How to File Bankruptcy in Ohio: Chapters, Exemptions, Discharge

To file bankruptcy in Ohio, you choose between Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, complete a required credit counseling briefing, gather your financial records, fill out the official petition and schedules using Ohio’s property exemptions, and file with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for either the Northern or Southern District of Ohio depending on where you live. The process runs on federal law but uses Ohio-specific income thresholds and exemptions, and it typically ends in a discharge that wipes out qualifying debts.

Choose Between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13

Chapter 7 is the fast liquidation route. A trustee reviews your assets, sells anything not protected by an exemption, and distributes the proceeds to creditors. In most consumer cases everything is exempt and there’s nothing to sell, making it a “no-asset” case that closes in four to six months. Chapter 7 fits people with limited income whose debts are mostly unsecured, like credit cards and medical bills.

Chapter 13 is a repayment plan for people with steady income. You keep your property and pay creditors over three to five years through a court-approved plan. If your income sits below Ohio’s median for your household size, the plan can run three years; above the median, it generally must run five, and no plan can extend past five.¹ Chapter 13 is often the better fit when you’re behind on a mortgage or car loan and want to catch up while keeping the collateral.

Chapter 13 has debt limits: secured debts cannot exceed $1,580,125, and unsecured debts cannot exceed $526,700. Chapter 7 has no debt ceiling but requires passing the means test.

Run the Means Test

The means test decides whether you can file Chapter 7. It compares your household income over the six full calendar months before filing against Ohio’s median for a household of your size. Fall below the median and you pass automatically. Land above it and a second calculation subtracts allowed living expenses (based on IRS national and local standards, not your actual spending) to see whether you have enough disposable income to fund a Chapter 13 plan instead. If that calculation leaves you with less than roughly $117 per month, you still qualify for Chapter 7.

For Ohio cases filed between November 2025 and March 2026, the annual median income figures are:²

One earner: $64,541
Household of two: $81,578
Household of three: $99,876
Household of four: $120,531
Each additional person: add $11,100

The thresholds update roughly every six months. Check the U.S. Trustee Program’s means-testing page for the numbers that apply to your filing date.³

Complete Credit Counseling First

Federal law requires every individual filer to complete a credit counseling briefing within the 180 days before filing.⁴ The session covers budgeting and alternatives to bankruptcy, runs about an hour, and costs $20 to $50 (with a required fee waiver if you can’t afford it). You can take it in person, by phone, or online, but only through a nonprofit agency approved by the U.S. Trustee for your district. The Department of Justice keeps a searchable list of approved agencies for both Ohio districts.⁵

You’ll receive a certificate of completion, and it has to go with your petition. Without it, the court dismisses your case. A narrow exception exists for filers unable to complete the briefing due to a mental or physical disability or active military duty in a combat zone; the court can waive the requirement after a hearing. A short temporary waiver is also available if you tried to schedule a session within seven days of filing but no approved agency could see you in time, though that waiver expires 30 days after filing (with a possible 15-day extension for good cause).

Gather Your Financial Documents

Pulling records together before you start the forms saves days of backtracking. You need:

All pay stubs from any employer for the 60 days before filing, plus six months of income data (bank statements, side-job records, anything else showing earnings) for the means test.⁶
Federal and state tax returns for the four most recent tax years.⁷
A full creditor list with legal names and mailing addresses for everyone you owe. Anyone left off may still be able to collect after your case closes.
A detailed property inventory covering real estate, vehicles, electronics, clothing, and bank balances.
An honest monthly expense breakdown: housing, utilities, food, transportation, insurance, medical, childcare.

Apply Ohio’s Property Exemptions

Ohio has opted out of the federal exemption system, so you use the state exemptions in Ohio Revised Code 2329.66.⁸ Exemptions decide how much equity in each type of property you can shield from the trustee. In a Chapter 7 case, anything above the exempt amount can be liquidated.

The dollar amounts adjust every three years. The current figures took effect April 1, 2025, and run through March 31, 2028:⁹

Homestead (personal residence): $182,625 in equity
One motor vehicle: $5,025
Cash on hand: $625
Household items: $800 per item, up to $16,850 total
Jewelry: $2,125
Tools of your trade or profession: $3,200
Bodily injury awards: $31,650
Wildcard (any property): $1,675

The wildcard applies to any asset, so it can stack with a category exemption. If you have $2,000 in a bank account, the $625 cash exemption plus the $1,675 wildcard covers $2,300 of it. Getting Schedule C right is one of the most consequential parts of the filing. Underclaim and the trustee can take property you were entitled to protect; overclaim and you invite objections that slow the case.

One residency rule catches recent movers off guard: to use Ohio’s exemptions, you must have been domiciled in Ohio for the 730 days (about two years) immediately before filing. If you moved to Ohio more recently, you may have to use your prior state’s exemptions instead.¹⁰

Complete the Petition and Schedules

Bankruptcy uses the official “B” series forms published on the U.S. Courts website.¹¹ Form B 101, the Voluntary Petition for Individuals, opens your case. It identifies you, tells the court which chapter you’re filing, and summarizes your debts. Each Ohio district also has local forms, so check the local rules where you file.

Behind the petition sit Schedules A/B through J. Schedules A/B list every piece of property. Schedule C is where you claim your Ohio exemptions. Schedules D and E/F split debts into secured (mortgages, car loans) and unsecured (credit cards, medical). Schedule I details income; Schedule J covers monthly expenses. Form B 106Sum ties everything together into a one-page summary.¹²

Chapter 7 filers also complete Form B 122A-1 (current monthly income) and, if income exceeds the median, Form B 122A-2 (full means test). Chapter 13 filers use the 122C series to calculate disposable income for the plan. Errors on these forms are the leading cause of delays and dismissals, so verify every number against your source documents.

File in the Correct Ohio District

Ohio has two federal bankruptcy districts. You file in the one covering your county, and you must have lived in that district for the greater part of the 180 days before filing.¹³ The Northern District has offices in Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Toledo, and Youngstown.¹⁴ The Southern District operates out of Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton.¹⁵

Filing fees are $338 for Chapter 7 and $313 for Chapter 13.¹⁶ You can ask to pay in installments if you can’t cover the full amount up front. A complete fee waiver is available if your household income falls below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. Attorneys file electronically through CM/ECF. If you’re representing yourself, you typically submit paper copies at the clerk’s office, though some districts allow self-represented electronic filing.

What Happens After You File

The Automatic Stay

The moment the clerk accepts your petition, the automatic stay takes effect. It halts most collection activity: lawsuits, wage garnishments, bank levies, foreclosures, and creditor calls.¹⁷ For many filers this is the most immediate relief the case provides.

The stay has limits. It does not stop criminal proceedings, actions to establish or collect child support and alimony, certain tax audits, or most family law matters like divorce and custody (though it pauses fights over dividing estate property inside a divorce). Government agencies can also continue enforcing health and safety rules. If a prior bankruptcy case was dismissed within the past year, the stay may last only 30 days or may not go into effect at all, depending on how many recent filings you’ve had.

The 341 Meeting of Creditors

Within 21 to 40 days after a Chapter 7 filing (or 21 to 50 days for Chapter 13), the court schedules the 341 meeting of creditors. Despite the name, creditors rarely appear. The trustee runs it, not a judge, and it usually takes under ten minutes.¹⁸ You’ll answer questions under oath, verify your identity with a photo ID and Social Security card, and confirm your filings. Lying or hiding assets is a federal crime, but honest filers find the meeting straightforward. Miss it without a good reason and the case can be dismissed.

Finish the Debtor Education Course and Get Your Discharge

After the 341 meeting comes a second required course on personal financial management, separate from the pre-filing counseling. Chapter 7 filers must file the certificate of completion within 60 days of the date the 341 meeting was first scheduled. Chapter 13 filers have until the last plan payment. You complete the course through an approved provider and file the certificate (Official Form 23).

In a routine Chapter 7 case, the court enters the discharge order roughly 60 to 90 days after the 341 meeting. The discharge ends your personal liability on qualifying debts, so creditors can never try to collect on them again. A Chapter 13 discharge comes at the end of the plan, after three to five years of payments.¹

Debts That Are Not Discharged

Some debts survive both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13:¹⁹

Child support and alimony.
Most student loans. You can pursue a discharge through a separate adversary proceeding, but you must prove undue hardship.
Recent income taxes. Tax debt discharges only if the return was due more than three years ago, was filed on time or at least two years before the bankruptcy, and the IRS assessed the tax more than 240 days before filing.⁷
Debts from fraud, including materially false written financial statements a creditor relied on.
Debts for death or personal injury caused by driving while intoxicated.
Criminal fines, restitution, and most government penalties.
Debts for willful and malicious injury to a person or property.
Debts owed to creditors you accidentally left off your schedules, if they didn’t learn about the case in time to participate.

During a Chapter 13 case, you also have to keep filing tax returns on time and paying current taxes as they come due. Falling behind on either gives the court grounds to dismiss the case.⁷

Reaffirmation for Car Loans and Other Secured Debt

If you file Chapter 7 and want to keep a financed vehicle or other secured property, you’ll face the reaffirmation question. A reaffirmation agreement is a contract that keeps you personally liable for that specific debt even though it would otherwise be discharged. The upside is that the lender keeps reporting your payments to credit bureaus, which helps rebuild credit. The downside is real: if the car is later repossessed or you fall behind, you owe the remaining balance as if you’d never filed.

Some filers instead do what’s called a “ride-through,” continuing payments without signing a reaffirmation. The underlying debt gets discharged, so if you later stop paying, the lender can repossess but cannot sue you for a shortfall. The tradeoff is that ride-through payments often go unreported. The right choice depends on your equity, the reliability of the asset, and whether you can genuinely afford the payments going forward. This is one of the decisions where a bankruptcy attorney’s advice matters most.

Credit Impact and Waiting Periods for Refiling

A bankruptcy filing stays on your credit report for up to ten years from the filing date.²⁰ The practical damage fades faster than that. Most people who complete a Chapter 7 discharge start receiving credit offers within a year or two, though at higher rates, and steady rebuilding with a secured card and on-time payments moves scores into a reasonable range well before the ten years are up.

If you’ve had a Chapter 7 discharge before, you must wait eight years from that prior filing date before filing another Chapter 7. If you had a Chapter 7 discharge and later need Chapter 13, the wait is four years. Timing those windows matters if a second filing is on the table.

1
United States Courts. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Basics
2
United States Department of Justice. Median Family Income Table
3
United States Department of Justice. Means Testing
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
5
United States Department of Justice. List of Credit Counseling Agencies Approved Pursuant to 11 USC 111
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 521 – Debtors Duties
7
Internal Revenue Service. Declaring Bankruptcy
8
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2329.66 – Exempted Interests and Rights
9
United States Bankruptcy Court. April 1, 2025, Ohio Exemption Increases
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 522 – Exemptions
11
United States Courts. Bankruptcy Forms
12
United States Courts. A Summary of Your Assets and Liabilities and Certain Statistical Information
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1408 – Venue of Cases Under Title 11
14
United States Bankruptcy Court. Court Locations – Northern District of Ohio
15
United States District Court. United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
16
United States Bankruptcy Court. Filing Fees
17
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
18
United States Department of Justice. Section 341 Meeting of Creditors
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
20
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does a Bankruptcy Appear on Credit Reports