To qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Tennessee, you need to pass the means test, finish a credit counseling course within the 180 days before filing, meet the residency rule for the district where you file, and be outside the waiting period from any prior bankruptcy discharge. The means test is the main gate: if your household income falls below Tennessee’s median for your household size, you generally qualify. If it sits above the median, you can still qualify by showing that after subtracting allowed living expenses, you don’t have enough disposable income to fund a repayment plan.
The Means Test: Tennessee Income Limits
The means test runs in two stages and is completed on Official Forms 122A-1 and 122A-2.
Stage one is an income comparison. You calculate your “current monthly income” by averaging everything your household earned during the six full calendar months before filing. That covers wages, business income, rental income, pensions, and regular contributions from anyone living with you. Social Security benefits are excluded. You annualize the result and compare it to the median income for a Tennessee household of your size.
For cases filed on or after November 1, 2025, the Tennessee medians are:1U.S. Trustee Program/Dept. of Justice. Census Bureau Median Family Income By Family Size
- One earner: $62,339
- Two people: $80,722
- Three people: $95,011
- Four people: $106,775
- Each additional person: add $11,100
These numbers update twice a year, so confirm the figures in effect when you file. If your annualized income is below the applicable median, you pass. No further calculation needed.
If your income exceeds the median, the test moves to stage two. You subtract specific living expenses from your monthly income to find your disposable income. These aren’t your actual expenses. They’re standardized allowances set by the IRS for housing, utilities, transportation, food, clothing, and out-of-pocket healthcare, adjusted by region and household size.2Internal Revenue Service. Collection Financial Standards You also deduct your actual payments on secured debts like mortgages and car loans, along with priority debts such as back taxes. If your remaining monthly disposable income multiplied by 60 falls below a statutory threshold, you still qualify for Chapter 7 despite earning above the median.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 707 – Dismissal of a Case or Conversion to a Case Under Chapter 11 or 13
When the Means Test Doesn’t Apply
The means test only applies when your debts are “primarily consumer debts.” If more than half of your total debt is business-related, like failed business loans, commercial leases, or vendor bills, the test doesn’t apply at all. You can file Chapter 7 regardless of your income. Most courts compare the total dollar amount of business debt against consumer debt, though how an individual debt gets classified can be contested.
Tennessee Residency Requirements
You file your case in the federal bankruptcy court for the district where you’ve lived the greater part of the 180 days before filing. If you split that six-month window between Tennessee and another state, Tennessee has jurisdiction as long as you were here longer than anywhere else.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1408 – Venue of Cases Under Title 11 Tennessee has three bankruptcy districts: the Eastern District (Knoxville, Chattanooga), the Middle District (Nashville), and the Western District (Memphis and West Tennessee).5United States Bankruptcy Court. United States Bankruptcy Court – Eastern District of Tennessee You file wherever your home address sits.
A separate, longer residency rule controls which state’s exemption laws protect your property. To use Tennessee’s exemptions, you need to have lived here at least 730 days (two full years) before filing. If you moved to Tennessee more recently than that, the court applies the exemption laws of the state where you lived for the majority of the 180 days before that two-year lookback began. The rule exists to stop people from relocating purely to pick up more generous exemptions. Tennessee has opted out of the federal exemption system, so if the state rules do apply to you, state exemptions are your only option.
Credit Counseling Before You File
Within the 180 days before filing your petition, you must complete a credit counseling briefing from a nonprofit agency approved by the U.S. Trustee’s office for your district.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor Without a certificate of completion filed with your petition, you aren’t eligible to be a Chapter 7 debtor.
The session reviews your finances and looks at whether alternatives like a debt management plan might work instead. It can be done online or by phone and usually takes 60 to 90 minutes. Fees run about $10 to $50, and the agency has to provide the service even if you can’t pay.
There’s also a second course, financial management, that comes after filing. It’s required for your discharge rather than for eligibility to file, but missing it has the same practical consequence: no discharge. You file Official Form 423 and the completion certificate within 45 days after the date your 341 meeting of creditors is first scheduled. Miss the deadline and your case can be closed without a discharge, forcing you to reopen it and pay the filing fee again.
Waiting Periods After a Prior Bankruptcy
If you’ve been through bankruptcy before, federal law blocks a new Chapter 7 discharge until a set number of years have passed. The clock runs from the filing date of the prior case, not from when that case ended.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge
- After a prior Chapter 7 discharge, you must wait eight years from the filing date of that case.
- After a prior Chapter 13 discharge, you must wait six years from its filing date, unless you paid 100% of unsecured claims in that plan, or paid at least 70% while acting in good faith and giving your best effort.
Inside those windows, Chapter 7 is off the table. A Chapter 13 repayment plan is typically the only bankruptcy option left.
Debts Chapter 7 Won’t Erase
Qualifying to file isn’t the same as wiping out every debt. Chapter 7 eliminates most unsecured debt such as credit cards, medical bills, and personal loans, but several categories survive the discharge no matter what. Knowing which ones in advance keeps you from going through the process and still owing significant sums.
- Child support and alimony are never dischargeable.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
- Federal and private student loans survive unless you can prove repayment would cause “undue hardship,” a difficult standard to meet.
- Recent income taxes, taxes where no return was filed, and taxes tied to fraud are excluded.9Internal Revenue Service. Declaring Bankruptcy
- Debts from fraud, misrepresentation, or false financial statements don’t discharge.
- Debts for death or personal injury caused by driving while intoxicated survive.
- Court-ordered criminal restitution survives.
- Charges over $500 for luxury goods within 90 days of filing, and cash advances over $750 within 70 days, are presumed nondischargeable.
Older income tax debt, generally taxes due more than three years before filing where a return was filed on time, can sometimes be discharged. The rules are technical and fact-specific, so tax debts deserve a close look before you file.
If you meet the income test, cleared your pre-filing counseling, satisfy the residency rule, and aren’t inside a waiting period from an earlier case, you qualify to file Chapter 7 in Tennessee. The rest of the process, including the trustee’s review, the 341 meeting, and the eventual discharge, follows from there.