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 Tennessee, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a bankruptcy in Tennessee costs on average $2,950, typically $2,100-$4,200 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 | $850 | $1,250 | $2,100 | 3-4 months |
| Moderate | $2,100 | $2,950 | $4,200 | 3-5 years |
| Complex | $2,450 | $4,100 | $6,600 | 3-5 years |
Last verified: June 2026
$155 – $290/ hour
Median: $220/hr
3-5 years
For moderate complexity cases
New to how attorney fees work? Read the legal fees guide — hourly, flat, and contingency billing explained.
Researching costs in another area? These free tools from our network may help.
Add this calculator to your own site with a copy-paste snippet — includes an attribution link back to this page.
<iframe
id="legalcostcalc-embed"
src="https://legalcostcalc.co/embed/tennessee/bankruptcy-cost"
title="Tennessee Bankruptcy Cost Calculator"
width="100%"
height="720"
style="border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-radius:8px;max-width:768px;"
loading="lazy"
></iframe>
<p style="font-size:12px;text-align:center;">
<a href="https://legalcostcalc.co/tennessee/bankruptcy-cost?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=embed_snippet" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow ugc">
Powered by LegalCostCalc
</a>
</p>
<script>
window.addEventListener("message", function (event) {
if (!event.data || event.data.type !== "legalcostcalc:embed-resize") return;
var frame = document.getElementById("legalcostcalc-embed");
if (frame && typeof event.data.height === "number") {
frame.style.height = event.data.height + "px";
}
});
</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 Tennessee. The recorded median total is $2,950, with reported quotes clustering between $2,100 and $4,200. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $363–$413, which leaves roughly $2,537–$2,587 of the Tennessee 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 $2,950, the median bankruptcy cost in Tennessee runs 15% below the $3,479 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Tennessee carries 3 rows — simple, $850–$2,100 at $135–$245/hr over 3-4 months; moderate, $2,100–$4,200 at $155–$290/hr over 3-5 years; complex, $2,450–$6,600 at $175–$355/hr over 3-5 years — on 5 shared citations. Those figures place it in the lower quarter of the table.
$2,950 is a median, not the middle of the band — $850 above the $2,100 floor, $1,250 under the $4,200 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 47.
Sorted by median cost, Tennessee is 38th of 47 for a bankruptcy, placing it in the lowest-cost quarter of the table: $650 and 18% below the $3,600 midpoint, with 9 states recording a lower median still.
Wyoming ($3,000) and Mississippi ($2,900) bracket Tennessee inside a $100 window — narrow enough that 38th is close to arbitrary.
Wyoming, Mississippi, West Virginia record medians within three percent of Tennessee's $2,950. A bankruptcy quote anywhere in that group is describing effectively the same market.
Tennessee ranks 35th of 47 on hourly rate at $220 an hour and 38th on total cost — 3 places apart, enough that the rate is a slightly optimistic guide to the total.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Tennessee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | North Carolina | $3,150 | +$200 |
| 33 | Georgia | $3,100 | +$150 |
| 34 | Indiana | $3,100 | +$150 |
| 35 | North Dakota | $3,100 | +$150 |
| 36 | South Carolina | $3,050 | +$100 |
| 37 | Wyoming | $3,000 | +$50 |
| 38 | Tennessee | $2,950 | — |
| 39 | Mississippi | $2,900 | −$50 |
| 40 | West Virginia | $2,900 | −$50 |
| 41 | Oklahoma | $2,800 | −$150 |
| 42 | New Mexico | $2,700 | −$250 |
| 43 | Louisiana | $2,650 | −$300 |
| 44 | South Dakota | $2,550 | −$400 |
Within ten percent of the Tennessee figure there are 8 states above and only 4 below. $50 up or $50 down moves Tennessee a row, which means the ranking has far more room to improve than to slip: the bankruptcy field is dense overhead and sparse underneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Georgia, Indiana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Wyoming and adding $150 to the $2,950 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Mississippi, West Virginia, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana: $300.
$1,450 short of Hawaii ($4,400), $600 clear of Kentucky ($2,350).
At $220 an hour, the $2,950 median represents about 13 hours of attorney time — a matter measured in days of work, not weeks. The peer median is 14 hours: Tennessee 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 3.3x a simple one in Tennessee, but the implied workload only rises 2.1x — 7 hours at $175 becomes 15 hours at $265 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.51x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
The Tennessee moderate band spans $2,100 to $4,200 — $2,100 — which is $450 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 $220.
A third ordering: by implied hours Tennessee is 31st of 47 at 13 hours, 7 places above its cost rank of 38th on cost — more work behind the same bankruptcy money.
71% up the $2,100–$4,200 band sits the $3,600 table midpoint, buying 16 hours at $220 against the 13 the local bankruptcy median implies — 3 hours apart.
| Measure | Tennessee | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $2,950 | 38th |
| Hourly median | $220 | 35th |
| Implied hours | 13 | 31st |
| Simple median | $1,250 | 37th |
| Complex median | $4,100 | 39th |
$220 an hour puts Tennessee between Missouri ($220) and North Carolina ($210) — not the bankruptcy cost pairing.
Idaho, Indiana, Missouri record the same $220: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$2,950 buys 17 hours at $175, 13 at $220, 11 at $265.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | Indiana | $220 |
| 34 | Missouri | $220 |
| 35 | Tennessee | $220 |
| 36 | North Carolina | $210 |
| 37 | North Dakota | $210 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 37th at the simple tier, 38th at moderate, 39th at complex of 47 — so Tennessee keeps roughly the same relative position whether the bankruptcy is straightforward or contested.
$1,250 is 37th of 47 on a straightforward bankruptcy, under South Dakota ($1,300) and over Indiana ($1,200), $250 under the $1,500 tier midpoint.
$4,100 is 39th of 47 once contested, between Indiana ($4,100) and Idaho ($4,050), $1,000 off the $5,100 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Tennessee: the simple tier reaches $2,100 where the moderate tier starts at $2,100, and the moderate tier reaches $4,200 where the complex tier starts at $2,450. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Tennessee | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,250 | 37th | $1,500 | 7 |
| moderate | $2,950 | 38th | $3,600 | 13 |
| complex | $4,100 | 39th | $5,100 | 15 |
$1,250 puts Tennessee 37th of 47 on straightforward matters, 1 up on its moderate position, and $250 (17%) under the $1,500 tier midpoint.
7 implied hours at $175: 54% of the moderate tier's 13, over 3-4 months.
South Dakota ($1,300) and Indiana ($1,200) bracket it — a $100 window.
Nothing else sits within three percent of the $1,250 here, against 3 at the moderate tier.
$4,100 drops Tennessee to 39th of 47 on contested matters, 1 below its moderate position and $1,000 (20%) under the $5,100 tier midpoint.
15 implied hours at $265: 115% of the moderate tier's 13, over 3-5 years.
Indiana ($4,100) and Idaho ($4,050) bracket it — a $50 window.
3 states sit within three percent of the $4,100 here, against 3 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | New Mexico | $1,300 |
| 36 | South Dakota | $1,300 |
| 37 | Tennessee | $1,250 |
| 38 | Indiana | $1,200 |
| 39 | Mississippi | $1,200 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 37 | South Carolina | $4,250 |
| 38 | Indiana | $4,100 |
| 39 | Tennessee | $4,100 |
| 40 | Idaho | $4,050 |
| 41 | Mississippi | $4,000 |
In Tennessee a bankruptcy is 6th of 8 at $2,950, between Personal Injury and Real Estate Closing. At 35% of Criminal Defense ($8,500).
The state does not rank uniformly. Tennessee is 25th of 47 for Personal Injury but 41st for Divorce, a 16-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 38th on bankruptcy says little about what the other lines cost.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Immigration runs 1% below its own midpoint, while Personal Injury runs 22% below its own midpoint — 21 percentage points apart. A single "Tennessee is expensive" or "Tennessee is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The practice areas sit unusually close together in Tennessee — the largest tracked median is 4.6x the smallest, against 5.1x for the typical state — so one figure travels further across matter types here than it would elsewhere.
0 of 8 matter types rank Tennessee in the upper third, 4 in the lower, 4 between; bankruptcy is 38th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 20th percentile of the 47 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,150 | $8,500 | $26,900 | 32 | 40th | −17% | North Dakota |
| Divorce | $2,800 | $7,400 | $18,550 | 28 | 41st | −13% | Indiana |
| DUI / DWI | $3,000 | $6,550 | $16,350 | 27 | 35th | −12% | Indiana |
| Immigration | $1,600 | $4,700 | $10,650 | 19 | 26th | −1% | Michigan |
| Personal Injury | $1,200 | $4,050 | $12,500 | — | 25th | −22% | North Dakota |
| Bankruptcy | $1,250 | $2,950 | $4,100 | 13 | 38th | −18% | Wyoming |
| Real Estate Closing | $900 | $2,100 | $4,150 | 10 | 27th | −6% | Wyoming |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $500 | $1,850 | $5,400 | 8 | 33rd | −11% | Michigan |
Simple tier. $1,250 ÷ $175 = about 7 hours, spread over 3-4 months at roughly $357 a month. The $1,700 step to the moderate tier is 6 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $2,950 to $4,100 is a $1,150 step weighted toward price: 2 more hours at $220 is $440, but $265 across 15 hours adds $675 — 61% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. Mississippi ($2,900) is $50 light, Wyoming ($3,000) is $50 heavy — but the $3,600 table midpoint is out by $650, 13x the neighbour error.
Contested against simple. At Tennessee's own recorded figures, $4,100 buys 3.3 matters at the $1,250 simple median — or, counted in time, 15 implied hours against 7, a factor of 2.1 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Tennesseecourt'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.