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 North Dakota, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a bankruptcy in North Dakota costs on average $3,100, typically $2,200-$4,400 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $145 to $270 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 | $800 | $1,200 | $2,000 | 3-4 months |
| Moderate | $2,200 | $3,100 | $4,400 | 3-5 years |
| Complex | $2,600 | $4,300 | $6,900 | 3-5 years |
Last verified: June 2026
$145 – $270/ hour
Median: $210/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 North Dakota. The recorded median total is $3,100, with reported quotes clustering between $2,200 and $4,400. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $363–$413, which leaves roughly $2,687–$2,737 of the North Dakota 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 $3,100, the median bankruptcy cost in North Dakota runs 11% below the $3,479 national average across all 50 states and DC.
North Dakota carries 3 rows — simple, $800–$2,000 at $125–$230/hr over 3-4 months; moderate, $2,200–$4,400 at $145–$270/hr over 3-5 years; complex, $2,600–$6,900 at $170–$335/hr over 3-5 years — on 5 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$3,100 is a median, not the middle of the band — $900 above the $2,200 floor, $1,300 under the $4,400 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 47.
North Dakota occupies the 35th row of 47 for a bankruptcy. Its $3,100 median trails the $3,600 table midpoint by $500, which is 14% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
Indiana ($3,100) and South Carolina ($3,050) bracket North Dakota inside a $50 window — narrow enough that 35th is close to arbitrary.
5 tracked states — Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana among them — record a median within three percent of North Dakota's $3,100. 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 sit 2 places apart — 37th of 47 at $210 an hour against 35th on the bankruptcy total — which is close enough to read as the same signal.
| Rank | State | Median | Against North Dakota |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | Missouri | $3,300 | +$200 |
| 30 | Idaho | $3,200 | +$100 |
| 31 | Florida | $3,150 | +$50 |
| 32 | North Carolina | $3,150 | +$50 |
| 33 | Georgia | $3,100 | −$0 |
| 34 | Indiana | $3,100 | −$0 |
| 35 | North Dakota | $3,100 | — |
| 36 | South Carolina | $3,050 | −$50 |
| 37 | Wyoming | $3,000 | −$100 |
| 38 | Tennessee | $2,950 | −$150 |
| 39 | Mississippi | $2,900 | −$200 |
| 40 | West Virginia | $2,900 | −$200 |
| 41 | Oklahoma | $2,800 | −$300 |
$0 up or $50 down moves North Dakota a row. A ten percent revision to the underlying figure would cross 12 rows in total — 6 up, 6 down — so the rank reads better as a band than as a precise place.
Climbing five places would mean passing Idaho, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana and adding $100 to the $3,100 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under South Carolina, Wyoming, Tennessee, Mississippi, West Virginia: $200.
$1,300 short of Hawaii ($4,400), $750 clear of Kentucky ($2,350).
At $210 an hour, the $3,100 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 North Dakota figure than behind the typical state's.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex bankruptcy costs 3.6x a simple one in North Dakota, but the implied workload only rises 2.4x — 7 hours at $170 becomes 17 hours at $250 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.47x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $2,200 to $4,400 the moderate band is $2,200 wide, close to the $2,550 peer median. End to end that is 10 hours at $210.
A third ordering: by implied hours North Dakota is 13th of 47 at 15 hours, 22 places above its cost rank of 35th on cost — more work behind the same bankruptcy money.
64% up the $2,200–$4,400 band sits the $3,600 table midpoint, buying 17 hours at $210 against the 15 the local bankruptcy median implies — 2 hours apart.
| Measure | North Dakota | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $3,100 | 35th |
| Hourly median | $210 | 37th |
| Implied hours | 15 | 13th |
| Simple median | $1,200 | 40th |
| Complex median | $4,300 | 36th |
$210 an hour puts North Dakota between North Carolina ($210) and Mississippi ($205) — not the bankruptcy cost pairing.
North Carolina records the same $210: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$3,100 buys 18 hours at $170, 15 at $210, 12 at $250.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | Tennessee | $220 |
| 36 | North Carolina | $210 |
| 37 | North Dakota | $210 |
| 38 | Mississippi | $205 |
| 39 | West Virginia | $205 |
North Dakota moves up the table as complexity rises: 40th at the simple tier, 35th at moderate, 36th at complex, a 4-place climb. The state's position on the headline moderate figure understates where it sits once a matter is contested.
$1,200 is 40th of 47 on a straightforward bankruptcy, under Mississippi ($1,200) and over Oklahoma ($1,200), $300 under the $1,500 tier midpoint.
$4,300 is 36th of 47 once contested, between New Mexico ($4,350) and South Carolina ($4,250), $800 off the $5,100 tier midpoint.
$200 separates the simple ceiling of $2,000 from the moderate floor of $2,200, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $2,600 upward. The expensive end of a routine bankruptcy and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in North Dakota.
| Tier | North Dakota | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,200 | 40th | $1,500 | 7 |
| moderate | $3,100 | 35th | $3,600 | 15 |
| complex | $4,300 | 36th | $5,100 | 17 |
$1,200 drops North Dakota to 40th of 47 on straightforward matters, 5 below its moderate position and $300 (20%) under the $1,500 tier midpoint.
7 implied hours at $170: 47% of the moderate tier's 15, over 3-4 months.
Mississippi ($1,200) and Oklahoma ($1,200) bracket it — a $0 window.
4 states sit within three percent of the $1,200 here, against 5 at the moderate row.
$4,300 drops North Dakota to 36th of 47 on contested matters, 1 below its moderate position and $800 (16%) under the $5,100 tier midpoint.
17 implied hours at $250: 113% of the moderate tier's 15, over 3-5 years.
New Mexico ($4,350) and South Carolina ($4,250) bracket it — a $100 window.
2 states sit within three percent of the $4,300 here, against 5 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 38 | Indiana | $1,200 |
| 39 | Mississippi | $1,200 |
| 40 | North Dakota | $1,200 |
| 41 | Oklahoma | $1,200 |
| 42 | West Virginia | $1,200 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | West Virginia | $4,450 |
| 35 | New Mexico | $4,350 |
| 36 | North Dakota | $4,300 |
| 37 | South Carolina | $4,250 |
| 38 | Indiana | $4,100 |
In North Dakota a bankruptcy is 6th of 8 at $3,100, between Personal Injury and Real Estate Closing. At 36% of Criminal Defense ($8,550).
The state does not rank uniformly. North Dakota is 24th of 47 for Personal Injury but 45th for DUI / DWI, a 21-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 35th on bankruptcy says little about what the other lines cost.
North Dakota is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Immigration runs 8% below its own midpoint while Estate Planning / Probate runs 23% below its own midpoint — a 15-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in North Dakota 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 8 matter types rank North Dakota in the upper third, 5 in the lower, 3 between; bankruptcy is 35th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 26th percentile of the 47 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,150 | $8,550 | $24,250 | 34 | 39th | −16% | Montana |
| Divorce | $2,600 | $7,200 | $17,750 | 29 | 44th | −16% | Oklahoma |
| DUI / DWI | $2,900 | $5,800 | $15,250 | 25 | 45th | −22% | Alabama |
| Immigration | $1,650 | $4,350 | $8,900 | 19 | 34th | −8% | Florida |
| Personal Injury | $1,350 | $4,050 | $12,100 | — | 24th | −22% | Kansas |
| Bankruptcy | $1,200 | $3,100 | $4,300 | 15 | 35th | −14% | Indiana |
| Real Estate Closing | $750 | $1,950 | $3,850 | 9 | 31st | −12% | Montana |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $550 | $1,600 | $5,200 | 7 | 40th | −23% | Louisiana |
Simple tier. $1,200 ÷ $170 = about 7 hours, spread over 3-4 months at roughly $343 a month. The $1,900 step to the moderate tier is 8 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $3,100 to $4,300 is a $1,200 step weighted toward price: 2 more hours at $210 is $420, but $250 across 17 hours adds $680 — 62% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. South Carolina ($3,050) is $50 light, Indiana ($3,100) is $0 heavy — but the $3,600 table midpoint is out by $500, 10x the neighbour error.
Contested against simple. At North Dakota's own recorded figures, $4,300 buys 3.6 matters at the $1,200 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 North Dakotacourt'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.