Ohio Bankruptcy Laws: Exemptions, Means Test, and Discharge

Ohio bankruptcy laws follow the federal Bankruptcy Code for the process itself, but Ohio sets its own rules for which of your assets are protected. The state has opted out of the federal exemption system, so every Ohio filer uses the limits in Ohio Revised Code § 2329.66. Whether you can file Chapter 7 or must use Chapter 13 depends on how your household income compares to Ohio’s median under the means test.

What You Can Keep: Ohio Exemptions

Ohio Revised Code § 2329.66 controls which assets you can protect in bankruptcy. The amounts adjust periodically for inflation; the current figures took effect April 1, 2025 and run through March 31, 2028.¹

Your Home

The homestead exemption protects up to $182,625 of equity in your primary residence.¹ It applies only to the home you actually live in, not vacation properties or rentals. Married couples filing jointly can generally each claim a full set of exemptions, which effectively doubles the homestead protection when both spouses hold an interest in the property.

Your Vehicle

You can exempt up to $5,025 of equity in one motor vehicle.¹ If you owe more on the car than it’s worth, there’s no equity to protect and the exemption doesn’t matter.

Household Goods and Work Tools

Household furnishings, appliances, clothing, and similar personal items are protected up to $16,850 total, with no single item exceeding $800. Used goods rarely appraise anywhere near those limits, so most filers keep everything in the house. Tools, equipment, or books used in your trade are protected up to $3,200.¹

The Wildcard

Ohio has a wildcard exemption of up to $1,675 that you can apply to any property, but only in bankruptcy proceedings.² Filers typically use it for cash in a bank account, a pending tax refund, or anything else that doesn’t fit the other categories.¹

Retirement and Public Benefits

Retirement protection is where Ohio’s exemptions are strongest. Public employee retirement benefits, including OPERS and STRS, are generally exempt in full. Private pensions and annuity payments are protected to the extent reasonably necessary to support you and your dependents. IRAs, Roth IRAs, and 529 education savings accounts are also generally exempt, though deposits made specifically to hide money from creditors can be clawed back.²

Wages

Ohio protects from garnishment the greater of 75% of your disposable earnings or an amount equal to 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage per week.² Once you file bankruptcy, the automatic stay halts active garnishments entirely, and exempt wages seized shortly before filing may be recoverable.³

Chapter 7 or Chapter 13: The Means Test

Which chapter you can use turns on the means test. It compares your household income to Ohio’s median for a family of the same size. If you fall below the median, you generally qualify for Chapter 7 without further scrutiny.⁴

For cases filed between November 2025 and March 2026, Ohio’s median income thresholds are:⁵

Single 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 income figure is your average monthly income from all sources over the six full calendar months before the month you file. Wages, business income, and rental income count. Social Security benefits and veterans’ disability payments are excluded.⁶

If your income exceeds the median, the test moves to a second step that subtracts standardized living expense allowances from your income to calculate disposable income. Those allowances come from IRS National and Local Standards for housing, food, transportation, and healthcare, not from your actual spending.⁷ If the remainder is low enough, Chapter 7 is still possible. If not, the law presumes your Chapter 7 is an abuse, and you’ll likely need to convert to Chapter 13 or have the case dismissed.

How a Chapter 7 Case Moves Through an Ohio Court

Chapter 7 is the faster route. A court-appointed trustee reviews your finances and decides whether any non-exempt assets can be sold to pay creditors. Most consumer cases have little or nothing to liquidate and the trustee reports a “no-asset” case.

You file in either the Northern or Southern District of Ohio bankruptcy court. The filing fee is $338, which the court can waive if your income is below the federal poverty guidelines.⁸

Three to six weeks after filing, the trustee holds a 341 meeting of creditors. You testify under oath about your financial disclosures. Creditors have the right to attend and ask questions, but routine consumer meetings last about ten minutes with just you and the trustee.

After the meeting, the trustee has a window to object to exemptions or raise fraud concerns. If nothing surfaces, the court issues a discharge roughly 60 days after the 341 meeting, and the case closes soon after. A straightforward Chapter 7 in Ohio typically runs about four months from filing to discharge.

How Chapter 13 Works

Chapter 13 is for people who have regular income but can’t pass the means test, or who want to protect assets Chapter 7 would reach, such as a home in foreclosure. Rather than liquidating property, you propose a plan to repay creditors a portion of what you owe over time.

Plan length depends on income. Below-median households can propose a three-year plan. At or above the median, the plan must run five years, unless it pays unsecured creditors in full.⁹ The filing fee is $313.⁸

You send monthly payments to a Chapter 13 trustee, who distributes them. Priority debts such as recent taxes and domestic support must be paid in full. Unsecured creditors, like credit card companies and medical providers, get whatever your disposable income allows, which often amounts to pennies on the dollar. Complete the plan and the required debtor education course, and the court issues a discharge, usually three to five years after filing.¹⁰ Chapter 13 also discharges some debts Chapter 7 does not, including certain property-settlement debts from divorce and some debts for willful property damage.

Debts Bankruptcy Won’t Erase

Several categories of debt survive both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.¹¹ The common ones:

Child support and alimony.
Most recent income taxes. Older tax debts may be dischargeable if the return was due more than three years ago, was filed more than two years ago, and the tax was assessed more than 240 days before filing. Taxes involving fraud or willful evasion never qualify.
Student loans, unless you file a separate adversary proceeding and prove undue hardship. Most courts use the Brunner test, a deliberately high bar.
Debts obtained through fraud, false pretenses, or misrepresentation.
Debts for death or personal injury caused by driving while intoxicated.
Criminal fines, traffic tickets, and other government penalties.
Debts from willful injury to a person or property.

Debts you leave off your paperwork can also survive if the creditor didn’t get notice in time to file a claim, which is one reason accurate schedules matter.¹¹

Required Courses and Paperwork

Before filing, you must complete a credit counseling session with an agency approved by the U.S. Trustee Program, within the 180 days before your petition is submitted.¹² Sessions run about an hour and are available by phone or online. The certificate of completion is filed with your petition.

After filing, there is a second mandatory course, debtor education (sometimes called financial management). It must be completed before the court will issue a discharge, and only providers approved by the U.S. Trustee Program can issue valid certificates.¹³ Skip it and you get no discharge, no matter how clean the rest of your case is.

On the documentation side, gather your most recent federal and state tax returns, pay stubs from the last 60 days, and bank statements covering the previous six months. The petition itself includes schedules listing every asset, every creditor, your income sources, and a line-by-line breakdown of monthly expenses. Everything is signed under penalty of perjury. Intentional omissions can lead to dismissal, denial of discharge, or criminal prosecution for bankruptcy fraud.

Reaffirming Debts to Keep Secured Property

A reaffirmation agreement is a voluntary contract keeping you personally liable for a debt that would otherwise be discharged. Filers use these most often to keep a financed car: you keep paying, and the creditor agrees not to repossess.¹⁴

The downside is real. If you fall behind later, the creditor can repossess and still pursue you for any remaining balance, as if you’d never filed on that debt. No one can force you to sign.

Agreements must be filed within 60 days of the first date set for the 341 meeting, unless the court extends that deadline. If you have an attorney, your lawyer certifies that you understand the risks and that the payments won’t create a hardship. If you’re representing yourself, a judge must hold a hearing and find the agreement is in your best interest before approving it.¹⁴ You can cancel any reaffirmation within 60 days after it’s filed with the court or by the date your discharge is entered, whichever is later.

After Discharge: Credit Reports and When You Can File Again

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy stays on your credit report for 10 years from the filing date. A Chapter 13 filing stays for seven. Both drop off automatically when the time expires. The practical hit to your credit fades well before then; many filers qualify for credit cards and even mortgages two to four years after discharge, though initially at higher interest rates.

Federal law also limits how often you can get a discharge. You cannot receive a Chapter 7 discharge if you already received one in a case filed within the previous eight years.¹⁵ If your earlier discharge was under Chapter 13, the wait before a Chapter 7 discharge is six years, unless your Chapter 13 plan paid unsecured creditors in full or paid at least 70% under a good-faith best-effort plan. Those timing rules make the choice of chapter more consequential than most filers realize at the moment they file.

1
United States Bankruptcy Court. April 1, 2025, Ohio Exemption Increases
2
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2329.66 – Exempted Interests and Rights
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
4
United States Department of Justice. Means Testing
5
United States Department of Justice. November 1, 2025 Median Income Table
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 US Code 101 – Definitions
7
Internal Revenue Service. Collection Financial Standards
8
United States Bankruptcy Court. Statutory Filing Fees and Miscellaneous Fees
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1325 – Confirmation of Plan
10
United States Courts. Discharge in Bankruptcy – Bankruptcy Basics
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 US Code 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
13
United States Courts. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Courses
14
Western District of Washington United States Bankruptcy Court. Reaffirmation Agreements
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge