How Much Does Bankruptcy Cost in Hawaiʻi?
This guide is legal information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every situation is different, and what your case costs depends on your facts. For a quote on your own situation, start with my free questionnaire or call me at (808) 468-7000.
I work hard to keep this page accurate, but errors or omissions are possible and fees can change. The information here is current only as of the date above.
How much does bankruptcy cost in Hawaiʻi?
There are two costs, and they go to two different places. The court charges $338 to file a Chapter 7 and $313 to file a Chapter 13. My own fee is separate from that: a flat fee for most Chapter 7 cases, and in Chapter 13 either the flat fee this court has approved in advance or an hourly rate the court reviews and approves. In a Chapter 13, in most cases the majority of the fee is paid through your plan rather than up front. You can hire me without paying anything up front, and I tell you which arrangement fits your case before you commit to anything.
A bankruptcy has two costs: what the court charges to file, and what your lawyer charges to do the work. They go to different places, they are paid at different times, and the difference between them is much bigger in Chapter 13 than in Chapter 7.
Key Takeaways
- The court's fee and my fee. The filing fee is set by the court and goes to the court. My fee is separate and pays for the legal work on your case.
- Chapter 7 is almost always a flat fee. Quoted before you commit, and it includes both required courses, a three agency credit report, the 720 CreditScore program, and the tax.
- Chapter 13 is flat or hourly, and the court approves either one. This district publishes a flat fee for standard Chapter 13 work; cases that need more than that are billed hourly, and in most cases the majority of my fee is paid through your plan rather than up front.
- Nothing due up front. You can hire me before you have the money, and I set up a payment plan that fits your budget.
- Some cases are hourly. When a case needs more work than a flat fee covers, the fee is hourly instead, and in a bankruptcy the court reviews that fee for reasonableness. I will tell you at the start which arrangement fits your case, not later.
What the Court Charges
The filing fee is set by the federal courts. The current amounts are $338 for a Chapter 7 and $313 for a Chapter 13.
If paying it all at once is not realistic, there are two routes in a Chapter 7. You can apply to pay the fee in installments, which the court generally approves as long as the final installment falls within 120 days of filing. You can also apply to have the Chapter 7 fee waived outright, which requires household income below a threshold tied to the federal poverty line and an inability to pay even in installments.
Chapter 13 is stricter on this point. Installment payments are disfavored there, and where the court allows them at all it generally requires the full fee within 14 days after the case is filed.
What I Charge for a Chapter 7
For most Chapter 7 cases my fee runs between $1,500 and $2,500, depending on how complicated the case turns out to be. Cases involving a business generally cost more, because there is more to review and more that can go wrong.
It is a flat fee, quoted before you commit. It includes the two required courses, a three agency credit report, the 720 CreditScore program, and the tax. The court's filing fee is in addition to this amount, because that money goes to the court rather than to me. In a rare Chapter 7 I bill hourly instead, and I tell you that before you commit.
What I Charge for a Chapter 13
Chapter 13 works differently. Depending on the case, I charge either the flat fee set by this court's fee guidelines, which the court approves without itemized time records, or an hourly rate that the court reviews and approves. A Chapter 13 runs for years and often involves more work than a flat fee covers, so many of my cases are handled hourly. In an hourly case I keep time records and ask the court to approve the fee, and the court decides what is reasonable. Where the flat fee fits, this court calls it a presumptively reasonable fee, and for the standard work in a Chapter 13 case it is $5,650.
Some work sits outside that figure, because not every case needs it. These fees are also set by the court. A motion to determine the amount of a secured claim, which establishes what secured property is actually worth for purposes of the plan, is $1,150 per vehicle or parcel of real property. A request to avoid a lien is also $1,150 per parcel. If your plan is confirmed, meaning the judge approves it, at or before the first hearing, the court adds a $450 success fee in its confirmation order. I do not bill that separately; the court awards it, and it is paid through the plan along with everything else.
That published amount covers the standard work through the first year after your plan is confirmed. If your case still needs attention after that, the guidelines allow a request for additional fees. In practice that is usually handled inside the payment you are already making, rather than arriving as a new bill.
In a Chapter 13, court-approved fees, flat or hourly, can be paid partly through your plan rather than out of your pocket at the beginning. In most cases the majority of my fee, though not all of it, is paid that way. One monthly plan payment funds all of it: your mortgage arrears, back taxes, credit card balances, your other debts, and my fee.
What That Looks Like in a Plan Payment
This is an illustration, not a prediction.
Say someone is $18,000 behind on the mortgage and carries $50,000 in unsecured debt, on a plan that pays those unsecured creditors 15%. Whether the arrears carry interest, and at what rate, comes from the mortgage itself. This example puts it at 4%. This example is a flat-fee case. Say they also paid $1,500 toward my fee before the case was filed, which leaves $4,150 of it to be paid through the plan. Across five years, that is roughly:
| Paid through the plan | Each month |
|---|---|
| Mortgage arrears, principal and interest | $331 |
| Unsecured creditors | $125 |
| Balance of my fee | about $69 |
| Subtotal, before the trustee’s percentage | about $526 |
The trustee, the official who oversees your case, then takes a percentage of every payment for administering the plan. That percentage is required in every Chapter 13 case and is not something either of us chooses. I figure it at 10%, which brings the payment to roughly $584 a month. The rate is set by the Attorney General after consultation with the U.S. Trustee, and federal law caps it at 10%.
Of that $584 payment, about $69 is my fee. Everything else is money the person already owed, or the trustee’s share for handling it.
You can still hire me without paying anything up front, and you do not have to produce that amount in one piece. It is paid on an installment plan, on whatever schedule you and I agree on. Whatever you have paid by the day I file is credited against my fee, and the balance goes into the plan. There is a quiet advantage in paying part of it early: money paid before the case is filed does not run through the plan, so the trustee’s percentage never applies to it.
Three refinements, so the arithmetic holds up. The fee is not always spread evenly across all sixty months. The plan sets a monthly rate for it, paid alongside the secured creditors and ahead of the unsecured ones, so it can be paid off in the earlier part of the plan. That makes the fee a larger slice early and no slice at all later, while the total stays the same. The 15% to unsecured creditors is not a standard figure; what your plan has to pay them turns on your income, your allowed expenses, and what those creditors would have received if you had filed a Chapter 7 instead. And the interest on the arrears comes from your own loan documents rather than from a bankruptcy rate, which is why the 4% above stands in for an ordinary mortgage rate. What your note requires on a past due balance is what governs, and on some loans it works out to less than the illustration shows.
When a Case Is Billed Hourly
Not every case fits a flat fee. A Chapter 13 runs for years, and the work often goes beyond what the flat fee covers. Other cases take far more time than a standard filing in any chapter: a contested matter, litigation brought inside the bankruptcy case, a complicated business, or a case where someone objects and the objection has to be worked through. In every hourly case the court reviews and approves the fee.
When a case is going to be billed hourly, I tell you at the start, and I tell you why.
Hiring Me Before You Have the Money
If you cannot afford to pay a fee before you file, that does not put bankruptcy out of reach. You can hire me without paying anything up front. I set up a payment plan that fits your budget and start on your case right away. In the meantime I get everything ready, and I file shortly after your final payment.
What Changes the Day You Hire Me
The phone calls are among the first to change. From the day you hire me, you can give my name and number to anyone who calls about a debt and tell them I am handling your bankruptcy. A collection agency has to deal with me instead of you once it knows I represent you. An original creditor is not under that same rule, but in my experience the calls generally stop once you tell them you are filing and pass along my information. And you do not have to keep answering in the meantime. I tell my clients they no longer need to talk to creditors if they do not want to.
You also have direct access to me. When you have a question, you talk to me, not to my paralegal or an assistant. That is true wherever you are: I work with people on Maui, Kauaʻi, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island by phone and video, and in person on Oʻahu.
Let’s talk about your options.
I have helped more than a thousand people through this. Tell me what you are dealing with and I will tell you what you may qualify for: Chapter 7, Chapter 13, or another path entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to file bankruptcy in Hawaiʻi?
The court's filing fee is $338 for a Chapter 7 and $313 for a Chapter 13. The attorney fee is separate. For most Chapter 7 cases mine runs between $1,500 and $2,500 depending on complexity, and in Chapter 13 the fee is either this court's flat fee of $5,650 for the standard work or an hourly rate the court approves, and in most cases the majority of it is paid through your plan.
How much does a bankruptcy lawyer cost in Hawaiʻi?
For most Chapter 7 cases my flat fee runs between $1,500 and $2,500, depending on complexity, and business cases generally run higher. In Chapter 13 the court approves the fee either way. This court publishes a flat fee of $5,650 for the standard work, and cases that need more than that are billed at an hourly rate the court reviews. In most cases the majority of my Chapter 13 fee is paid through your plan rather than up front.
Why does a Chapter 13 cost more than a Chapter 7?
It is a longer case with more work in it. A Chapter 7 is generally finished in a few months, while a Chapter 13 runs three to five years and involves building a plan, getting it confirmed, and shepherding it through to completion. The fee reflects that, which is why the court reviews the fee, flat or hourly, and why in most cases the majority of it is paid through the plan.
What is a no look fee?
It is the fee a bankruptcy court has decided in advance is reasonable for standard Chapter 13 work, so the lawyer does not have to file a detailed application to justify it. The formal name is a presumptively reasonable fee. In this district it is $5,650, with published amounts for a few specific services on top of that.
Can the filing fee be waived?
Sometimes, in a Chapter 7. The court can waive the Chapter 7 filing fee for a debtor whose household income falls below a threshold tied to the federal poverty line and who cannot pay even in installments. There is no equivalent waiver in Chapter 13, where installment payments are disfavored and the fee is generally due within 14 days of filing.
Do you ever charge by the hour?
Yes, and in Chapter 13 it is common. A Chapter 13 runs for years and often involves more work than the court's flat fee covers, so many of my Chapter 13 cases are hourly, with the court reviewing and approving the fee. Contested matters, litigation inside the bankruptcy, and unusually time consuming business cases are billed hourly in any chapter. I will tell you at the outset which arrangement fits your case, and why.
Key Terms, Explained
- Filing fee
- The amount the court charges to open a bankruptcy case, paid to the court rather than to your lawyer.
- Flat fee
- A single quoted price for the whole matter, agreed before the work starts.
- Presumptively reasonable fee
- The Chapter 13 attorney fee a bankruptcy court has set in advance as reasonable for standard work.
- Motion to determine the amount of a secured claim
- A request made in your Chapter 13 plan asking the court to determine what secured property is actually worth, which sets how much of the debt has to be paid as secured.
- Confirmation
- The judge’s approval of your Chapter 13 plan, which is what puts the plan into effect.
- Success fee
- An additional amount this court adds by confirmation order when a Chapter 13 plan is confirmed at or before the first hearing.
- Fee waiver
- A court order excusing a Chapter 7 debtor from paying the filing fee, available only at low income levels.
- Plan payment
- The single monthly payment in a Chapter 13 that funds the plan, including the attorney fee.
Sources & Legal Authorities
The authorities behind this guide.
- United States Code. 11 U.S.C. § 104(a); § 330(a)(4)(B); § 522(f); § 1322(b)(5); § 1322(e); § 1325(a)(4); § 1325(b); 28 U.S.C. § 586(e); § 1930; § 1930(f)(1)
- Rules. Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1006(b)(1); Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1006(b)(2); D. Haw. LBR 2016-1(g); D. Haw. LBR 2016-1(g)(3)(B); D. Haw. LBR 3070-2(i)(3)
- Other. Judicial Conference Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule; U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Hawaii, General Order Adopting Amended Chapter 13 Attorney Fee Guidelines
