Is the $338 court fee more than you have? Learn how to pay in installments or ask to waive it.
Cannot Pay the $338 Bankruptcy Fee at Filing? Installments and the Chapter 7 Waiver
You have two applications to choose from: Form 103A to pay the court fee in up to 4 installments within 120 days, in either chapter, and Form 103B to ask for a full Chapter 7 waiver when your income is under 150 percent of the poverty line ($23,940 for one person, $49,500 for four). The court decides each.
By the end you will know: the 4-payment, 120-day installment rule and what it bars until the fee is paid; the two waiver conditions and the 2026 poverty figures; why the waiver test is not the means test.
Quick answer
The court fee is $338 for Chapter 7 and $313 for Chapter 13 (a lawyer's fee is separate), and as an individual in either chapter you can apply on Official Form 103A to pay it in up to 4 installments, all within 120 days of filing (the court may extend the last one to 180 days for cause). If you file Chapter 7, you can apply on Official Form 103B for a full waiver if your household income is below 150 percent of the official poverty line and you cannot pay the fee even in installments; on the HHS 2026 guidelines for the 48 contiguous states and DC, 150 percent is $23,940 for one person and $49,500 for four. Until the fee is paid in full, Rule 1006 bars further payments to an attorney or anyone else providing services in your case. The court decides every application; this page does not say who qualifies.
Free tool
Choose your state in this free tool to see the $338 or $313 court fee (a lawyer's fee is separate), the installment rule, and where your income sits against the 150 percent waiver line for your state.
By the Legal Cost by State Editorial Team·Last updated and source-checked October 14, 2026
What to do next
Three things to know before you file without the fee.
1
Form 103A goes in with the petition
It names up to 4 payment dates within 120 days of filing, and the clerk accepts your petition with it before any part of the fee is paid.
2
Form 103B is the Chapter 7 waiver
The court looks at your income against 150 percent of the poverty line and at whether you could pay in installments; both conditions apply, and the court decides.
3
Mark each payment date; no one on the case can be paid until the fee is paid in full
Rule 1006(b)(3) bars further payments to an attorney or anyone else providing services until the filing fee is paid in full, and uscourts.gov cites 11 U.S.C. 707(a) and 1307(c)(2) for dismissal after a missed installment.
The court rules on every application; this page gives you the forms and the figures, not a verdict.
What exactly can be split or waived? The whole $338 or $313
Rule 1006(a) of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure requires the filing fee with every petition unless an installment or waiver application comes with it, and its "filing fee" counts both the 1930(a) fee and any Judicial Conference fee payable at filing. For Chapter 7 that is the $245 statutory fee, the $78 administrative fee and the $15 trustee surcharge, $338 in all; for Chapter 13 it is $235 plus $78, $313 in all. Both totals are the same in every district, and both are court fees only; a lawyer's fee is separate.
If you and your spouse file a joint petition, you pay one set of these fees (uscourts.gov), so the rules below apply to one set, not two.
Learn the five steps of an installment plan, from your application to what happens after a missed payment.
Open to you as an individual filing a voluntary petition under either chapter, under Rule 1006(b) as amended December 1, 2024.
1
File the application with the petition
The clerk must accept the petition, with no part of the fee paid, if a signed Official Form 103A comes with it.
2
The court sets the schedule before the meeting of creditors
Before the meeting of creditors, the court may order the whole fee paid or set installments, naming the number (no more than 4), the amount of each and the payment dates.
3
120 days, or 180 for cause
All installments are due within 120 days of filing; for cause the court may extend one, but the last is due within 180 days.
4
No other case payments until the fee is paid
Until the fee is paid in full, neither you (the debtor) nor the Chapter 13 trustee may pay an attorney or anyone else providing services in the case.
5
Missed payments can end the case
uscourts.gov warns that unpaid fees may lead to dismissal (11 U.S.C. 707(a) in Chapter 7, 1307(c)(2) in Chapter 13).
Learn the two conditions a Chapter 7 waiver needs, the form, and the other fees it can reach.
Under 28 U.S.C. 1930(f)(1) the court may waive the Chapter 7 filing fee for an individual whose income is under 150 percent of the official poverty line for the household size and who cannot pay in installments. Both conditions apply: low income alone is not enough if you could pay in installments.
The application is Official Form 103B; Rule 1006(c) says the clerk must accept a Chapter 7 petition that comes with it. The statute says "may", so the court decides each application. Paragraph (f)(2) also lets the court waive other fees under 1930(b) and (c) for a debtor who qualifies, such as the court's miscellaneous fees.
Learn the 2026 poverty figure and its 150 percent line by household size, Alaska and Hawaii included.
The waiver uses the official poverty line HHS revises each year (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)): one set for the 48 contiguous states and DC, and higher sets for Alaska and Hawaii.
HHS 2026 poverty guidelines by household size, and 150 percent of each (this site's arithmetic). Form 103B and the court decide the comparison for a real case.
People in household
HHS 2026 guideline, 48 states and DC
150 percent, 48 states and DC
150 percent, Alaska
150 percent, Hawaii
1
$15,960
$23,940
$29,925
$27,540
2
$21,640
$32,460
$40,575
$37,335
3
$27,320
$40,980
$51,225
$47,130
4
$33,000
$49,500
$61,875
$56,925
5
$38,680
$58,020
$72,525
$66,720
6
$44,360
$66,540
$83,175
$76,515
7
$50,040
$75,060
$93,825
$86,310
8
$55,720
$83,580
$104,475
$96,105
Above 8 people, HHS adds $5,680 per person for the 48 states and DC, $7,100 for Alaska and $6,530 for Hawaii; 150 percent of those is $8,520, $10,650 and $9,795. HHS defines no guidelines for Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands or the Virgin Islands and leaves the choice to the program that uses them, so the table has no row for filers there.
Learn how the waiver line differs from the means test median, and why one says nothing about the other.
Both compare income with a table by household size. The waiver uses 150 percent of the HHS poverty guideline and decides only whether the court fee is paid; the Chapter 7 means test uses the much higher state median income from the U.S. Trustee Program and decides whether a presumption of abuse arises. Falling under one tells you nothing about the other.
Learn what you can spread over time in Chapter 13, and why no Chapter 13 waiver is described.
If you file Chapter 13, you can use Form 103A and the same 4 installments over 120 days, for the filing fee and the $78 administrative fee alike (the uscourts.gov Chapter 13 Basics page still prints the older $75 figure). The waiver in 1930(f)(1) is written for Chapter 7. Paragraph (f)(3) leaves courts room to waive fees for other debtors under Judicial Conference policy, but none of the sources read states a Chapter 13 waiver rule.
Learn the reopening, amendment and conversion fees, and which of them a judge can waive.
The fee schedule lists $245 to reopen a Chapter 7 case and $235 to reopen a Chapter 13 case, and says the court may waive the reopening fee under appropriate circumstances. It charges $34 to amend the schedules or list of creditors and lets the judge waive that charge for good cause, and the $15 trustee surcharge applies again when a case converts to Chapter 7.
Learn the limits of this page: it states the rules and decides nothing.
It sets out the installment and waiver rules as published. It does not decide who qualifies, fill in a form or predict what a court will order.
Nothing on this site is legal advice, and this site does not provide bankruptcy assistance.
Learn where the rules and figures come from and the date they were checked.
The rule, the statute, the fee schedule and the HHS 2026 guidelines are linked under Sources, all checked October 14, 2026. The 150 percent columns are the only arithmetic on the page.
Yes. Rule 1006(a) and 28 U.S.C. 1930(f) both define the filing fee to include the Judicial Conference fees payable at filing, so the $78 administrative fee and, in Chapter 7, the $15 surcharge are part of what is paid over time or waived.
No more than 4. You must pay them all within 120 days after you file the petition; for cause the court may extend an installment, but the last one is due within 180 days after filing.
No. Until the filing fee is paid in full, Rule 1006(b)(3) bars further payments to an attorney or anyone else providing services in the case.
uscourts.gov says failure to pay the fees may result in dismissal of the case (11 U.S.C. 707(a) in Chapter 7, 1307(c)(2) in Chapter 13).
No. The court may waive it when your income is below 150 percent of the poverty line and you cannot pay the fee in installments (28 U.S.C. 1930(f)(1)), and it decides each case.
HHS publishes separate guidelines for both. For 2026, one person is $19,950 in Alaska and $18,360 in Hawaii, against $15,960 in the 48 contiguous states and DC.
The federal courts publish the Official Forms, and bankruptcy courts link them from their own fee pages; the Western District of Louisiana's filing fee page, for example, links both and the HHS guidelines.
No. The waiver uses 150 percent of the HHS poverty guideline; the means test uses the U.S. Trustee Program's state median family income table, a much higher figure.
Information on this page reflects laws and published figures as of October 14, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice, and not a prediction for any matter. Rules and fees change; check the court or agency page linked for each figure.
Ready for the numbers in your state? The tool is free.