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 Wisconsin, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a bankruptcy in Wisconsin costs on average $3,900, typically $2,750-$5,500 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $180 to $335 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 | $2,750 | $3,900 | $5,500 | 3-5 years |
| Complex | $3,200 | $5,350 | $8,600 | 3-5 years |
Last verified: June 2026
$180 – $335/ hour
Median: $255/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 Wisconsin. The recorded median total is $3,900, with reported quotes clustering between $2,750 and $5,500. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $363–$413, which leaves roughly $3,487–$3,537 of the Wisconsin 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 $3,900, the median bankruptcy cost in Wisconsin runs 12% above the $3,479 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Wisconsin carries 3 rows — simple, $1,000–$2,500 at $155–$280/hr over 3-4 months; moderate, $2,750–$5,500 at $180–$335/hr over 3-5 years; complex, $3,200–$8,600 at $205–$410/hr over 3-5 years — on 5 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$3,900 is a median, not the middle of the band — $1,150 above the $2,750 floor, $1,600 under the $5,500 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 47.
At 15th of 47, Wisconsin sits above the midpoint of the bankruptcy table: $300 more than the $3,600 median state, or 8%, with 14 states recording a higher median.
Illinois ($3,900) and Maryland ($3,800) bracket Wisconsin inside a $100 window — narrow enough that 15th is close to arbitrary.
6 tracked states — Texas, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada among them — record a median within three percent of Wisconsin's $3,900. 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 $255 an hour Wisconsin is only 24th of 47 on rate, yet 15th on total bankruptcy cost — the totals reflect billed hours accumulating, not an unusually high rate.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Wisconsin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Rhode Island | $4,100 | +$200 |
| 10 | Washington | $4,100 | +$200 |
| 11 | Minnesota | $4,050 | +$150 |
| 12 | New Hampshire | $4,050 | +$150 |
| 13 | Texas | $3,950 | +$50 |
| 14 | Illinois | $3,900 | −$0 |
| 15 | Wisconsin | $3,900 | — |
| 16 | Maryland | $3,800 | −$100 |
| 17 | Nevada | $3,800 | −$100 |
| 18 | New Jersey | $3,800 | −$100 |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | $3,800 | −$100 |
| 20 | Alaska | $3,700 | −$200 |
| 21 | Colorado | $3,700 | −$200 |
The rows within ten percent are lopsided: 10 below Wisconsin against 6 above. $0 up or $100 down moves Wisconsin a row, so a downward revision would cost the state far more places than an equivalent upward one would gain — the 15th position is propped up by a thin bankruptcy field above it and a crowded one beneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Washington, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Texas, Illinois and adding $200 to the $3,900 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Alaska: $200.
$500 short of Hawaii ($4,400), $1,550 clear of Kentucky ($2,350).
At $255 an hour, the $3,900 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 Wisconsin figure than behind the typical state's.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex bankruptcy costs 3.6x a simple one in Wisconsin, but the implied workload only rises 2.6x — 7 hours at $205 becomes 18 hours at $305 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.49x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $2,750 to $5,500 the moderate band is $2,750 wide, close to the $2,550 peer median. End to end that is 11 hours at $255.
A third ordering: by implied hours Wisconsin is 1st of 47 at 15 hours, 14 places above its cost rank of 15th on cost — more work behind the same bankruptcy money.
31% up the $2,750–$5,500 band sits the $3,600 table midpoint, buying 14 hours at $255 against the 15 the local bankruptcy median implies — 1 hour apart.
| Measure | Wisconsin | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $3,900 | 15th |
| Hourly median | $255 | 24th |
| Implied hours | 15 | 1st |
| Simple median | $1,500 | 27th |
| Complex median | $5,350 | 20th |
$255 an hour puts Wisconsin between Arizona ($255) and Maine ($250) — not the bankruptcy cost pairing.
Arizona records the same $255: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$3,900 buys 19 hours at $205, 15 at $255, 13 at $305.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Utah | $260 |
| 23 | Arizona | $255 |
| 24 | Wisconsin | $255 |
| 25 | Maine | $250 |
| 26 | Michigan | $250 |
Wisconsin moves up the table as complexity rises: 27th at the simple tier, 15th at moderate, 20th at complex, a 7-place climb. The state's position on the headline moderate figure understates where it sits once a matter is contested.
$1,500 is 27th of 47 on a straightforward bankruptcy, under Texas ($1,500) and over Idaho ($1,450), $0 over the $1,500 tier midpoint.
$5,350 is 20th of 47 once contested, between Utah ($5,450) and Arizona ($5,200), $250 off the $5,100 tier midpoint.
$250 separates the simple ceiling of $2,500 from the moderate floor of $2,750, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $3,200 upward. The expensive end of a routine bankruptcy and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Wisconsin.
| Tier | Wisconsin | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,500 | 27th | $1,500 | 7 |
| moderate | $3,900 | 15th | $3,600 | 15 |
| complex | $5,350 | 20th | $5,100 | 18 |
$1,500 drops Wisconsin to 27th of 47 on straightforward matters, 12 below its moderate position and $0 (0%) over the $1,500 tier midpoint.
7 implied hours at $205: 47% of the moderate tier's 15, over 3-4 months.
Texas ($1,500) and Idaho ($1,450) bracket it — a $50 window.
4 states sit within three percent of the $1,500 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
$5,350 drops Wisconsin to 20th of 47 on contested matters, 5 below its moderate position and $250 (5%) over the $5,100 tier midpoint.
18 implied hours at $305: 120% of the moderate tier's 15, over 3-5 years.
Utah ($5,450) and Arizona ($5,200) bracket it — a $250 window.
5 states sit within three percent of the $5,350 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Ohio | $1,500 |
| 26 | Texas | $1,500 |
| 27 | Wisconsin | $1,500 |
| 28 | Idaho | $1,450 |
| 29 | Michigan | $1,450 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | District of Columbia | $5,450 |
| 19 | Utah | $5,450 |
| 20 | Wisconsin | $5,350 |
| 21 | Arizona | $5,200 |
| 22 | Georgia | $5,200 |
In Wisconsin a bankruptcy is 6th of 8 at $3,900, between Immigration and Real Estate Closing. At 38% of Criminal Defense ($10,400).
The state does not rank uniformly. Wisconsin is 11th of 47 for Personal Injury but 28th for Divorce, a 17-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 15th on bankruptcy says little about what the other lines cost.
Wisconsin is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Real Estate Closing runs 10% above its own midpoint while Divorce runs 3% below its own midpoint — a 13-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Wisconsin is 5x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
3 of 8 matter types rank Wisconsin in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 5 between; bankruptcy is 15th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 70th percentile of the 47 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,950 | $10,400 | $32,100 | 34 | 25th | +2% | Michigan |
| Divorce | $3,300 | $8,300 | $21,600 | 27 | 28th | −3% | Pennsylvania |
| DUI / DWI | $3,450 | $7,450 | $15,950 | 27 | 26th | level | Nevada |
| Personal Injury | $1,650 | $5,550 | $15,500 | — | 11th | +7% | New Jersey |
| Immigration | $2,100 | $4,850 | $10,550 | 17 | 23rd | +2% | Pennsylvania |
| Bankruptcy | $1,500 | $3,900 | $5,350 | 15 | 15th | +8% | Illinois |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,100 | $2,450 | $4,550 | 10 | 14th | +10% | Rhode Island |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $550 | $2,100 | $5,750 | 8 | 23rd | +1% | Utah |
Simple tier. $1,500 ÷ $205 = about 7 hours, spread over 3-4 months at roughly $429 a month. The $2,400 step to the moderate tier is 8 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $3,900 to $5,350 is a $1,450 step weighted toward price: 3 more hours at $255 is $765, but $305 across 18 hours adds $900 — 54% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Maryland ($3,800) lands $100 under Wisconsin; from Illinois ($3,900), $0 over; from the $3,600 table midpoint, $300 out.
Contested against simple. At Wisconsin's own recorded figures, $5,350 buys 3.6 matters at the $1,500 simple median — or, counted in time, 18 implied hours against 7, a factor of 2.6 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Wisconsincourt'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.