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 Illinois, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a bankruptcy in Illinois costs on average $3,900, typically $2,750-$5,500 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $190 to $350 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 | $1,100 | $1,700 | $2,800 | 3-4 months |
| Moderate | $2,750 | $3,900 | $5,500 | 3-5 years |
| Complex | $3,300 | $5,500 | $8,800 | 3-5 years |
Last verified: June 2026
$190 – $350/ hour
Median: $270/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 Illinois. The recorded median total is $3,900, with reported quotes clustering between $2,750 and $5,500. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $363–$413, which leaves roughly $3,487–$3,537 of the Illinois 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 $3,900, the median bankruptcy cost in Illinois runs 12% above the $3,479 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Illinois carries 3 rows — simple, $1,100–$2,800 at $160–$295/hr over 3-4 months; moderate, $2,750–$5,500 at $190–$350/hr over 3-5 years; complex, $3,300–$8,800 at $215–$430/hr over 3-5 years — on 5 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$3,900 is a median, not the middle of the band — $1,150 above the $2,750 floor, $1,600 under the $5,500 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 47.
At 14th of 47, Illinois sits above the midpoint of the bankruptcy table: $300 more than the $3,600 median state, or 8%, with 13 states recording a higher median.
Texas ($3,950) and Wisconsin ($3,900) bracket Illinois inside a $50 window — narrow enough that 14th is close to arbitrary.
6 tracked states — Texas, Wisconsin, Maryland, Nevada among them — record a median within three percent of Illinois's $3,900. The figure sits in the densest part of the bankruptcy distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
On hourly rate alone Illinois is 17th of 47 at $270 an hour, 3 places behind its 14th position on total cost.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Illinois |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | District of Columbia | $4,200 | +$300 |
| 9 | Rhode Island | $4,100 | +$200 |
| 10 | Washington | $4,100 | +$200 |
| 11 | Minnesota | $4,050 | +$150 |
| 12 | New Hampshire | $4,050 | +$150 |
| 13 | Texas | $3,950 | +$50 |
| 14 | Illinois | $3,900 | — |
| 15 | Wisconsin | $3,900 | −$0 |
| 16 | Maryland | $3,800 | −$100 |
| 17 | Nevada | $3,800 | −$100 |
| 18 | New Jersey | $3,800 | −$100 |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | $3,800 | −$100 |
| 20 | Alaska | $3,700 | −$200 |
The rows within ten percent are lopsided: 10 below Illinois against 6 above. $50 up or $0 down moves Illinois a row, so a downward revision would cost the state far more places than an equivalent upward one would gain — the 14th position is propped up by a thin bankruptcy field above it and a crowded one beneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Rhode Island, Washington, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Texas and adding $200 to the $3,900 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Wisconsin, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania: $100.
$500 short of Hawaii ($4,400), $1,550 clear of Kentucky ($2,350).
At $270 an hour, the $3,900 median represents about 14 hours of attorney time — a matter measured in days of work, not weeks. That rounds to the same 14 hours as the peer median, so on workload Illinois is indistinguishable from the middle of the table at this precision.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex bankruptcy costs 3.2x a simple one in Illinois, but the implied workload only rises 2.1x — 8 hours at $215 becomes 17 hours at $325 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.51x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $2,750 to $5,500 the moderate band is $2,750 wide, close to the $2,550 peer median. End to end that is 10 hours at $270.
By implied hours Illinois falls to 19th of 47 at 14 hours, 5 places below its 14th on cost — the bankruptcy total arriving on less recorded work.
31% up the $2,750–$5,500 band sits the $3,600 table midpoint, buying 13 hours at $270 against the 14 the local bankruptcy median implies — 1 hour apart.
| Measure | Illinois | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $3,900 | 14th |
| Hourly median | $270 | 17th |
| Implied hours | 14 | 19th |
| Simple median | $1,700 | 6th |
| Complex median | $5,500 | 17th |
$270 an hour puts Illinois between Colorado ($280) and Minnesota ($270) — not the bankruptcy cost pairing.
Minnesota, Oregon record the same $270: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$3,900 buys 18 hours at $215, 14 at $270, 12 at $325.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Virginia | $285 |
| 16 | Colorado | $280 |
| 17 | Illinois | $270 |
| 18 | Minnesota | $270 |
| 19 | Oregon | $270 |
The tiers rank Illinois very differently. It is 6th at the simple tier, 14th at moderate, 17th at complex of 47 — a fall of 11 places as the matter becomes harder. The state is expensive to start a bankruptcy in and comparatively ordinary to finish one in.
$1,700 is 6th of 47 on a straightforward bankruptcy, under Connecticut ($1,700) and over Maryland ($1,700), $200 over the $1,500 tier midpoint.
$5,500 is 17th of 47 once contested, between New Hampshire ($5,550) and District of Columbia ($5,450), $400 off the $5,100 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Illinois: the simple tier reaches $2,800 where the moderate tier starts at $2,750, and the moderate tier reaches $5,500 where the complex tier starts at $3,300. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Illinois | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,700 | 6th | $1,500 | 8 |
| moderate | $3,900 | 14th | $3,600 | 14 |
| complex | $5,500 | 17th | $5,100 | 17 |
$1,700 puts Illinois 6th of 47 on straightforward matters, 8 up on its moderate position, and $200 (13%) over the $1,500 tier midpoint.
8 implied hours at $215: 57% of the moderate tier's 14, over 3-4 months.
Connecticut ($1,700) and Maryland ($1,700) bracket it — a $0 window.
14 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $1,700, denser than the 6 around the moderate row.
$5,500 drops Illinois to 17th of 47 on contested matters, 3 below its moderate position and $400 (8%) over the $5,100 tier midpoint.
17 implied hours at $325: 121% of the moderate tier's 14, over 3-5 years.
New Hampshire ($5,550) and District of Columbia ($5,450) bracket it — a $100 window.
8 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $5,500, denser than the 6 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Vermont | $1,750 |
| 5 | Connecticut | $1,700 |
| 6 | Illinois | $1,700 |
| 7 | Maryland | $1,700 |
| 8 | New Jersey | $1,700 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | California | $5,600 |
| 16 | New Hampshire | $5,550 |
| 17 | Illinois | $5,500 |
| 18 | District of Columbia | $5,450 |
| 19 | Utah | $5,450 |
In Illinois a bankruptcy is 6th of 8 at $3,900, between Immigration and Real Estate Closing. At 37% of Criminal Defense ($10,450).
The state does not rank uniformly. Illinois is 3rd of 47 for Personal Injury but 23rd for Real Estate Closing, a 20-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 14th on bankruptcy says little about what the other lines cost.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Immigration runs 23% above its own midpoint, while Real Estate Closing runs 1% above its own midpoint — 22 percentage points apart. A single "Illinois is expensive" or "Illinois is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The largest tracked median in Illinois is 4.8x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
5 of 8 matter types rank Illinois in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 3 between; bankruptcy is 14th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 72th percentile of the 47 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,450 | $10,450 | $33,400 | 32 | 22nd | +2% | Maryland |
| Divorce | $3,150 | $9,650 | $22,050 | 30 | 17th | +13% | District of Columbia |
| DUI / DWI | $3,650 | $7,850 | $19,400 | 27 | 21st | +5% | Oregon |
| Personal Injury | $1,600 | $5,950 | $16,900 | — | 3rd | +14% | California |
| Immigration | $2,150 | $5,850 | $11,800 | 20 | 12th | +23% | District of Columbia |
| Bankruptcy | $1,700 | $3,900 | $5,500 | 14 | 14th | +8% | Texas |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,000 | $2,250 | $4,900 | 8 | 23rd | +1% | Virginia |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $650 | $2,200 | $5,950 | 7 | 11th | +6% | New York |
Simple tier. $1,700 ÷ $215 = about 8 hours, spread over 3-4 months at roughly $486 a month. The $2,200 step to the moderate tier is 6 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $3,900 to $5,500 is a $1,600 step weighted toward price: 3 more hours at $270 is $810, but $325 across 17 hours adds $935 — 54% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. Wisconsin ($3,900) is $0 light, Texas ($3,950) is $50 heavy — but the $3,600 table midpoint is out by $300, 6x the neighbour error.
Contested against simple. At Illinois's own recorded figures, $5,500 buys 3.2 matters at the $1,700 simple median — or, counted in time, 17 implied hours against 8, a factor of 2.1 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Illinoiscourt'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.