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 Texas, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a bankruptcy in Texas costs on average $3,950, typically $2,800-$5,600 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $185 to $340 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 | $1,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 | 3-4 months |
| Moderate | $2,800 | $3,950 | $5,600 | 3-5 years |
| Complex | $2,900 | $4,800 | $7,700 | 3-5 years |
Last verified: June 2026
$185 – $340/ hour
Median: $260/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 Texas. The recorded median total is $3,950, with reported quotes clustering between $2,800 and $5,600. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $363–$413, which leaves roughly $3,537–$3,587 of the Texas 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 $3,950, the median bankruptcy cost in Texas runs 14% above the $3,479 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Texas carries 3 rows — simple, $1,000–$2,500 at $155–$290/hr over 3-4 months; moderate, $2,800–$5,600 at $185–$340/hr over 3-5 years; complex, $2,900–$7,700 at $210–$420/hr over 3-5 years — on 5 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$3,950 is a median, not the middle of the band — $1,150 above the $2,800 floor, $1,650 under the $5,600 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 47.
At 13th of 47, Texas sits above the midpoint of the bankruptcy table: $350 more than the $3,600 median state, or 10%, with 12 states recording a higher median.
New Hampshire ($4,050) and Illinois ($3,900) bracket Texas inside a $150 window — narrow enough that 13th is close to arbitrary.
4 tracked states — Minnesota, New Hampshire, Illinois, Wisconsin among them — record a median within three percent of Texas's $3,950. The figure sits in the densest part of the bankruptcy distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
Hourly rate does not explain this state's position. At $260 an hour Texas is only 21st of 47 on rate, yet 13th on total bankruptcy cost — the totals reflect billed hours accumulating, not an unusually high rate.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Texas |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Virginia | $4,300 | +$350 |
| 8 | District of Columbia | $4,200 | +$250 |
| 9 | Rhode Island | $4,100 | +$150 |
| 10 | Washington | $4,100 | +$150 |
| 11 | Minnesota | $4,050 | +$100 |
| 12 | New Hampshire | $4,050 | +$100 |
| 13 | Texas | $3,950 | — |
| 14 | Illinois | $3,900 | −$50 |
| 15 | Wisconsin | $3,900 | −$50 |
| 16 | Maryland | $3,800 | −$150 |
| 17 | Nevada | $3,800 | −$150 |
| 18 | New Jersey | $3,800 | −$150 |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | $3,800 | −$150 |
The 13th position is not a stable fact about Texas: $100 up or $50 down moves Texas a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 19 rows, 8 above and 11 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Washington, Minnesota, New Hampshire and adding $250 to the $3,950 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey: $150.
$450 short of Hawaii ($4,400), $1,600 clear of Kentucky ($2,350).
At $260 an hour, the $3,950 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 Texas figure than behind the typical state's.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex bankruptcy costs 3.2x a simple one in Texas, but the implied workload only rises 2.1x — 7 hours at $210 becomes 15 hours at $315 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.5x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $2,800 to $5,600 the moderate band is $2,800 wide, close to the $2,550 peer median. End to end that is 11 hours at $260.
A third ordering: by implied hours Texas is 6th of 47 at 15 hours, 7 places above its cost rank of 13th on cost — more work behind the same bankruptcy money.
29% up the $2,800–$5,600 band sits the $3,600 table midpoint, buying 14 hours at $260 against the 15 the local bankruptcy median implies — 1 hour apart.
| Measure | Texas | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $3,950 | 13th |
| Hourly median | $260 | 21st |
| Implied hours | 15 | 6th |
| Simple median | $1,500 | 26th |
| Complex median | $4,800 | 28th |
$260 an hour puts Texas between Pennsylvania ($260) and Utah ($260) — not the bankruptcy cost pairing.
Pennsylvania, Utah record the same $260: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$3,950 buys 19 hours at $210, 15 at $260, 13 at $315.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | Oregon | $270 |
| 20 | Pennsylvania | $260 |
| 21 | Texas | $260 |
| 22 | Utah | $260 |
| 23 | Arizona | $255 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 26th at the simple tier, 13th at moderate, 28th at complex of 47 — so Texas keeps roughly the same relative position whether the bankruptcy is straightforward or contested.
$1,500 is 26th of 47 on a straightforward bankruptcy, under Ohio ($1,500) and over Wisconsin ($1,500), $0 over the $1,500 tier midpoint.
$4,800 is 28th of 47 once contested, between Pennsylvania ($4,800) and Nevada ($4,650), $300 off the $5,100 tier midpoint.
$300 separates the simple ceiling of $2,500 from the moderate floor of $2,800, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $2,900 upward. The expensive end of a routine bankruptcy and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Texas.
| Tier | Texas | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,500 | 26th | $1,500 | 7 |
| moderate | $3,950 | 13th | $3,600 | 15 |
| complex | $4,800 | 28th | $5,100 | 15 |
$1,500 drops Texas to 26th of 47 on straightforward matters, 13 below its moderate position and $0 (0%) over the $1,500 tier midpoint.
7 implied hours at $210: 47% of the moderate tier's 15, over 3-4 months.
Ohio ($1,500) and Wisconsin ($1,500) bracket it — a $0 window.
4 states sit within three percent of the $1,500 here, against 4 at the moderate row.
$4,800 drops Texas to 28th of 47 on contested matters, 15 below its moderate position and $300 (6%) under the $5,100 tier midpoint.
15 implied hours at $315: 100% of the moderate tier's 15, over 3-5 years.
Pennsylvania ($4,800) and Nevada ($4,650) bracket it — a $150 window.
2 states sit within three percent of the $4,800 here, against 4 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | Nevada | $1,500 |
| 25 | Ohio | $1,500 |
| 26 | Texas | $1,500 |
| 27 | Wisconsin | $1,500 |
| 28 | Idaho | $1,450 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Michigan | $4,850 |
| 27 | Pennsylvania | $4,800 |
| 28 | Texas | $4,800 |
| 29 | Nevada | $4,650 |
| 30 | Wyoming | $4,600 |
In Texas a bankruptcy is 6th of 8 at $3,950, between Personal Injury and Real Estate Closing. At 36% of Criminal Defense ($10,950).
Across practice areas Texas ranges from 12th of 47 for Estate Planning / Probate to 24th for Real Estate Closing — a 12-place spread, with its 13th on bankruptcy inside it.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Immigration runs 17% above its own midpoint, while Personal Injury runs 9% below its own midpoint — 26 percentage points apart. A single "Texas is expensive" or "Texas is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The largest tracked median in Texas is 5x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
4 of 8 matter types rank Texas in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 4 between; bankruptcy is 13th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 74th percentile of the 47 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,700 | $10,950 | $32,250 | 35 | 16th | +7% | Arizona |
| Divorce | $3,000 | $8,900 | $25,250 | 28 | 24th | +4% | Nevada |
| DUI / DWI | $3,400 | $7,800 | $16,600 | 27 | 22nd | +5% | Illinois |
| Immigration | $1,900 | $5,550 | $10,850 | 19 | 15th | +17% | Utah |
| Personal Injury | $1,600 | $4,750 | $14,950 | — | 21st | −9% | Iowa |
| Bankruptcy | $1,500 | $3,950 | $4,800 | 15 | 13th | +10% | New Hampshire |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,050 | $2,200 | $4,700 | 8 | 24th | −1% | Illinois |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $650 | $2,200 | $6,500 | 8 | 12th | +6% | Illinois |
Simple tier. $1,500 ÷ $210 = about 7 hours, spread over 3-4 months at roughly $429 a month. The $2,450 step to the moderate tier is 8 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $3,950 to $4,800 is a $850 step weighted toward price: 0 more hours at $260 is $0, but $315 across 15 hours adds $825 — 100% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Illinois ($3,900) lands $50 under Texas; from New Hampshire ($4,050), $100 over; from the $3,600 table midpoint, $350 out.
Contested against simple. At Texas's own recorded figures, $4,800 buys 3.2 matters at the $1,500 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 Texascourt'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.