Filing Fees To Increase

The new Budget bill approved by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives raised bankruptcy filing fees. The cost of filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will rise from $220 to $245, and the cost of filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy will rise from $150 to $235. Including other fees imposed by the Bankruptcy Act the total cost of filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will be $299 and the cost of filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy will be 274. The new fees do not go into effect until 60 days after the bill was passed, and it still must pass the House one more time, due to edits made by the Senate to avoid violating Senate budget reconciliation rules. Therefore, the exact effective date is not yet certain.

Prior to October 17, 2005, under the old bankruptcy law, the filing fee for Chapter 7 was only $209. Congress has imposed close to a 50% increase in filing fees in one year. The new law’s complexity has caused a substantial increase in fees charged by bankruptcy attorneys.