This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for bankruptcy in Florida, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a bankruptcy in Florida costs on average $3,150, typically $2,250-$4,500 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $170 to $310 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 3-5 years to resolve. Common related costs include chapter 13 filing fee ($313) and credit counseling course ($25-$50).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $950 | $1,400 | $2,300 | 3-4 months |
| Moderate | $2,250 | $3,150 | $4,500 | 3-5 years |
| Complex | $3,050 | $5,100 | $8,200 | 3-5 years |
Last verified: June 2026
$170 – $310/ hour
Median: $240/hr
3-5 years
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>Bankruptcy cost formation splits along the two most common filing types. Chapter 7 (liquidation) is a shorter federal process, so attorney fees are usually charged as a flat fee covering the whole case. Chapter 13 (repayment plan) requires the attorney to stay involved for the full 3-5 year repayment period, so the fee is higher and is often split into an upfront portion plus ongoing amounts paid through the repayment plan itself.
On top of the attorney fee, every filer pays a federal court filing fee (set by statute, the same nationwide regardless of state) plus mandatory credit counseling and debtor education course fees. Case complexity within either chapter — multiple creditors, contested exemptions, business assets, or a means-test dispute — adds attorney hours beyond the base flat fee, which is why complex-case costs run well above the simple-case median shown on this page.
Take a moderate-complexity bankruptcy matter in Florida. The recorded median total is $3,150, with reported quotes clustering between $2,250 and $4,500. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $363–$413, which leaves roughly $2,737–$2,787 of the Florida median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes. One further recorded fee is not itemised above and is not in that total.
At $3,150, the median bankruptcy cost in Florida runs 9% below the $3,479 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Florida carries 3 rows — simple, $950–$2,300 at $145–$265/hr over 3-4 months; moderate, $2,250–$4,500 at $170–$310/hr over 3-5 years; complex, $3,050–$8,200 at $190–$385/hr over 3-5 years — on 5 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$3,150 is a median, not the middle of the band — $900 above the $2,250 floor, $1,350 under the $4,500 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 47.
Florida occupies the 31st row of 47 for a bankruptcy. Its $3,150 median trails the $3,600 table midpoint by $450, which is 13% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
Idaho ($3,200) and North Carolina ($3,150) bracket Florida inside a $50 window — narrow enough that 31st is close to arbitrary.
5 tracked states — Idaho, North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana among them — record a median within three percent of Florida's $3,150. The figure sits in the densest part of the bankruptcy distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
Florida ranks 28th of 47 on hourly rate at $240 an hour and 31st on total cost — 3 places apart, enough that the rate is a slightly optimistic guide to the total.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Florida |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Oregon | $3,550 | +$400 |
| 26 | Ohio | $3,500 | +$350 |
| 27 | Maine | $3,350 | +$200 |
| 28 | Utah | $3,350 | +$200 |
| 29 | Missouri | $3,300 | +$150 |
| 30 | Idaho | $3,200 | +$50 |
| 31 | Florida | $3,150 | — |
| 32 | North Carolina | $3,150 | −$0 |
| 33 | Georgia | $3,100 | −$50 |
| 34 | Indiana | $3,100 | −$50 |
| 35 | North Dakota | $3,100 | −$50 |
| 36 | South Carolina | $3,050 | −$100 |
| 37 | Wyoming | $3,000 | −$150 |
The rows within ten percent are lopsided: 8 below Florida against 4 above. $50 up or $0 down moves Florida a row, so a downward revision would cost the state far more places than an equivalent upward one would gain — the 31st position is propped up by a thin bankruptcy field above it and a crowded one beneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Ohio, Maine, Utah, Missouri, Idaho and adding $350 to the $3,150 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, North Dakota, South Carolina: $100.
$1,250 short of Hawaii ($4,400), $800 clear of Kentucky ($2,350).
At $240 an hour, the $3,150 median represents about 13 hours of attorney time — a matter measured in days of work, not weeks. The peer median is 14 hours: Florida reaches its total in 1 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex bankruptcy costs 3.6x a simple one in Florida, but the implied workload only rises 2.6x — 7 hours at $190 becomes 18 hours at $290 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.53x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $2,250 to $4,500 the moderate band is $2,250 wide, close to the $2,550 peer median. End to end that is 9 hours at $240.
By implied hours Florida falls to 37th of 47 at 13 hours, 6 places below its 31st on cost — the bankruptcy total arriving on less recorded work.
60% up the $2,250–$4,500 band sits the $3,600 table midpoint, buying 15 hours at $240 against the 13 the local bankruptcy median implies — 2 hours apart.
| Measure | Florida | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $3,150 | 31st |
| Hourly median | $240 | 28th |
| Implied hours | 13 | 37th |
| Simple median | $1,400 | 30th |
| Complex median | $5,100 | 24th |
$240 an hour puts Florida between Nevada ($250) and Georgia ($240) — not the bankruptcy cost pairing.
Georgia records the same $240: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$3,150 buys 17 hours at $190, 13 at $240, 11 at $290.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Michigan | $250 |
| 27 | Nevada | $250 |
| 28 | Florida | $240 |
| 29 | Georgia | $240 |
| 30 | Ohio | $230 |
Florida moves up the table as complexity rises: 30th at the simple tier, 31st at moderate, 24th at complex, a 6-place climb. The state's position on the headline moderate figure understates where it sits once a matter is contested.
$1,400 is 30th of 47 on a straightforward bankruptcy, under Michigan ($1,450) and over Wyoming ($1,350), $100 under the $1,500 tier midpoint.
$5,100 is 24th of 47 once contested, between Oregon ($5,150) and Maine ($4,950), $0 off the $5,100 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Florida: the simple tier reaches $2,300 where the moderate tier starts at $2,250, and the moderate tier reaches $4,500 where the complex tier starts at $3,050. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Florida | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,400 | 30th | $1,500 | 7 |
| moderate | $3,150 | 31st | $3,600 | 13 |
| complex | $5,100 | 24th | $5,100 | 18 |
$1,400 puts Florida 30th of 47 on straightforward matters, 1 up on its moderate position, and $100 (7%) under the $1,500 tier midpoint.
7 implied hours at $190: 54% of the moderate tier's 13, over 3-4 months.
Michigan ($1,450) and Wyoming ($1,350) bracket it — a $100 window.
Nothing else sits within three percent of the $1,400 here, against 5 at the moderate tier.
$5,100 puts Florida 24th of 47 on contested matters, 7 up on its moderate position, and $0 (0%) over the $5,100 tier midpoint.
18 implied hours at $290: 138% of the moderate tier's 13, over 3-5 years.
Oregon ($5,150) and Maine ($4,950) bracket it — a $200 window.
4 states sit within three percent of the $5,100 here, against 5 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | Idaho | $1,450 |
| 29 | Michigan | $1,450 |
| 30 | Florida | $1,400 |
| 31 | Wyoming | $1,350 |
| 32 | Georgia | $1,300 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Georgia | $5,200 |
| 23 | Oregon | $5,150 |
| 24 | Florida | $5,100 |
| 25 | Maine | $4,950 |
| 26 | Michigan | $4,850 |
In Florida a bankruptcy is 6th of 8 at $3,150, between Immigration and Real Estate Closing. At 34% of Criminal Defense ($9,200).
Florida is consistent across practice areas: over the matter types tracked here its rank only moves between 29th (DUI / DWI) and 33rd (Immigration), so its 31st on bankruptcy reflects a general price level rather than something specific to this matter.
The premium Florida carries is close to uniform across practice areas: DUI / DWI runs 4% below its own midpoint and Real Estate Closing runs 12% below its own midpoint, only 8 percentage points apart. Whatever drives the state's price level applies to every matter type here at roughly the same strength.
The largest tracked median in Florida is 5x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
0 of 7 matter types rank Florida in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 7 between; bankruptcy is 31st.
In percentile terms it sits at the 35th percentile of the 47 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,350 | $9,200 | $29,300 | 32 | 31st | −10% | Indiana |
| Divorce | $2,900 | $8,000 | $22,800 | 28 | 31st | −6% | Missouri |
| DUI / DWI | $3,650 | $7,150 | $14,950 | 27 | 29th | −4% | Maine |
| Personal Injury | $1,500 | $4,550 | $13,800 | — | — | −12% | — |
| Immigration | $1,850 | $4,350 | $11,350 | 16 | 33rd | −8% | Wyoming |
| Bankruptcy | $1,400 | $3,150 | $5,100 | 13 | 31st | −12% | Idaho |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,000 | $1,950 | $4,050 | 8 | 29th | −12% | Arizona |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $550 | $1,850 | $5,950 | 7 | 31st | −11% | Wyoming |
Simple tier. $1,400 ÷ $190 = about 7 hours, spread over 3-4 months at roughly $400 a month. The $1,750 step to the moderate tier is 6 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $3,150 to $5,100 is a $1,950 step weighted toward price: 5 more hours at $240 is $1,200, but $290 across 18 hours adds $900 — 43% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. North Carolina ($3,150) is $0 light, Idaho ($3,200) is $50 heavy — but the $3,600 table midpoint is out by $450, 9x the neighbour error.
Contested against simple. At Florida's own recorded figures, $5,100 buys 3.6 matters at the $1,400 simple median — or, counted in time, 18 implied hours against 7, a factor of 2.6 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Floridacourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.