How Much Does It Cost To File Bankruptcy?

If you were thinking of not hiring an attorney, the cost of filing bankruptcy would be the filing fee plus the fees for pre-filing credit counseling and Post-filing financial management counseling.

The court filing fees are the following:

• Chapter 7: $299.00
• Chapter 13: $274.00
• Chapter 11: $1,039.00

What is the Filing Fee For?

This is the amount you pay the court so you can submit your petition. Without the filing fee the court will not accept your petition. Before you can even file a petition, you must have taken a pre-filing credit counseling course and then file the certificate with the court along with your petition. Without the pre-filing credit counseling certificate, the bankruptcy court will not accept your petition. If you file your petition without the credit counseling certificate, the court will deny your discharge and you would have wasted the filing fee paid.

Post-Filing Credit Counseling

If you have taken the pre-fiilng counseling course, obtained the certificate, attached it to your petition, paid the filing fee, and the court has accepted your petition, then you must take the 2nd requirement for a proper discharge. This requirement is called the post-filing credit counseling certificate. Once you take this course, you must file this with the court. If you do not, then you will not receive a discharge.

Please note that you must obtain the credit counseling from an agency accredited by the bankruptcy court. Our law office has consistently used Consumer Credit Counseling of San Francisco: cccssf.org. They charge $50 for pre-filing and $35 for post filing.

Attorney Fees

Because Chapter 13 can take 3-5 years and can involve several types of assets, attorney fees vary and there is no "common" amount. Most of the attorneys are charging at least $2000.

A straight-forward Chapter 7, on the other hand, can cost $1500 - $2400. Our law office is offering less than $1600 as a special offer which includes the filing fee, credit counseling fees, petition preparation, and attorney representation at your 341 Meeting of the creditors.

"Bankruptcy Consultants" or Petition Preparers

Beware of non-attorneys charging more the $900 for petition preparation. Bankruptcy courts look down on this and ask you report such activity. These services may also market themselves as "bankruptcy consultants", and cannot legally offer advice for you bankruptcy case.

Should I File by Myself?

While you can feel free to file bankruptcy on your own, it is not advised because it is a very technical area of law. Once you miss a creditor on your schedules, fail to disclose an asset, or fail to exempt a property you meant to protect, the court will have a good and quick reason to dismiss you case and you would have wasted the amount you paid for you filing fee. Also, if you do not file within 6 months of your credit counseling certificate date, the certificate will expire and you would have pay to retake the course. There are many ways to make mistakes on your petition and this is why it is usually better to hire a competent attorney.

If you have more questions, please feel free to contact our San Francisco office at 415-402-0355 for a free consultation.