How much does it cost to file bankruptcy?
Three pieces: the court filing fee ($338 for Chapter 7, $313 for Chapter 13, waivable or payable in installments for low-income Chapter 7 filers), two required courses (roughly $10-$50 each), and the attorney fee, which is the real number. Chapter 7 attorney fees are flat and vary by market and complexity; Chapter 13 has the structural kindness that most of the fee is paid through the plan, so little money down. Yes, it's strange that being broke costs money; here's how people actually manage it.
In this answer
The fixed costs
The court filing fee: $338 for Chapter 7, $313 for Chapter 13 (amounts change occasionally; the courts publish the current schedule). Chapter 7 filers below 150% of the poverty line can apply for a full waiver; anyone can ask to pay in installments over a few months after filing. The two courses (pre-filing counseling, post-filing education) run roughly $10 to $50 each, with waivers for low-income filers. So the government’s share of a bankruptcy is modest and flexible.
The attorney fee: the real number
Fees vary by region, by complexity, and by market, enough that quoting a national figure would mislead more than help; consultations are free, so two local quotes cost you an afternoon. What’s worth understanding is the structure:
Chapter 7 fees are almost always flat and paid before filing, for an unavoidable reason: a fee still owed at filing would itself be a dischargeable debt. This is why Chapter 7 filers often stop paying dischargeable credit cards (money that was vanishing anyway) and redirect it to the fee, and why a tax refund frequently becomes the fee. Both are ordinary, accepted paths; ask the attorney rather than improvising.
Chapter 13 flips the problem: most of the attorney fee rides inside the plan, in many districts at a court-approved standard amount, so people routinely start a 13 with little money down. For someone facing a foreclosure with empty pockets, that structure is sometimes the difference between help and none, and it’s a fair thing to ask any attorney about directly: “what do I need to start?”
About doing it for the price of the filing fee
Filing without a lawyer is legal and has a real place, covered honestly in Do I need a lawyer to file bankruptcy?. The cost question has a sharper version, though: the expensive bankruptcy isn’t the one with the higher quote; it’s the one that goes wrong. A lost car that should have been exempt, a denied discharge, a dismissed 13 that burns the stay for the refile: any of these costs multiples of every fee discussed here. Price the risk, not just the retainer, and be suspicious of quotes dramatically below your market; volume mills make their margins somewhere.
The bottom line
If the fee is the only thing between you and filing, say that sentence out loud at a consultation. Between waivers, installments, plan-paid fees, redirected payments, and legal aid for those who qualify, consumer bankruptcy practice has spent decades building answers to exactly this problem. Being broke is the expected condition of the customer.
Sources
This is general information, not legal advice. The right answer for you depends on details a website cannot see, and rules vary by state and by court.
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