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 Missouri, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a bankruptcy in Missouri costs on average $3,300, typically $2,350-$4,700 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $155 to $290 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 | $900 | $1,300 | $2,200 | 3-4 months |
| Moderate | $2,350 | $3,300 | $4,700 | 3-5 years |
| Complex | $2,700 | $4,500 | $7,200 | 3-5 years |
Last verified: June 2026
$155 – $290/ hour
Median: $220/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 Missouri. The recorded median total is $3,300, with reported quotes clustering between $2,350 and $4,700. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $363–$413, which leaves roughly $2,887–$2,937 of the Missouri 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 $3,300, the median bankruptcy cost in Missouri runs 5% below the $3,479 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Missouri carries 3 rows — simple, $900–$2,200 at $135–$245/hr over 3-4 months; moderate, $2,350–$4,700 at $155–$290/hr over 3-5 years; complex, $2,700–$7,200 at $175–$355/hr over 3-5 years — on 5 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$3,300 is a median, not the middle of the band — $950 above the $2,350 floor, $1,400 under the $4,700 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 47.
Missouri occupies the 29th row of 47 for a bankruptcy. Its $3,300 median trails the $3,600 table midpoint by $300, which is 8% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
In the bankruptcy table Missouri falls between Idaho at $3,200 and Utah at $3,350, $100 above the first and $50 below the second.
Maine, Utah record medians within three percent of Missouri's $3,300. A bankruptcy quote anywhere in that group is describing effectively the same market.
On hourly rate alone Missouri is 34th of 47 at $220 an hour, 5 places behind its 29th position on total cost.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Missouri |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Arizona | $3,600 | +$300 |
| 24 | Michigan | $3,600 | +$300 |
| 25 | Oregon | $3,550 | +$250 |
| 26 | Ohio | $3,500 | +$200 |
| 27 | Maine | $3,350 | +$50 |
| 28 | Utah | $3,350 | +$50 |
| 29 | Missouri | $3,300 | — |
| 30 | Idaho | $3,200 | −$100 |
| 31 | Florida | $3,150 | −$150 |
| 32 | North Carolina | $3,150 | −$150 |
| 33 | Georgia | $3,100 | −$200 |
| 34 | Indiana | $3,100 | −$200 |
| 35 | North Dakota | $3,100 | −$200 |
The 29th position is not a stable fact about Missouri: $50 up or $100 down moves Missouri a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 14 rows, 6 above and 8 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing Michigan, Oregon, Ohio, Maine, Utah and adding $300 to the $3,300 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Idaho, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana: $200.
$1,100 short of Hawaii ($4,400), $950 clear of Kentucky ($2,350).
At $220 an hour, the $3,300 median represents about 15 hours of attorney time — a matter measured in days of work, not weeks. The peer median is 14 hours, so 1 more hours of work sit behind the Missouri figure than behind the typical state's.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex bankruptcy costs 3.5x a simple one in Missouri, but the implied workload only rises 2.4x — 7 hours at $175 becomes 17 hours at $265 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.51x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $2,350 to $4,700 the moderate band is $2,350 wide, close to the $2,550 peer median. End to end that is 11 hours at $220.
A third ordering: by implied hours Missouri is 11th of 47 at 15 hours, 18 places above its cost rank of 29th on cost — more work behind the same bankruptcy money.
53% up the $2,350–$4,700 band sits the $3,600 table midpoint, buying 16 hours at $220 against the 15 the local bankruptcy median implies — 1 hour apart.
| Measure | Missouri | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $3,300 | 29th |
| Hourly median | $220 | 34th |
| Implied hours | 15 | 11th |
| Simple median | $1,300 | 34th |
| Complex median | $4,500 | 31st |
$220 an hour puts Missouri between Indiana ($220) and Tennessee ($220) — not the bankruptcy cost pairing.
Idaho, Indiana, Tennessee record the same $220: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$3,300 buys 19 hours at $175, 15 at $220, 12 at $265.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 32 | Idaho | $220 |
| 33 | Indiana | $220 |
| 34 | Missouri | $220 |
| 35 | Tennessee | $220 |
| 36 | North Carolina | $210 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 34th at the simple tier, 29th at moderate, 31st at complex of 47 — so Missouri keeps roughly the same relative position whether the bankruptcy is straightforward or contested.
$1,300 is 34th of 47 on a straightforward bankruptcy, under Louisiana ($1,300) and over New Mexico ($1,300), $200 under the $1,500 tier midpoint.
$4,500 is 31st of 47 once contested, between Wyoming ($4,600) and North Carolina ($4,500), $600 off the $5,100 tier midpoint.
$150 separates the simple ceiling of $2,200 from the moderate floor of $2,350, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $2,700 upward. The expensive end of a routine bankruptcy and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Missouri.
| Tier | Missouri | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,300 | 34th | $1,500 | 7 |
| moderate | $3,300 | 29th | $3,600 | 15 |
| complex | $4,500 | 31st | $5,100 | 17 |
$1,300 drops Missouri to 34th of 47 on straightforward matters, 5 below its moderate position and $200 (13%) under the $1,500 tier midpoint.
7 implied hours at $175: 47% of the moderate tier's 15, over 3-4 months.
Louisiana ($1,300) and New Mexico ($1,300) bracket it — a $0 window.
4 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $1,300, denser than the 2 around the moderate row.
$4,500 drops Missouri to 31st of 47 on contested matters, 2 below its moderate position and $600 (12%) under the $5,100 tier midpoint.
17 implied hours at $265: 113% of the moderate tier's 15, over 3-5 years.
Wyoming ($4,600) and North Carolina ($4,500) bracket it — a $100 window.
4 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $4,500, denser than the 2 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 32 | Georgia | $1,300 |
| 33 | Louisiana | $1,300 |
| 34 | Missouri | $1,300 |
| 35 | New Mexico | $1,300 |
| 36 | South Dakota | $1,300 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | Nevada | $4,650 |
| 30 | Wyoming | $4,600 |
| 31 | Missouri | $4,500 |
| 32 | North Carolina | $4,500 |
| 33 | Ohio | $4,500 |
In Missouri a bankruptcy is 6th of 8 at $3,300, between Immigration and Real Estate Closing. At 37% of Criminal Defense ($8,950).
Across practice areas Missouri ranges from 29th of 47 for Bankruptcy to 37th for DUI / DWI — a 8-place spread, with its 29th on bankruptcy inside it.
Missouri is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Divorce runs 5% below its own midpoint while Estate Planning / Probate runs 18% below its own midpoint — a 13-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Missouri is 5.3x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
0 of 5 matter types rank Missouri in the upper third, 1 in the lower, 4 between; bankruptcy is 29th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 39th percentile of the 47 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,250 | $8,950 | $26,350 | 34 | 34th | −12% | West Virginia |
| Divorce | $2,550 | $8,100 | $20,750 | 31 | 30th | −5% | Wyoming |
| DUI / DWI | $3,050 | $6,350 | $13,600 | 26 | 37th | −15% | North Carolina |
| Personal Injury | $1,300 | $4,700 | $14,050 | — | — | −10% | — |
| Immigration | $1,800 | $4,400 | $9,350 | 18 | 30th | −7% | Georgia |
| Bankruptcy | $1,300 | $3,300 | $4,500 | 15 | 29th | −8% | Utah |
| Real Estate Closing | $800 | $1,900 | $4,050 | 9 | — | −15% | — |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $500 | $1,700 | $5,250 | 7 | — | −18% | — |
Simple tier. $1,300 ÷ $175 = about 7 hours, spread over 3-4 months at roughly $371 a month. The $2,000 step to the moderate tier is 8 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $3,300 to $4,500 is a $1,200 step weighted toward price: 2 more hours at $220 is $440, but $265 across 17 hours adds $765 — 63% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Idaho ($3,200) lands $100 under Missouri; from Utah ($3,350), $50 over; from the $3,600 table midpoint, $300 out.
Contested against simple. At Missouri's own recorded figures, $4,500 buys 3.5 matters at the $1,300 simple median — or, counted in time, 17 implied hours against 7, a factor of 2.4 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Missouricourt'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.