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 Louisiana, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a bankruptcy in Louisiana costs on average $2,650, typically $1,900-$3,800 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $140 to $255 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 | $850 | $1,300 | $2,200 | 3-4 months |
| Moderate | $1,900 | $2,650 | $3,800 | 3-5 years |
| Complex | $2,350 | $3,950 | $6,300 | 3-5 years |
Last verified: June 2026
$140 – $255/ hour
Median: $195/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 Louisiana. The recorded median total is $2,650, with reported quotes clustering between $1,900 and $3,800. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $363–$413, which leaves roughly $2,237–$2,287 of the Louisiana 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 $2,650, the median bankruptcy cost in Louisiana runs 24% below the $3,479 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Louisiana carries 3 rows — simple, $850–$2,200 at $120–$215/hr over 3-4 months; moderate, $1,900–$3,800 at $140–$255/hr over 3-5 years; complex, $2,350–$6,300 at $155–$315/hr over 3-5 years — on 5 shared citations. Those figures place it in the lower quarter of the table.
$2,650 is a median, not the middle of the band — $750 above the $1,900 floor, $1,150 under the $3,800 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 47.
Sorted by median cost, Louisiana is 43rd of 47 for a bankruptcy, placing it in the lowest-cost quarter of the table: $950 and 26% below the $3,600 midpoint, with 4 states recording a lower median still.
In the bankruptcy table Louisiana falls between South Dakota at $2,550 and New Mexico at $2,700, $100 above the first and $50 below the second.
Only one other tracked state, New Mexico, records a median within three percent of Louisiana's $2,650 — a pairing rather than a cluster.
Ranked by hourly rate instead of by total, Louisiana does not move: 43rd on both measures, at $195 an hour. Rate and total are telling the same story here.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Louisiana |
|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | Wyoming | $3,000 | +$350 |
| 38 | Tennessee | $2,950 | +$300 |
| 39 | Mississippi | $2,900 | +$250 |
| 40 | West Virginia | $2,900 | +$250 |
| 41 | Oklahoma | $2,800 | +$150 |
| 42 | New Mexico | $2,700 | +$50 |
| 43 | Louisiana | $2,650 | — |
| 44 | South Dakota | $2,550 | −$100 |
| 45 | Alabama | $2,450 | −$200 |
| 46 | Arkansas | $2,400 | −$250 |
| 47 | Kentucky | $2,350 | −$300 |
$50 up or $100 down moves Louisiana a row. A ten percent revision to the underlying figure would cross 7 rows in total — 4 up, 3 down — so the rank reads better as a band than as a precise place.
Climbing five places would mean passing Tennessee, Mississippi, West Virginia, Oklahoma, New Mexico and adding $300 to the $2,650 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under South Dakota, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky: $300.
$1,750 short of Hawaii ($4,400), $300 clear of Kentucky ($2,350).
At $195 an hour, the $2,650 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 Louisiana is indistinguishable from the middle of the table at this precision.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex bankruptcy costs 3x a simple one in Louisiana, but the implied workload only rises 2.1x — 8 hours at $155 becomes 17 hours at $235 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.52x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
The Louisiana moderate band spans $1,900 to $3,800 — $1,900 — which is $650 narrower than the peer-median band of $2,550, so quoted bankruptcy figures cluster more tightly here than in most tracked states. End to end that is 10 hours at $195.
A third ordering: by implied hours Louisiana is 29th of 47 at 14 hours, 14 places above its cost rank of 43rd on cost — more work behind the same bankruptcy money.
89% up the $1,900–$3,800 band sits the $3,600 table midpoint, buying 18 hours at $195 against the 14 the local bankruptcy median implies — 4 hours apart.
| Measure | Louisiana | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $2,650 | 43rd |
| Hourly median | $195 | 43rd |
| Implied hours | 14 | 29th |
| Simple median | $1,300 | 33rd |
| Complex median | $3,950 | 42nd |
$195 an hour puts Louisiana between South Dakota ($200) and Alabama ($185) — not the bankruptcy cost pairing.
No other tracked state records $195 as its median rate, so the figure identifies Louisiana on its own within this dataset.
$2,650 buys 17 hours at $155, 14 at $195, 11 at $235.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 41 | South Carolina | $200 |
| 42 | South Dakota | $200 |
| 43 | Louisiana | $195 |
| 44 | Alabama | $185 |
| 45 | Arkansas | $185 |
Ranked tier by tier, Louisiana slides 9 places downward: 33rd at the simple tier, 43rd at moderate, 42nd at complex. Its headline moderate position sits between the two extremes rather than summarising them.
$1,300 is 33rd of 47 on a straightforward bankruptcy, under Georgia ($1,300) and over Missouri ($1,300), $200 under the $1,500 tier midpoint.
$3,950 is 42nd of 47 once contested, between Mississippi ($4,000) and Kentucky ($3,900), $1,150 off the $5,100 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Louisiana: the simple tier reaches $2,200 where the moderate tier starts at $1,900, and the moderate tier reaches $3,800 where the complex tier starts at $2,350. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Louisiana | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,300 | 33rd | $1,500 | 8 |
| moderate | $2,650 | 43rd | $3,600 | 14 |
| complex | $3,950 | 42nd | $5,100 | 17 |
$1,300 puts Louisiana 33rd of 47 on straightforward matters, 10 up on its moderate position, and $200 (13%) under the $1,500 tier midpoint.
8 implied hours at $155: 57% of the moderate tier's 14, over 3-4 months.
Georgia ($1,300) and Missouri ($1,300) bracket it — a $0 window.
4 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $1,300, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
$3,950 puts Louisiana 42nd of 47 on contested matters, 1 up on its moderate position, and $1,150 (23%) under the $5,100 tier midpoint.
17 implied hours at $235: 121% of the moderate tier's 14, over 3-5 years.
Mississippi ($4,000) and Kentucky ($3,900) bracket it — a $100 window.
3 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $3,950, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Wyoming | $1,350 |
| 32 | Georgia | $1,300 |
| 33 | Louisiana | $1,300 |
| 34 | Missouri | $1,300 |
| 35 | New Mexico | $1,300 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | Idaho | $4,050 |
| 41 | Mississippi | $4,000 |
| 42 | Louisiana | $3,950 |
| 43 | Kentucky | $3,900 |
| 44 | Alabama | $3,800 |
In Louisiana a bankruptcy is 6th of 8 at $2,650, between Immigration and Real Estate Closing. At 32% of Criminal Defense ($8,250).
Across practice areas Louisiana ranges from 39th of 47 for Divorce to 47th for DUI / DWI — a 8-place spread, with its 43rd on bankruptcy inside it.
Louisiana is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Divorce runs 12% below its own midpoint while Personal Injury runs 30% below its own midpoint — a 18-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Louisiana is 5.2x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
All 7 tracked matter types place Louisiana in the lower third of their tables, the bankruptcy figure included.
In percentile terms it sits at the 9th percentile of the 47 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $2,650 | $8,250 | $23,700 | 35 | 41st | −19% | Tennessee |
| Divorce | $2,500 | $7,500 | $17,650 | 32 | 39th | −12% | Idaho |
| DUI / DWI | $2,800 | $5,700 | $13,150 | 27 | 47th | −23% | Kansas |
| Personal Injury | $1,150 | $3,650 | $11,650 | — | — | −30% | — |
| Immigration | $1,500 | $3,600 | $9,150 | 17 | 46th | −24% | New Mexico |
| Bankruptcy | $1,300 | $2,650 | $3,950 | 14 | 43rd | −26% | New Mexico |
| Real Estate Closing | $750 | $1,600 | $3,350 | 8 | 41st | −28% | South Dakota |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $450 | $1,600 | $4,700 | 7 | 39th | −23% | Kentucky |
Simple tier. $1,300 ÷ $155 = about 8 hours, spread over 3-4 months at roughly $371 a month. The $1,350 step to the moderate tier is 6 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $2,650 to $3,950 is a $1,300 step weighted toward price: 3 more hours at $195 is $585, but $235 across 17 hours adds $680 — 54% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. South Dakota ($2,550) is $100 light, New Mexico ($2,700) is $50 heavy — but the $3,600 table midpoint is out by $950, 10x the neighbour error.
Contested against simple. At Louisiana's own recorded figures, $3,950 buys 3 matters at the $1,300 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 Louisianacourt'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.