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 New Jersey, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a bankruptcy in New Jersey costs on average $3,800, typically $2,700-$5,400 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $210 to $385 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 | $1,150 | $1,700 | $2,900 | 3-4 months |
| Moderate | $2,700 | $3,800 | $5,400 | 3-5 years |
| Complex | $3,700 | $6,200 | $9,900 | 3-5 years |
Last verified: June 2026
$210 – $385/ hour
Median: $300/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 New Jersey. The recorded median total is $3,800, with reported quotes clustering between $2,700 and $5,400. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $363–$413, which leaves roughly $3,387–$3,437 of the New Jersey 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 $3,800, the median bankruptcy cost in New Jersey runs 9% above the $3,479 national average across all 50 states and DC.
New Jersey carries 3 rows — simple, $1,150–$2,900 at $180–$325/hr over 3-4 months; moderate, $2,700–$5,400 at $210–$385/hr over 3-5 years; complex, $3,700–$9,900 at $240–$475/hr over 3-5 years — on 5 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$3,800 is a median, not the middle of the band — $1,100 above the $2,700 floor, $1,600 under the $5,400 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 47.
At 18th of 47, New Jersey sits above the midpoint of the bankruptcy table: $200 more than the $3,600 median state, or 6%, with 17 states recording a higher median.
Nevada ($3,800) and Pennsylvania ($3,800) bracket New Jersey inside a $0 window — narrow enough that 18th is close to arbitrary.
7 tracked states — Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Nevada among them — record a median within three percent of New Jersey's $3,800. The figure sits in the densest part of the bankruptcy distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
Rate and total point in different directions. New Jersey attorneys rank 2nd of 47 at $300 an hour, 16 places above where the state lands on total bankruptcy cost (18th) — on these rows, high rates are not accompanied by high totals.
| Rank | State | Median | Against New Jersey |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | New Hampshire | $4,050 | +$250 |
| 13 | Texas | $3,950 | +$150 |
| 14 | Illinois | $3,900 | +$100 |
| 15 | Wisconsin | $3,900 | +$100 |
| 16 | Maryland | $3,800 | −$0 |
| 17 | Nevada | $3,800 | −$0 |
| 18 | New Jersey | $3,800 | — |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | $3,800 | −$0 |
| 20 | Alaska | $3,700 | −$100 |
| 21 | Colorado | $3,700 | −$100 |
| 22 | Delaware | $3,650 | −$150 |
| 23 | Arizona | $3,600 | −$200 |
| 24 | Michigan | $3,600 | −$200 |
The 18th position is not a stable fact about New Jersey: $0 up or $0 down moves New Jersey a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 14 rows, 7 above and 7 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Nevada and adding $150 to the $3,800 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Pennsylvania, Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Arizona: $200.
$600 short of Hawaii ($4,400), $1,450 clear of Kentucky ($2,350).
At $300 an hour, the $3,800 median represents about 13 hours of attorney time — a matter measured in days of work, not weeks. The peer median is 14 hours: New Jersey 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 New Jersey, but the implied workload only rises 2.4x — 7 hours at $240 becomes 17 hours at $355 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.48x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $2,700 to $5,400 the moderate band is $2,700 wide, close to the $2,550 peer median. End to end that is 9 hours at $300.
By implied hours New Jersey falls to 47th of 47 at 13 hours, 29 places below its 18th on cost — the bankruptcy total arriving on less recorded work.
33% up the $2,700–$5,400 band sits the $3,600 table midpoint, buying 12 hours at $300 against the 13 the local bankruptcy median implies — 1 hour apart.
| Measure | New Jersey | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $3,800 | 18th |
| Hourly median | $300 | 2nd |
| Implied hours | 13 | 47th |
| Simple median | $1,700 | 8th |
| Complex median | $6,200 | 4th |
$300 an hour puts New Jersey between Hawaii ($335) and New York ($300) — not the bankruptcy cost pairing.
New York, Washington record the same $300: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$3,800 buys 16 hours at $240, 13 at $300, 11 at $355.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $335 |
| 2 | New Jersey | $300 |
| 3 | New York | $300 |
| 4 | Washington | $300 |
New Jersey moves up the table as complexity rises: 8th at the simple tier, 18th at moderate, 4th at complex, a 4-place climb. The state's position on the headline moderate figure understates where it sits once a matter is contested.
$1,700 is 8th of 47 on a straightforward bankruptcy, under Maryland ($1,700) and over Utah ($1,700), $200 over the $1,500 tier midpoint.
$6,200 is 4th of 47 once contested, between Massachusetts ($6,200) and Rhode Island ($6,200), $1,100 off the $5,100 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in New Jersey: the simple tier reaches $2,900 where the moderate tier starts at $2,700, and the moderate tier reaches $5,400 where the complex tier starts at $3,700. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | New Jersey | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,700 | 8th | $1,500 | 7 |
| moderate | $3,800 | 18th | $3,600 | 13 |
| complex | $6,200 | 4th | $5,100 | 17 |
$1,700 puts New Jersey 8th of 47 on straightforward matters, 10 up on its moderate position, and $200 (13%) over the $1,500 tier midpoint.
7 implied hours at $240: 54% of the moderate tier's 13, over 3-4 months.
Maryland ($1,700) and Utah ($1,700) bracket it — a $0 window.
14 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $1,700, denser than the 7 around the moderate row.
$6,200 puts New Jersey 4th of 47 on contested matters, 14 up on its moderate position, and $1,100 (22%) over the $5,100 tier midpoint.
17 implied hours at $355: 131% of the moderate tier's 13, over 3-5 years.
Massachusetts ($6,200) and Rhode Island ($6,200) bracket it — a $0 window.
4 states sit within three percent of the $6,200 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Illinois | $1,700 |
| 7 | Maryland | $1,700 |
| 8 | New Jersey | $1,700 |
| 9 | Utah | $1,700 |
| 10 | Washington | $1,700 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Washington | $6,350 |
| 3 | Massachusetts | $6,200 |
| 4 | New Jersey | $6,200 |
| 5 | Rhode Island | $6,200 |
| 6 | Maryland | $6,050 |
In New Jersey a bankruptcy is 6th of 8 at $3,800, between Personal Injury and Real Estate Closing. At 34% of Criminal Defense ($11,200).
Across practice areas New Jersey ranges from 4th of 47 for DUI / DWI to 18th for Bankruptcy — a 14-place spread, with its 18th on bankruptcy inside it.
New Jersey is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Immigration runs 25% above its own midpoint while Bankruptcy runs 6% above its own midpoint — a 19-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in New Jersey is 4.9x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
7 of 8 matter types rank New Jersey in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 1 between; bankruptcy is 18th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 63th percentile of the 47 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $4,250 | $11,200 | $35,550 | 32 | 13th | +10% | Oregon |
| Divorce | $3,500 | $10,050 | $27,350 | 28 | 14th | +18% | Vermont |
| DUI / DWI | $3,900 | $9,200 | $19,850 | 28 | 4th | +23% | Rhode Island |
| Immigration | $2,350 | $5,950 | $12,200 | 18 | 8th | +25% | Connecticut |
| Personal Injury | $1,700 | $5,550 | $16,600 | — | 10th | +7% | Delaware |
| Bankruptcy | $1,700 | $3,800 | $6,200 | 13 | 18th | +6% | Nevada |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,300 | $2,700 | $4,950 | 9 | 5th | +21% | Alaska |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $700 | $2,300 | $7,150 | 7 | 8th | +11% | Connecticut |
Simple tier. $1,700 ÷ $240 = about 7 hours, spread over 3-4 months at roughly $486 a month. The $2,100 step to the moderate tier is 6 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $3,800 to $6,200 is a $2,400 step weighted toward price: 4 more hours at $300 is $1,200, but $355 across 17 hours adds $935 — 44% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. Pennsylvania ($3,800) is $0 light, Nevada ($3,800) is $0 heavy — but the $3,600 table midpoint is out by $200, 200x the neighbour error.
Contested against simple. At New Jersey's own recorded figures, $6,200 buys 3.6 matters at the $1,700 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 New Jerseycourt'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.