How Often Can You File Bankruptcy?

There’s no lifetime limit on how many times you can file bankruptcy. What the law actually limits is how often you can receive a discharge, the court order that wipes out your debts. The wait depends on which chapter came first and which comes next: 8 years from Chapter 7 to Chapter 7, 2 years between Chapter 13s, 4 years from Chapter 7 to Chapter 13, and 6 years from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7. Every one of those clocks runs from filing date to filing date.

Here’s the whole schedule in one place. Notice the last column: every one of these rules limits the discharge, not the filing itself. More on that difference below.

Your last case	Your next case	Waiting period	What it limits
Chapter 7	Chapter 7	8 years	Discharge only, §727(a)(8)
Chapter 13	Chapter 13	2 years	Discharge only, §1328(f)(2)
Chapter 7	Chapter 13	4 years	Discharge only, §1328(f)(1)
Chapter 13	Chapter 7	6 years, with an exception	Discharge only, §727(a)(9)

The 2-4-6-8 rules, explained

Chapter 7 after Chapter 7: 8 years. Section 727(a)(8) of the Bankruptcy Code bars a new Chapter 7 discharge if you already received one in a case commenced within 8 years before the new filing. It’s the longest wait, and usually the one people mean when they ask this question.

Chapter 13 after Chapter 13: 2 years. Section 1328(f)(2) blocks a Chapter 13 discharge if you received one in a Chapter 13 case filed within the 2 years before the new case. In real life this bar almost never bites: a Chapter 13 plan itself runs 3 to 5 years, so by the time your first plan finishes, the 2 years have already passed.

Chapter 13 after Chapter 7: 4 years. Section 1328(f)(1) blocks the Chapter 13 discharge if you received a discharge in a Chapter 7 case (or a Chapter 11 or 12 case) filed within the previous 4 years.

Chapter 7 after Chapter 13: 6 years, with an exception. Section 727(a)(9) bars the Chapter 7 discharge if you received a Chapter 13 discharge in a case commenced within the previous 6 years. The exception: the wait doesn’t apply if payments under your old plan totaled at least 100 percent of the allowed unsecured claims, or at least 70 percent under a plan you proposed in good faith that was your best effort. If your old Chapter 13 paid back most of what you owed, you may not have to wait 6 years at all.

Two details apply to every row. First, each clock runs from the date the earlier case was filed to the date the new one is filed. It doesn’t run from your discharge date, and measuring discharge to discharge overstates the wait, sometimes by years. Second, these rules only trigger if you actually received a discharge in the earlier case. A case that was dismissed without a discharge generally doesn’t start any of these clocks, though it can raise the separate refiling problems covered below.

You can file sooner. You just won’t get a discharge.

None of the rules above stop you from filing a new case. They stop the court from granting a second discharge. That gap opens a strategy bankruptcy lawyers sometimes call a “Chapter 20”: filing a Chapter 13 soon after a Chapter 7 discharge, not to wipe out debt a second time, but to get a court-supervised payment plan for the debts the Chapter 7 couldn’t erase, like mortgage arrears, recent taxes, or a car loan you need to catch up. The automatic stay protects you while you pay. Whether that trade makes sense depends entirely on the numbers in your case, so treat it as an option to ask a lawyer about. And if you’re weighing which chapter fits the second time around, our Chapter 7 vs Chapter 13 comparison walks through the differences.

The traps that catch repeat filers

Congress added guardrails for people who file, dismiss, and refile. Section 109(g) imposes a 180-day bar on refiling if your last case was dismissed for willful failure to obey court orders or to appear, or if you voluntarily dismissed it after a creditor filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay. Section 362(c)(3) says that if you file a second case within a year of a dismissed one, the automatic stay ends 30 days after filing unless the court extends it, which takes a quick motion showing the new case was filed in good faith. And under Section 362(c)(4), a third case within a year gets no automatic stay at all unless the court imposes one. These rules are exactly where do-it-yourself refilers get hurt, because the protection they’re counting on quietly expires.

When filing again early still makes sense

Waiting out the full period isn’t always the right move. A new Chapter 13 can stop a foreclosure or repossession and give you 3 to 5 years to catch up, even when no discharge is on the table. It can organize debts that never get discharged anyway, like most recent taxes and support arrears, where the payment structure is the whole point. And if your earlier case was dismissed without a discharge, the 2-4-6-8 rules likely don’t apply to you in the first place. The math is different in every case, which is why the first step is a free consultation, not a guess. A lawyer can pull your old case dates and tell you exactly where you stand.

One note about our $999 Chapter 7 fee

Our $999 flat-fee Chapter 7 is built for first-time filers, so it isn’t available to anyone who has filed bankruptcy within the last 8 years. If your prior case is more than 8 years back, you may qualify. If it’s more recent, we can still help at our standard rates, often through Chapter 13. Either way, checking your dates is the first thing we do.