You can file bankruptcy in Florida as many times as you need to, but federal law controls how soon a new case will actually discharge your debts. How often you can file bankruptcy in Florida depends on which chapter you filed last and which chapter you file next: the waits run from two years (Chapter 13 to Chapter 13) up to eight years (Chapter 7 to Chapter 7), and every clock starts on the filing date of the earlier case, not the discharge date.
Waiting Periods After a Chapter 7 Discharge
Two different clocks apply after a Chapter 7, depending on what you file next.
Chapter 7 Again
You must wait eight years from the filing date of the earlier Chapter 7 before a court will grant a discharge in a new Chapter 7 case.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge Nothing physically stops you from filing sooner, but the court will deny the discharge, so you would pay the filing costs and get no debt relief. There is no hardship exception to the eight-year rule.
Chapter 13 Instead
The wait shortens to four years from the Chapter 7 filing date if you want a discharge in a Chapter 13 case.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge
Filing Chapter 13 before the four years run is still legal, and sometimes worth doing. This tactic is sometimes called a “Chapter 20”: Chapter 7 first to wipe out unsecured debt, then Chapter 13 immediately after to catch up on mortgage arrears or strip an underwater junior lien. The tradeoff is real. If you file the Chapter 13 before four years have passed, you make plan payments to creditors for years but receive no discharge at the end.
Waiting Periods After a Chapter 13 Discharge
Completing a Chapter 13 plan opens two more clocks.
Chapter 13 Again
The wait is two years from the filing date of the previous Chapter 13.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge Because most Chapter 13 plans last three to five years, this two-year clock usually expires before the plan itself finishes. In practice, many people who complete a Chapter 13 can file another one right away if new financial trouble hits.
Chapter 7 Instead
You must wait six years from the filing date of the earlier Chapter 13 before receiving a Chapter 7 discharge.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge
Two waivers can eliminate this six-year bar entirely. The wait disappears if your Chapter 13 plan paid unsecured creditors 100 percent of their allowed claims. It also disappears if the plan paid at least 70 percent, was proposed in good faith, and represented your best effort. Anything below 70 percent means the full six years apply.
Quick Reference
- Chapter 7 then Chapter 7: 8 years from the first filing date.
- Chapter 7 then Chapter 13: 4 years from the Chapter 7 filing date.
- Chapter 13 then Chapter 13: 2 years from the first Chapter 13 filing date.
- Chapter 13 then Chapter 7: 6 years from the Chapter 13 filing date, waived if unsecured creditors received 100 percent, or at least 70 percent through a good-faith best effort.
Every one of these periods runs from the filing date of the earlier case, not the date the discharge was entered or the case was closed.
What If the Earlier Case Was Dismissed
A dismissed case is not the same as a completed one, because no discharge was granted. The waiting periods above do not apply. Different consequences do.
When a case is dismissed “without prejudice,” you can refile immediately. The catch is the automatic stay. If you file the new case within one year of the dismissal, the stay that protects you from creditors terminates after just 30 days.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay You can ask the court to extend it, but the burden is on you to prove the new filing is in good faith, and you must do it before the 30 days run out. If two or more of your cases were dismissed in the prior year, no automatic stay takes effect at all in the new case unless the court orders one.
A dismissal “with prejudice” is more serious. The court usually sets a specific bar period, often 180 days, during which you cannot file at all. In some situations, the dismissal order can also block the discharge of specific debts that existed when the dismissed case was filed. Courts reach for this remedy most often when they find bad faith, abuse, or repeated failure to comply with court orders.
Two Florida-Specific Timing Traps
The waiting periods above are federal and identical in every state. Two other federal rules operate specifically on Florida’s generous asset protections, and both can penalize a repeat filer who moves or buys property at the wrong moment.
The 730-Day Residency Requirement
Florida has opted out of the federal exemption list, so filers use Florida’s exemptions, including the state’s unlimited homestead protection.4Online Sunshine. 2025 Florida Statutes Chapter 222 But federal law requires that you have been domiciled in Florida for at least 730 days (two full years) before your filing date to use them.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 522 – Exemptions Fall short, and the court looks at where you lived for the majority of the 180 days before that two-year window and applies that state’s exemptions instead.
For a repeat filer who relocated to Florida between bankruptcies, this rule is often the single most important reason to delay a second filing. Someone who moves from a state with a modest homestead exemption, buys a Florida home, and files 18 months later would be stuck with the old state’s caps rather than Florida’s protection.
The 1,215-Day Homestead Cap
Even after clearing the 730-day residency test, a repeat filer who bought recently faces another federal limit. If you acquired your homestead within 1,215 days (about 40 months) before filing, your exempt equity in that home is capped at $214,000. The same cap can apply if the court finds certain bad acts, such as securities fraud or criminal conduct, that warrant limiting the exemption. This rule exists to catch people who buy expensive Florida homes shortly before filing to shelter assets, and it can bite a repeat filer who used the gap between cases to upgrade housing.
What a Repeat Filing Does to Your Credit
A bankruptcy filing stays on your credit report for up to 10 years from the date it was filed.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does a Bankruptcy Appear on Credit Reports? That applies to both chapters. The major credit bureaus often remove a completed Chapter 13 case after seven years in practice, but they are not required to before the 10-year mark.
A second filing resets that clock. Another decade of the notation on your report can affect mortgage approvals, rental applications, and insurance rates the whole time. The practical damage does fade as you rebuild credit, but weighing that long-term cost against the immediate debt relief is the central calculation for every repeat filer.