Yes -- but federal law requires you to wait a specific number of years before you can receive a discharge in a new case. Here is how it works.
There is no limit on how many times you can file bankruptcy. However, to receive a discharge -- the court order that actually eliminates your debts -- you must wait a specific number of years between filings. The waiting period depends on which chapter you filed before and which chapter you plan to file next.
If you file too soon, the court will accept your case, but it cannot grant you a discharge at the end. You would go through the entire process -- fees, paperwork, and potentially years of payments -- without the debt relief that makes bankruptcy worthwhile.
| Prior Case | New Case | Wait | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 7 | Chapter 7 | 8 years | §727(a)(8) |
| Chapter 7 | Chapter 13 | 4 years | §1328(f)(1) |
| Chapter 13 | Chapter 13 | 2 years | §1328(f)(2) |
| Chapter 13 | Chapter 7 | 6 years | §727(a)(9) |
All waiting periods are measured from filing date to filing date, not from the date you received your discharge.
Take the filing date of your prior case (the date it was opened, not the date it was discharged or closed). Add the required number of years. If today's date is past that point, you are eligible. If not, you must wait.
These waiting periods only apply if you received a discharge in your prior case. If your prior case was dismissed (thrown out before completion), the discharge bar does not apply. However, a different rule -- Section 109(g) -- may impose a 180-day filing bar if the dismissal was for specific reasons like failure to obey court orders or strategic dismissal after a creditor sought relief from the automatic stay.
Yes. A discharge bar does not prevent you from filing. You can still file and receive the automatic stay, which temporarily stops creditor collection activity, foreclosures, and wage garnishments. But without a discharge at the end, the protection is temporary. Once the case closes, creditors can resume collection.
There is no statutory limit. You can file bankruptcy as many times as you need to, as long as you satisfy the applicable waiting period each time. However, courts and trustees will scrutinize repeat filers more closely, and the automatic stay protections diminish with each filing within a short period.
Federal courts do not automatically check whether you are eligible for a discharge when you file. Your attorney is supposed to verify this, but screening of 4.9 million federal bankruptcy cases found that hundreds of thousands of repeat filers received a discharge with zero eligibility verification. Our free screener was built to close that gap.
Related guides:
Ch. 7 to Ch. 13 Waiting Periods Guide Second Bankruptcy Discharge Bar 1328(f) Explainer GlossaryThis site is free and open-source. Donations support the Open Bankruptcy Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, funding PACER access fees and bankruptcy court transparency research.
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Dedicated Resources
Filing bars: 109g.org -- dedicated Section 109(g) filing bar resource
Discharge bars: 727a8.com -- dedicated Section 727(a)(8) discharge bar resource
Serial filings: serialfiler.org -- repeat filing patterns and data
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