How Many Times Can You File Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?

There is no lifetime limit on how many times you can file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. What federal law limits is how often you can receive a discharge — the court order that actually erases your debts. To get a second Chapter 7 discharge, you generally have to wait at least eight years from the date you filed the first case.¹

The Eight-Year Rule Between Chapter 7 Discharges

A bankruptcy court cannot grant you a Chapter 7 discharge if you already received one in a case filed within the previous eight years.¹ The date that matters is the day your earlier petition was filed with the court. Not the day the discharge was entered. Not the day the case was closed. If your first petition was filed on March 1, 2020, you become eligible for a new Chapter 7 discharge in a case filed on or after March 1, 2028.

Nothing stops you from filing a new petition sooner. The clerk will accept it, the case will proceed, the trustee will do their work, and any nonexempt assets you own can still be sold. At the end of all that, the court will deny your discharge and you will walk out with the same debts you walked in with. Filing before the clock has run is one of the most expensive mistakes a repeat filer can make.

The same eight-year wait applies if your prior discharge came under Chapter 11 rather than Chapter 7.¹

Shorter Waits When Your Prior Case Was Chapter 13 or Chapter 12

If your last discharge came from a Chapter 13 or Chapter 12 case, the wait before a Chapter 7 discharge is six years from that earlier filing date rather than eight.¹

Two exceptions can eliminate that six-year wait entirely:

You paid 100 percent of the allowed unsecured claims under the earlier plan.
You paid at least 70 percent of allowed unsecured claims, the plan was proposed in good faith, and it represented your best effort.

If either applies, you can seek a Chapter 7 discharge without waiting.¹

Filing Chapter 13 After a Chapter 7

People who have already used Chapter 7 sometimes need bankruptcy protection again for a different reason — mortgage arrears, a tax debt, a car loan behind on payments. Chapter 13 is often the answer, and it has its own timing rule. You can receive a Chapter 13 discharge only if the new case is filed at least four years after your Chapter 7 filing date. Between two consecutive Chapter 13 discharges, the wait is two years.²

You can still file Chapter 13 inside that four-year window. You just won’t get a discharge at the end. This combination — Chapter 7 followed quickly by Chapter 13 — is informally called “Chapter 20,” and for many filers the missing discharge doesn’t matter. The Chapter 7 already erased the credit card and medical debt. The Chapter 13 plan then structures repayment of what survived, and by the time the plan finishes those debts are paid off through the plan itself.

What Repeat Filers Lose on the Automatic Stay

Filing bankruptcy triggers the automatic stay, a court order that halts collection calls, wage garnishments, foreclosures, and repossessions. First-time filers get the stay for the entire case. Repeat filers can get a much shorter version, or none at all.

One Dismissed Case in the Last 12 Months

If you had a bankruptcy case dismissed within the 12 months before your new filing, the automatic stay expires 30 days after you file unless you act.³ To keep it in place, you have to file a motion, prove the new case was filed in good faith, and complete the hearing before the 30 days are up. Miss that window and the stay is gone.

The court will presume bad faith if your earlier case was dismissed because you failed to file required documents, failed to provide adequate protection to creditors, or failed to perform under a confirmed plan.³ You can rebut that presumption, but it takes clear and convincing evidence.

Two or More Dismissed Cases in the Last 12 Months

If two or more of your cases were dismissed in the past 12 months, no stay takes effect when you file again.³ Collections and foreclosures keep going as if you had not filed at all. You can ask the court to impose a stay, but the bad-faith presumption applies and you have no protection until the judge rules.

When a Dismissal Blocks You From Refiling

A dismissal is different from a discharge. Because a dismissal grants no relief, it usually does not start the eight-year or six-year clocks. But two situations trigger a 180-day bar on refiling:⁴

The court dismissed your case because you willfully disobeyed court orders or failed to appear.
You voluntarily dismissed your own case after a creditor had already filed a motion to lift the automatic stay.

A dismissal “with prejudice” is harsher. The judge can bar you from refiling for at least 180 days, and sometimes longer. In extreme cases a court can permanently block discharge of the specific debts that existed when the earlier case was dismissed. How severe the penalty gets depends on the conduct behind the dismissal.

What You Still Have to Do Each Time You File

Clearing the waiting period is only part of the picture. Every Chapter 7 filing, first or fifth, has to satisfy the same eligibility rules.

Credit Counseling

You must complete a briefing from an approved nonprofit credit counseling agency within the 180 days before you file.⁴ Phone and online sessions count. Narrow exceptions exist for emergencies where no approved agency is available, for people with certain disabilities, and for active-duty military in combat zones. If the session produced a debt management plan, you have to file it with the court.

The Means Test

Chapter 7 is meant for people who cannot repay their debts. The means test compares your household income to the median income in your state for a household your size. Below the median, you pass automatically. Above it, a more detailed calculation of disposable income after allowed expenses determines whether the filing counts as abusive.⁵ Passing once does not mean you pass again. Income, expenses, and household size change.

Filing Fee

The court filing fee for Chapter 7 is $338. You can ask to pay in installments, or apply for a fee waiver if your income is under 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.

How Multiple Filings Show Up on Your Credit

A Chapter 7 stays on your credit report for up to 10 years from the filing date.⁶ File a second Chapter 7 the moment you’re eligible, eight years later, and the first filing can still sit on your report for roughly two more years while the new one starts a fresh 10-year clock. A repeat filer can carry bankruptcy notations for close to two decades.

Lenders, landlords, and some employers see each filing separately. Two bankruptcies on a report make mortgages and auto loans harder to get and more expensive when you do get them.

How to Confirm Your Prior Filing Date

Every waiting period on this page runs from the date your earlier petition was filed. Not the discharge date. Not the closing date. Getting that wrong by a few months can cost you your discharge.

The reliable way to check is the federal court records system, PACER. A free account lets you search by name across all federal courts and pull up any bankruptcy case where you appeared as a debtor.⁷ The docket report shows the exact filing date, the chapter, and whether the case ended in a discharge or a dismissal.⁸ Most bankruptcy court clerk offices also have public terminals for the same records if you’d rather look them up in person.

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 362 – Automatic Stay
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
5
United States Courts. Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy Basics
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does a Bankruptcy Appear on Credit Reports
7
United States Courts. Find a Case (PACER)
8
Public Access to Court Electronic Records | PACER. Federal Court Records