Can you refile immediately after your bankruptcy has been dismissed?

Answer

You can refile after your bankruptcy case has been discharged by the court. I filed a chapter 7 in December, it was discharged March 15 and I filed a chapter 13 on the 22nd.

Answer

You can file chapter 13 as soon as your bankruptcy is dismissed but can only file chapter 7 every 7 years.

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"Dismissed" means the court threw your case out without "Discharging" any of your debt.

You can either file Chap 13 immediately, or go to another Chap 7 filing after waiting 6 months...sort of a penalty period. Unless that has changed to, as someone said, 6 or 7 years.

www.nolo.com has most of the information you will need.

Answer

You cannot file a Chapter 7 case for 6 years after the filing date of a prior Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 which received Discharge. You can file a Chapter 13 nearly anytime so long as no other case is pending (with some exceptions). (FYI filing a Chapter 13 immediately after a Chapter 7 is called a "Chapter 20"). As of today (2/11/05) there is legislation pending in the United States Senate which I believe will increase the time you have to wait to 8 years, but this law may or may not get passed.

However, if the case was dismissed (and not Discharged), one can normally re-file immediately after dismissal unless the Court places a bar to re-filing, or unless the circumstances create a bar to re-filing. Sometimes, if the Court feels that a debtor acted in bad faith or for some other reason, the Court may bar the debtor from re-filing for some period of time. Or, once a Motion for Relief is filed by a creditor, if the debtor voluntarily dismisses his or her own case, then that debtor is automatically barred from filing a new case for 180 days. Please keep in mind that nothing in this posting or in any other posting constitutes legal advice, it is simply my understanding of the facts, which I do not warrant in any way.