How Much Will it Cost to Start Chapter 13 or Chapter 7?
At Clark & Washington, our philosophy has always been that the issue of attorney’s fees should never stand between you and the bankruptcy relief you need.
Chapter 7 Costs
Filing Costs. For a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, the federal filing fee is $299.00. A credit counseling certificate is required to file, $50.00 (this fee includes both the pre-filing and the pre-discharge counseling). This counseling may be done at our office while we are opening the file.
We can also obtain your credit report for $20.00 for a single report, $40.00 for a joint report. This is not mandatory but we find it to be very helpful if you don’t have a complete and accurate list of creditors.
Attorney’s fees. – Clark & Washington charges a total of $1,450.00 for a routine case. Terms are available. Upon payment of the filing fee, $299.00, plus the counseling fee, $50.00 for a total of $349.00, we can file your case and accept payments of five (5) monthly post-dated checks of $290.00 each.
Of course you may also pay attorney’s fees in full by cash, personal check, debit card, money order or checks from a third-party.
Although our standard fee of $1,450.00 applies in 90% of our cases, this fee can vary (both up and down) depending on a number of factors such as:
- the total amount of debt
- the type of debt ( secured debt, judgements, credit cards, taxes, student loans etc…)
- the amount and type of assets
- whether you owe either priority or stale taxes
- the number of pieces of real estate owned
Clark & Washington makes every effort to minimize the costs to begin your case. In most cases, we can file your petition for the filing fee only.
Chapter 13 Costs
Filing Costs. The cost to file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy will be the Federal Court filing fee of $274.00 plus the credit counseling fee of $50.00 (this includes both the pre-petition and pre-discharge counseling) for a total of $324.00.
Attorney’s Fees. All attorneys’ fees for a Chapter 13 are routinely put into the repayment plan. The Chapter 13 Trustee will pay the attorney’s fees on a monthly basis along with the other creditors.
While the majority of bankruptcy attorneys require ALL of their attorney’s fees to be paid in full before the case is filed, we have found that a lot of our clients cannot afford to pay all of the fees upfront. We realize that our clients are in difficult financial situations and installment payments are helpful to them.
