When Can I File Chapter 7 Again? The 8-Year and 6-Year Rules

You can file Chapter 7 again eight years after the filing date of your previous Chapter 7 case, provided that first case ended in a discharge. If your last bankruptcy was a Chapter 13, ended in dismissal, or if you’re open to filing Chapter 13 instead, the timing works differently and often more favorably. Getting the waiting period wrong doesn’t just cost you a filing fee. The court will deny your discharge, leaving all your debts intact and a second bankruptcy on your record.

Eight Years After a Prior Chapter 7 Discharge

The longest wait applies when both cases are Chapter 7. You must wait eight full years before the court can grant another Chapter 7 discharge.¹ The clock starts on the date you filed the first petition, not the date the discharge was granted or the case closed. That distinction matters because several months usually pass between filing and discharge.

If you filed your first Chapter 7 on March 15, 2020, you become eligible for a second discharge on or after March 15, 2028. You can technically submit the paperwork before the eight years are up, but there’s no strategic reason to do it. You’d complete the entire process only to have the discharge denied.

Six Years After a Prior Chapter 13 Discharge

If your last bankruptcy was a Chapter 13 that ended in discharge, the wait to file Chapter 7 drops to six years from the filing date of that Chapter 13.¹ The measurement works the same way: filing date to filing date.

Two exceptions can eliminate the six-year wait entirely. The first applies if your Chapter 13 repayment plan paid 100% of allowed unsecured claims, such as credit cards, medical bills, and personal loans. If those creditors were paid in full, you can file Chapter 7 immediately with no waiting period.²

The second applies if your plan paid at least 70% of unsecured claims. You must also show the court that you proposed the plan in good faith and that it represented your best effort to repay creditors given your income and expenses at the time.¹ This is a higher bar than simply hitting the 70% number. The court has discretion to deny the exception if it believes you could have paid more.

Chapter 13 as a Faster Alternative

If Chapter 7 is off the table because the eight-year or six-year window hasn’t closed, Chapter 13 may still be available with shorter waits.

After a prior Chapter 7 discharge, you must wait four years from that filing date to receive a Chapter 13 discharge.³
After a prior Chapter 13 discharge, you must wait two years from that filing date.³

This creates an option many people miss. Say you received a Chapter 7 discharge three years ago and are now drowning in new debt. Another Chapter 7 discharge is five years away, but Chapter 13 becomes available in one more year. Chapter 13 requires a three-to-five-year repayment plan rather than a quick liquidation, but it stops collection actions and can restructure debts like mortgage arrears or car loans.

Filing After a Dismissed Case

A dismissed case is a different situation from a discharged one. Discharge is the successful outcome that wipes qualifying debts. Dismissal means the court ended the case before completion, leaving debts intact. The rules for refiling after dismissal depend on why the case was dismissed.

Routine Dismissal

As a general rule, dismissal does not prevent you from filing again.⁴ If your case ended for a routine procedural reason, like a missed paperwork deadline, there’s no mandatory waiting period. Correct the problem and refile.

The 180-Day Bar

A 180-day waiting period kicks in under two specific circumstances. The first is dismissal because you willfully disobeyed a court order or failed to appear at a required hearing. The second is voluntarily dismissing your own case after a creditor had already asked the court to lift the automatic stay, which is the protection that halts foreclosures, repossessions, and lawsuits while your case is active.⁵

That second scenario targets a specific abuse pattern: filing bankruptcy to freeze a creditor’s collection, dismissing once the immediate threat passes, then refiling to freeze it again. The 180-day bar breaks that cycle.

Dismissal With Prejudice

In rare cases a court dismisses “with prejudice,” barring the debtor from refiling for a set period. The general rule that dismissal doesn’t prevent refiling only applies when the court hasn’t ordered otherwise.⁴ Judges typically impose this when they see a pattern of bad-faith filings, and they have broad discretion to set the length.

The Automatic Stay Penalty for Repeat Filers

Clearing the waiting period isn’t the only thing to plan for. Repeat filings come with a separate penalty: reduced protection from the automatic stay. The stay is what makes bankruptcy immediately useful, forcing creditors to stop collections, lawsuits, wage garnishments, and foreclosure the moment you file. For repeat filers, it shrinks or vanishes.

If you had a bankruptcy case pending at any point in the previous year that was dismissed, the automatic stay in your new case expires after 30 days.⁶ You can ask the court to extend it, but you must file and complete a hearing before the 30 days run out, and you have to overcome a legal presumption that the new case wasn’t filed in good faith.

If two or more cases were pending and dismissed in the previous year, no automatic stay takes effect at all when you file.⁶ Creditors can keep collecting as if no bankruptcy exists. You can still ask the court to impose a stay, but the presumption against you is even harder to overcome.

Requirements You Have to Meet Again

A second filing doesn’t earn any shortcuts. You must complete a credit counseling course from an approved agency within 180 days before filing.⁵ The certificate from your prior case will not work. It must be a fresh session tied to your current financial picture.

You’ll also have to pass the means test again. Chapter 7 is reserved for people who genuinely can’t afford to repay their debts, and the test compares your income to the median for your state. Passing it once doesn’t guarantee passing it again. If your income has risen, you may be pushed into Chapter 13 instead.

How a Second Filing Affects Your Credit

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy stays on your credit report for up to 10 years from the filing date.⁷ Each filing creates its own entry, so a second Chapter 7 doesn’t replace the first. Both appear. File in 2020 and again in 2028, and your credit report can show a bankruptcy continuously from 2020 through 2038.

Lenders scrutinize multiple bankruptcies much more heavily than a single one. A first filing followed by years of clean credit can be explained. Two filings make it substantially harder to qualify for mortgages, auto loans, or credit cards on reasonable terms. That said, if you’re facing wage garnishment or foreclosure, credit damage is the smaller problem. Weigh the long-term impact against whether alternatives like Chapter 13 or debt negotiation might serve you better.

Waiting Periods at a Glance

Chapter 7 after Chapter 7: 8 years from the prior filing date¹
Chapter 7 after Chapter 13: 6 years from the prior filing date, waivable if you paid 100% of unsecured claims, or 70% with good faith and best effort¹
Chapter 13 after Chapter 7: 4 years from the prior filing date³
Chapter 13 after Chapter 13: 2 years from the prior filing date³
After a routine dismissal: no mandatory waiting period⁴
After a bad-faith dismissal: 180 days⁵

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge
2
United States Bankruptcy Court – Central District of California. Prior Bankruptcy, If I Had A Prior Bankruptcy, How Soon Can I Get Another Discharge
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 349 – Effect of Dismissal
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
7
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does a Bankruptcy Appear on Credit Reports