The cost to file bankruptcy in Louisiana runs from about $370 if you handle a Chapter 7 case yourself to roughly $5,450 or more for a Chapter 13 case with an attorney. The court’s filing fee is fixed by federal law, but attorney fees, two required counseling courses, and (in Chapter 13) the trustee’s commission are what move the total.
Court Filing Fees
Every case begins with a filing fee paid to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The amounts are set federally and are the same across Louisiana’s three districts.
- Chapter 7: $338, made up of a $245 filing fee, a $78 administrative fee, and a $15 trustee surcharge.1United States Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Louisiana. Schedule of Fees
- Chapter 13: $313, made up of a $235 filing fee and a $78 administrative fee.1United States Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Louisiana. Schedule of Fees
These are the baseline. They don’t change based on your income, your debts, or where in the state you file.
Attorney Fees
Attorney fees are the largest variable in the total, and they dwarf the court’s filing fee for most filers. What you pay depends on the chapter, the complexity of your finances, and your district.
Chapter 7
A straightforward Chapter 7 in Louisiana typically costs between $1,200 and $2,200 in attorney fees. Cases involving business debts, potential asset disputes, or creditors likely to object land toward the higher end. Most Chapter 7 attorneys require full payment before they file your petition, because a Chapter 7 case has no repayment plan to fold fees into.
Chapter 13
Chapter 13 attorney fees run higher because the lawyer’s work extends across a three-to-five-year repayment plan. Each Louisiana district publishes a “fixed fee” that attorneys can charge without separate court approval.
In the Western District of Louisiana, for cases filed on or after April 1, 2025, the fixed fee is $5,025, with a reduced cap of $2,825 for smaller plans where total payments to the trustee are $9,050 or less.2United States Bankruptcy Court Western District of Louisiana. General Order 2025-2 – Chapter 13 Fixed Fees In the Eastern District, the most recent published presumptive fee is $4,000 for direct-payment plans and $4,500 for conduit plans, with a $2,500 cap for plans paying less than $6,000 total.3United States Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Louisiana. Amended General Order 2020-8 – Chapter 13 Attorney Fees
The practical advantage of Chapter 13 is that attorney fees are almost always folded into the court-approved repayment plan. That means little or nothing is owed to your attorney up front, which makes Chapter 13 workable for people who can’t produce a lump sum, even though the total legal cost is higher than Chapter 7.
Required Counseling Courses
Federal law requires every individual filer to complete two separate courses: a credit counseling session within 180 days before filing, and a debtor education course after filing but before discharge.4United States Department of Justice. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Information They are not the same course and can’t be taken together.
Each one typically costs $10 to $50, so budget roughly $20 to $100 total. Both are available online from providers approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. Skipping either can get your case dismissed or your discharge denied, so this is not optional spending.5United States Courts. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Courses
Chapter 13 Trustee Commission
If you file Chapter 13, a standing trustee administers your repayment plan and takes a percentage of every payment. Federal law caps this at 10% for non-farm debtors.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 586 – Duties; Supervision by Attorney General In practice, Louisiana trustees have historically charged between about 7% and 9%, depending on the district.7United States Department of Justice. Schedules of Actual Administrative Expenses of Administering a Chapter 13 Plan
You won’t write a separate check for the commission. It’s baked into your monthly plan payment. On a plan with $30,000 in total payments, the trustee’s share works out to roughly $2,100 to $2,700 over the life of the plan. Chapter 7 filers don’t pay this.
Ways to Lower or Defer the Cost
Fee Waiver for Chapter 7
If your household income is below 150% of the federal poverty line and you can’t afford even installment payments, the court can waive the entire $338 Chapter 7 filing fee.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 1930 – Bankruptcy Fees For 2026, that threshold is approximately $23,940 for one person, $32,460 for two, $40,980 for three, and $49,500 for four.9U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2026 Poverty Guidelines – 48 Contiguous States Fee waivers are not available for Chapter 13.
Paying in Installments
If you don’t qualify for a waiver, both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filers can ask to split the filing fee into up to four installments, with all payments due within 120 days of filing. The court can extend that to 180 days for good cause.10Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 1006 – Filing Fee No discharge is granted until the full fee is paid.
Filing Without an Attorney
You have the right to file on your own, which courts call filing “pro se.” Doing so cuts attorney fees out of the equation entirely. The federal courts discourage it, though, because court staff and judges can’t give you legal advice, and a mistake in your petition can mean a dismissed case, lost exempt property, or debts that don’t get discharged.11United States Courts. Filing Without an Attorney Chapter 13 is especially risky to handle alone, because the repayment plan has to comply with detailed legal requirements over several years. If cost is the reason you’re considering pro se, check whether you qualify for free civil legal aid first. Groups such as Acadiana Legal Service Corporation help eligible Louisiana residents with bankruptcy matters.
What You Can Expect to Pay
Putting the pieces together, here’s where most Louisiana filers land:
- Chapter 7 without an attorney: about $370 to $440 (filing fee plus the two courses).
- Chapter 7 with an attorney: about $1,550 to $2,650 (filing fee, attorney fees, and courses).
- Chapter 13 with an attorney: about $3,200 to $5,450 across the plan (filing fee, attorney fees paid through the plan, courses, and trustee commissions).
The Chapter 13 range doesn’t include the trustee’s percentage, which can add several thousand more over a multi-year plan but comes out of your monthly payments rather than as a separate bill. Many Louisiana bankruptcy attorneys offer free initial consultations, so a case-specific estimate before you commit costs nothing.