean paying more to creditors.
Exemptions Can Still Protect the Asset
An inheritance or insurance payout entering the estate does not automatically mean you lose it. Bankruptcy exemptions shield certain amounts of property from creditors, and they apply to 180-day assets the same way they apply to everything else you own on the filing date.
In states that let you use the federal exemption system, the wildcard exemption under 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(5) is usually the most flexible tool. As of the adjustment effective April 1, 2025, the wildcard protects up to $1,675 in any property, plus up to $15,800 of any unused homestead exemption.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 522 – Exemptions A renter with no home equity can combine those for up to $17,475 of protection. A modest inheritance may be fully covered. A large one will not be.
State exemption systems vary. Some states have their own wildcard, some allow unlimited exemptions for particular property types, and some do not permit the federal exemptions at all. The exemption strategy on a 180-day asset can decide whether you keep it or lose it.
Reporting a Newly Acquired Asset
Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 1007(h) requires you to file a supplemental schedule within 14 days of learning about any asset the 180-day rule covers. The duty applies even if your case has already closed. Chapter 11 cases after plan confirmation, and Chapter 12 and 13 cases after discharge, are the only carve-outs.
Reporting means amending your schedules. You add the new property to Schedule A/B with a description, location, nature of your interest, and current value. If you’re claiming an exemption, you also update Schedule C. The court charges a $34 fee for amended schedules, and a judge can waive it for good cause.5United States Courts. Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule After filing with the clerk, you serve copies on the trustee and any affected creditors, usually by first-class mail, and file a certificate of service.
What Happens If You Do Not Report
This is where the rule has real teeth. Under 11 U.S.C. § 727(d)(2), a trustee or creditor can ask the court to revoke your discharge if you acquired estate property and fraudulently failed to report it or turn it over.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 727 – Discharge Losing your discharge means the debts you thought were wiped out come back.
The exposure can go further. Concealing assets or withholding records from a bankruptcy trustee is a federal crime carrying up to five years in prison.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 152 – Concealment of Assets; False Oaths and Claims; Bribery Prosecutions are rare, but the threat of losing your discharge is usually enough. An inheritance you tried to hide will be seized anyway, and the fresh start you filed for is gone with it.
The 180-Day Bar on Refiling
The second 180-day rule has nothing to do with assets. Under 11 U.S.C. § 109(g), you cannot file a new bankruptcy case for 180 days if your previous case was dismissed under either of two circumstances:
- The court dismissed your case because you willfully failed to obey court orders or to appear before the court in proper prosecution of the case.
- You voluntarily dismissed your own case after a creditor filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay.
The first scenario targets careless filers who ignore deadlines or skip the meeting of creditors. The second targets a specific abuse: filing to trigger the automatic stay, halting a foreclosure or repossession, dismissing once you’ve bought time, then repeating.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S.C. 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
Courts split on how strictly to read the second prong. Some apply it whenever a voluntary dismissal follows a stay-relief motion in time. Others require a causal link, meaning the dismissal was actually driven by the motion. Which view controls depends on the district or circuit where you plan to file.
What the Refiling Bar Does Not Cover
The bar does not apply if your prior case was dismissed for other reasons, such as failing to complete credit counseling or missing a filing deadline unrelated to a court order. It also does not apply if your case ended in a discharge rather than a dismissal. Once 180 days pass, you’re eligible to file again, though separate timing rules may affect whether you can obtain a discharge depending on which chapter you filed before.