There is no cap on how often you can file bankruptcy in Wisconsin, but federal law sets mandatory waiting periods between discharges that run from two to eight years depending on which chapter you filed before and which one you want to file next. Every clock starts on the date your previous petition was filed with the court, not when the discharge was granted or the case closed, because filing a voluntary petition automatically constitutes the order for relief under federal law.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 301 – Voluntary Cases Miss the window by a day and the court denies your discharge.
The four intervals are:
- Chapter 7 after Chapter 7: eight years from the prior filing date.
- Chapter 13 after Chapter 13: two years from the prior filing date.
- Chapter 13 after Chapter 7: four years from the Chapter 7 filing date.
- Chapter 7 after Chapter 13: six years from the Chapter 13 filing date, with exceptions.
Eight Years Between Chapter 7 Discharges
A second Chapter 7 discharge carries the longest wait in the system. You must wait eight full years from the filing date of your prior Chapter 7 before filing another one.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge The court measures that interval strictly from the date the earlier petition reached the clerk’s office, regardless of how long the case took to close.
If your previous Chapter 7 was dismissed rather than discharged, the eight-year bar generally doesn’t apply, because you never received a discharge in the first place. Pull the final disposition from your court docket before you rely on that. A denial of discharge for fraud or other misconduct is not the same thing as a routine dismissal and can create separate problems in a future case.
Two Years Between Chapter 13 Discharges
A second Chapter 13 discharge requires only two years from the filing date of the prior Chapter 13 case.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge The shorter gap reflects the reality that Chapter 13 already requires monthly payments to creditors over three to five years.4United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics
Because most plans run longer than two years, the waiting period has usually expired by the time you finish paying. If new financial trouble hits soon after you complete a plan, you may be immediately eligible to file again. You still need enough income to fund a new plan and satisfy every other eligibility requirement.
How a Hardship Discharge Fits In
Life sometimes makes it impossible to complete Chapter 13 payments. A disabling injury or medical crisis can qualify you for a hardship discharge, but only when three conditions are met: the failure to complete payments is due to circumstances beyond your control, creditors have already received at least what they would have gotten in a Chapter 7 liquidation, and no reasonable plan modification would work.4United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics A hardship discharge is narrower than a standard Chapter 13 discharge and leaves more categories of debt intact, including anything that would be nondischargeable in a Chapter 7.
A hardship discharge still counts as a discharge for waiting-period purposes. If you receive one and later want to file Chapter 13 again, the two-year clock runs from the filing date of the case in which the hardship discharge was granted.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge The timing doesn’t reset just because the discharge came early.
Four Years From Chapter 7 to Chapter 13
Filing Chapter 13 after a Chapter 7, sometimes called a “Chapter 20,” requires a four-year wait from the Chapter 7 filing date to receive a discharge in the Chapter 13.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge This combination works best when your Chapter 7 wiped out unsecured debts like credit cards and medical bills but left behind obligations Chapter 7 couldn’t touch: mortgage arrears, certain tax debts, or domestic support. A Chapter 13 repayment plan lets you restructure those surviving debts over time while the automatic stay stops collection.4United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics
You can file a Chapter 13 case before the four-year window closes, but the court won’t grant a discharge at the end of the plan. Even without a discharge, the filing triggers the automatic stay, which can halt a foreclosure long enough for you to catch up on missed mortgage payments. Weigh the filing fees and attorney costs against that limited protection before committing to a no-discharge filing.
Six Years From Chapter 13 to Chapter 7
Switching from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 carries a six-year wait measured from the filing date of the Chapter 13 case.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge It’s the second-longest wait, and it exists to discourage people from bouncing between chapters to avoid paying creditors.
Two exceptions eliminate the six-year bar entirely:
- You paid 100 percent of all allowed unsecured claims during your Chapter 13 plan.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge
- You paid at least 70 percent of allowed unsecured claims, the plan was proposed in good faith, and it represented your best effort to repay.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge
The best-effort standard is where people get caught. Courts look at whether you devoted all of your available disposable income to the plan during its entire term, not just whether you happened to clear the 70 percent threshold. Someone who could have paid more but chose a lower plan payment is unlikely to qualify, even if the percentage looks good on paper.
The 180-Day Bar After a Dismissed Case
Separate from the discharge waiting periods, federal law blocks you from filing any new bankruptcy case for 180 days after certain types of dismissal.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor It applies when the court dismissed your case because you willfully failed to follow court orders or skipped required hearings, or when you voluntarily dismissed your own case after a creditor filed a motion to lift the automatic stay.
A routine dismissal without those circumstances generally does not trigger the 180-day bar. Federal law provides that a standard dismissal does not prejudice your right to refile or to discharge the same debts in a later case.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 349 – Effect of Dismissal The court can order otherwise “for cause,” though, which gives judges discretion to impose refiling restrictions when they suspect abuse. If your prior dismissal order includes language restricting future filings, that restriction controls regardless of the general rule.
The Automatic Stay Shrinks for Repeat Filers
Even when the discharge calendar lets you file again, the automatic stay, the order that stops creditors from collecting, garnishing wages, or foreclosing the moment you file, loses its force with each successive filing in a short period. For most people the immediate breathing room is the whole point of filing, so this is where quick refilings hurt most.
If you had one case dismissed within the past year, the stay in your new case expires automatically after just 30 days.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay You can ask the court to extend it by filing a motion and proving that the new filing is in good faith. That hearing has to happen before the 30-day window closes. Miss it and the stay is gone.
If you had two or more cases dismissed in the past year, the automatic stay never takes effect at all.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay Creditors can continue foreclosures, garnishments, and repossessions as if you hadn’t filed. You would need to file a formal motion asking the court to impose the stay, and courts scrutinize those requests heavily. Expect to explain in detail why your previous cases were dismissed and what has changed.
Required Courses Reset Every Time
Every individual bankruptcy filing in Wisconsin, whether it’s your first or your fifth, requires two separate education courses before the court will grant a discharge.8U.S. Courts. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Courses Completing them in a prior case does not carry over.
Pre-filing credit counseling has to be done before you file the petition and covers budgeting basics and alternatives to bankruptcy. Pre-discharge debtor education has to be done after filing but before the court issues the discharge and focuses on financial management. Each course typically costs between $10 and $50 through an approved agency, with fee waivers or sliding-scale rates available if your household income falls below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.9U.S. Trustee Program Archives. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education – New Rules, New Responsibilities Skip either course and you won’t get a discharge, no matter how clean the rest of your case is.