New Hampshire Bankruptcy: Exemptions, Means Test, and Fees

To file bankruptcy in New Hampshire, you submit a petition and supporting schedules to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire at the Warren B. Rudman U.S. Courthouse in Concord.¹ Individuals almost always file one of two chapters: Chapter 7, which discharges most unsecured debts in about four months, or Chapter 13, which puts you on a court-supervised repayment plan lasting three to five years. Which one you can use depends on your income, your assets, and whether you need to stop something like a foreclosure.

Which Chapter Fits Your Situation

Chapter 7 liquidates non-exempt property and uses the proceeds to pay creditors, then wipes out the qualifying balances that remain. In practice, most Chapter 7 filers keep everything they own because their assets fall within New Hampshire’s exemption limits. A typical case closes roughly four months after filing.²

Chapter 13 is built for people with regular income who need to catch up on secured debts like mortgage arrears or car payments while keeping the property. You propose a repayment plan covering three to five years, and remaining eligible unsecured balances get discharged at the end.³ If your income is below the means test median, the minimum plan runs 36 months; above the median, you commit to 60.⁴

The practical difference. Chapter 7 is fast but exposes any non-exempt assets. Chapter 13 takes years but lets you keep property and fold missed mortgage or car payments into the plan. People trying to stop a foreclosure almost always land in Chapter 13.

Do You Qualify? The Means Test

Chapter 7 eligibility runs through the means test under 11 U.S.C. § 707(b).⁵ The first step compares your average monthly income over the six months before filing against the median income for a household of your size in New Hampshire. If you fall below the median, you qualify without further calculation.

As of April 2026, the New Hampshire median income figures the court uses are:⁶

One person: $87,287
Two people: $109,324
Three people: $141,531
Four people: $155,203

Add $11,100 for each person beyond four. These figures update periodically, so check the U.S. Trustee Program’s current table before relying on them.

If your income exceeds the median, the second part of the test subtracts IRS-approved living expenses from your gross income to decide whether a “presumption of abuse” exists.⁷ If it does, the court presumes you can afford to repay something, and your case gets pushed toward Chapter 13 absent special circumstances.⁵ Every income source counts: wages, bonuses, commissions, self-employment, rental income, even regular contributions from a household member. Failing the test doesn’t lock you out of bankruptcy; it channels you into Chapter 13.

Protecting Your Property With Exemptions

Exemptions decide which assets you keep. New Hampshire lets you choose between the state exemption scheme and the federal bankruptcy exemptions, but you pick one set and use it exclusively.⁸ Compare both before filing, because the better choice depends entirely on what you own.

Key State Exemptions Under RSA 511:2

The main state exemption caps:⁹

Homestead: up to $120,000 of equity in your primary residence, including manufactured housing you own and occupy.¹⁰
Motor vehicle: one automobile worth up to $10,000.
Household furniture: up to $3,500, plus a cook stove, heating stove, refrigerator, and necessary utensils.
Tools of your trade: up to $5,000.
Bibles, school books, and personal library: up to $800.
Provisions and fuel: up to $400.
Wearing apparel: all clothing necessary for you and your family, no dollar cap.
Livestock: one cow, a yoke of oxen or a horse used for farming, up to four tons of hay, domestic fowl up to $300, and other specified animals.

The Wildcard Exemption

RSA 511:2(XVIII) adds a wildcard: up to $1,000 in any property, plus up to $7,000 of unused value from the furniture, provisions, library, tools, motor vehicle, and jewelry exemptions.⁹ Unused amounts from those eligible categories can stack into the wildcard up to the $7,000 cap, which can then cover bank account balances, tax refunds, or anything else that doesn’t fit a specific category.

What to Gather Before You File

A bankruptcy petition is a stack of federal forms. The core document is the Voluntary Petition for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy (Form B 101), with Schedules A/B through J covering your property, exempt assets, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, income, and monthly expenses. All forms are on the U.S. Courts website.¹¹

Alongside the schedules, assemble:

Copies of all pay stubs from any employer within 60 days before filing.¹²
Your federal income tax return for the most recent tax year ending before the case; the trustee or court may request earlier years.¹³
A complete creditor list with every creditor’s name, mailing address, and the amount owed.
Means test forms: 122A-1 and 122A-2 for Chapter 7, or 122C-1 and 122C-2 for Chapter 13.⁷

You also have to complete a credit counseling course from an approved agency within 180 days before filing. Without the certificate, the court will dismiss your case.¹⁴

Filing, Fees, and Fee Relief

You submit the completed petition and schedules to the Clerk’s Office at the Concord courthouse.¹ The filing fee is $338 for Chapter 7 and $313 for Chapter 13.¹⁵

If paying upfront isn’t possible, you have two options. You can apply to pay in up to four installments, with the full fee due within 120 days of filing; the discharge won’t issue until the fee is paid, and you can’t pay an attorney or petition preparer until the court fee is covered.¹⁶ Chapter 7 filers whose household income is below 150% of the federal poverty line and who cannot pay even in installments can apply for a full waiver using Form 103B.¹⁵

What Happens After You File

The Automatic Stay

The moment the petition is filed, an automatic stay takes effect. This federal court order stops most collection activity against you: creditor calls, wage garnishments, lawsuits, and foreclosure proceedings all pause.¹⁷ Creditors who violate it can face sanctions.

The 341 Meeting of Creditors

About a month after filing, you attend a Meeting of Creditors, usually called the 341 meeting. It’s run by the court-appointed trustee, not a judge, and takes place in a conference room. You answer questions under oath about your financial situation and the accuracy of your paperwork. Creditors rarely attend, and if your documents are in order most meetings run 10 to 15 minutes.

Debtor Education and Discharge

After the 341, you have to complete a debtor education course, which is separate from the pre-filing credit counseling and required before the court will issue a discharge.¹⁸ File the completion certificate promptly; delays here stall the whole case. Once the discharge order is entered, your legal obligation to pay the included debts is eliminated, and any later collection attempt violates the discharge injunction.

Debts That Survive Bankruptcy

Federal law lists categories of debt that a discharge does not touch, in either chapter:¹⁹

Domestic support obligations: child support and alimony always survive.
Most tax debts: recent income taxes generally cannot be discharged; older tax debts may qualify if returns were filed on time and the taxes assessed long enough ago.²⁰
Student loans, unless you prove “undue hardship” in a separate court proceeding, which is a deliberately high bar.
Debts from fraud, embezzlement, larceny, or willful and malicious injury to a person or property.
Any debt for personal injury or death caused while driving under the influence.
Fines and criminal restitution.
Debts owed to creditors you left off your schedules who had no actual notice of the case.

That last one trips people up. Accidentally omitting a creditor can mean that one debt follows you after everything else is wiped. Triple-check the creditor list before filing.

If You’ve Filed Before

Federal law imposes mandatory gaps before you can receive another discharge, measured from the earlier case’s filing date:

Chapter 7 after Chapter 7: eight years.
Chapter 13 after Chapter 7: four years.
Chapter 13 after Chapter 13: two years.
Chapter 7 after Chapter 13: six years, unless you paid 100% of unsecured claims, or paid at least 70% and the plan was proposed in good faith.

Get the math wrong and you lose the filing fee on a case that goes nowhere.

1
United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire. United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire
2
United States Courts. Discharge in Bankruptcy – Bankruptcy Basics – Section: When Does the Discharge Occur?
3
United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics
4
American Bankruptcy Institute. How Do You Know When Your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Is Over?
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 707 – Dismissal of a Case or Conversion to a Case Under Chapter 11 or 13
6
United States Department of Justice. Means Testing – Median Income Table
7
United States Department of Justice. Means Testing
8
United States Bankruptcy Court District of New Hampshire. Pro Se Debtor’s Guide
9
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 511:2 – Exemptions
10
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 480:1 – Exemption
11
United States Courts. Bankruptcy Forms
12
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 1007
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 521 – Debtor’s Duties
14
United States Department of Justice. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Information
15
United States Bankruptcy Court District of New Hampshire. Fee Waiver Information and Poverty Guidelines
16
United States Courts. Application for Individuals to Pay the Filing Fee in Installments
17
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 362 – Automatic Stay
18
United States Courts. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Courses
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
20
Internal Revenue Service. Declaring Bankruptcy