Can you file Chapter 7 after Chapter 13 (vice versa)?

Yes, you can switch from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7, and in bankruptcy terms this is called a conversion, not a new filing. You don't have to start over from scratch. Provided you haven't already received a Chapter 7 discharge in the past eight years, you can file a motion to convert your case as long as you qualify for Chapter 7 under the means test and can show you're not trying to abuse the system. The most important catch is that you must not have acted in bad faith, such as intentionally hiding income or assets during your Chapter 13 plan. If the court approves the conversion, your case continues under Chapter 7 rules, and any remaining dischargeable unsecured debt, like credit cards or medical bills, gets wiped out just as if you'd filed Chapter 7 originally.

Yes, you can file Chapter 13 after Chapter 7, but your motive determines how long you must wait. If you need a discharge of your remaining debts in the new Chapter 13, you generally cannot receive one if you received a Chapter 7 discharge within the previous four years. However, if your only goal is to catch up on a mortgage or car loan without a discharge, you can file immediately under what courts often call a 'Chapter 20' strategy.

Here's a quick eligibility check based on what you actually need:

1. You want to eliminate remaining debt (discharge). The court will not grant a Chapter 13 discharge if you received a Chapter 7 discharge within the last 4 years. The clock starts from the filing date of the Chapter 7 case.
2. You only need to save your home or car (no discharge). You can file Chapter 13 right away, even weeks after your Chapter 7 closes. The automatic stay stops a foreclosure or repossession, and the Chapter 13 plan lets you repay the arrears over three to five years.
3. Your prior Chapter 7 was dismissed, not discharged. If your case was thrown out without a discharge, you can usually file Chapter 13 immediately with the goal of getting a full discharge, provided the dismissal was not 'with prejudice' barring a refiling.

A Chapter 20 strategy is a legitimate tool but carries risk. You will incur new attorney fees and court costs, and your credit report will show two back-to-back bankruptcies. Talk to a local bankruptcy attorney to confirm the exact dates and whether a new filing will actually stop a pending sale or auction in your case.

You can file Chapter 7 while in an active Chapter 13 by requesting a conversion, which is a different legal process than filing a new case. This is typically allowed at any time as long as you haven't previously converted the case from Chapter 7 and you still qualify for Chapter 7 under the means test. The court doesn't treat this as a new filing, so you skip the usual waiting periods between bankruptcies.

If your Chapter 13 is already completed or discharged, you're not converting, you're filing a brand new Chapter 7 case. That makes you subject to the standard time limits between discharges. You must wait eight years from the filing date of your previous Chapter 13 to get a Chapter 7 discharge, unless you paid all unsecured creditors in full during your Chapter 13, in which case the wait drops to six years.

The required waiting period between bankruptcy filings depends entirely on which chapter you filed first and which chapter you want to file next, as set by the Bankruptcy Code. Missing these deadlines means the court won't grant a discharge in the new case.

Here are the main waiting-period scenarios:

• Chapter 7 to Chapter 13: You must wait 4 years from the filing date of your Chapter 7 case before you can file a Chapter 13 and receive a discharge.
• Chapter 13 to Chapter 7: You must wait 6 years from the filing date of your Chapter 13 before filing a Chapter 7, unless you paid at least 70% of your unsecured claims in the first case and the plan was your best effort. If you met that threshold, the wait can be shorter.
• Chapter 7 to Chapter 7: You must wait 8 years from the filing date of the previous Chapter 7 before you can file another Chapter 7 and get a fresh discharge.
• 180-day rule: If your previous case was dismissed (not discharged), you generally must wait 180 days to refile any chapter if the dismissal was due to your failure to obey court orders or if you voluntarily dismissed after a creditor asked for relief from the automatic stay.
• Dismissal with prejudice: If the court barred you from refiling for a set period, you must wait out that specific timeline, which can be longer than the standard rules above.

These time limits apply to receiving a discharge. In an emergency, you might still file a new case sooner to get the automatic stay's protections, even if you aren't yet eligible for a fresh debt wipe.

The court's main job during a conversion request is to make sure you aren't gaming the system. Judges primarily look for 'good faith' and whether a 'material change in circumstances' explains why you need to switch chapters now. If your financial situation hasn't genuinely worsened since your original filing, the court may suspect you're just trying to escape a plan you never intended to finish.

To evaluate your honesty, the court balances several factors:

• The timing of your request. Filing for a conversion immediately after a job loss looks very different than requesting one right before a large bonus kicks in.
• Changes in your income or expenses. You typically need a significant, lasting drop in income or a sharp rise in necessary costs (like medical bills) that makes your current plan impossible.
• The best interests of creditors. The judge will block a switch if a Chapter 7 liquidation would actually pay creditors less than your existing Chapter 13 plan would, unless you can prove you truly cannot afford the payments.
• Abuse of the process. The court will check if you previously received a Chapter 7 discharge recently. Switching isn't allowed simply to dump debt you took on while knowing you couldn't pay it.

Ultimately, the decision rests on the judge's discretion. You need to show that your inability to pay is real and out of your control, not a strategic choice.

The biggest reasons a Chapter 13 case gets converted to Chapter 7 almost always come down to a loss of income or an unexpected jump in expenses that makes the original repayment plan unaffordable. Conversion isn't guaranteed, but courts regularly approve it when the change in your finances is genuine and lasting.

Here are the most common triggers:

• Job loss or a significant pay cut: A steady income is the engine of a Chapter 13 plan. When that income drops sharply through a layoff, reduced hours, or a demotion, you can no longer fund the payments the court confirmed.
• Divorce or separation: Splitting a household often means losing a co-filer's income while taking on the full load of shared living costs, which can instantly break a plan that was built on two incomes.
• A medical crisis or disability: A serious illness can create a double hit: your income falls because you cannot work, and your expenses spike with deductibles and unreimbursed medical bills.
• The failure of a business or self-employment income: If you're self-employed and the business revenue that supported the plan dries up, the payment structure becomes unsustainable, and a conversion is often the cleanest path.
• An unmanageable spike in fixed living expenses: This is less common but happens when a mortgage adjusts upward, a landlord raises rent beyond what your plan budget can absorb, or a critical non-dischargeable debt (like a tax obligation) turns out to be much larger than estimated.
• A balloon payment or case defect no longer makes sense to cure: Some Chapter 13 plans include a large balloon payment (such as from a mortgage modification or vehicle cramdown) or face a claim objection that makes the math impossible. When the cost to cure the defect exceeds what you can pay, converting can dissolve that obligation in a Chapter 7 liquidation.

In nearly all of these scenarios, the common thread is that the plan failed because of circumstances you didn't control, not because you mismanaged your money. Before you make any move, have your attorney recalculate your current median income and disposable income, because those fresh numbers determine whether you qualify for a discharge in Chapter 7.

When you change from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7, your pre-conversion debt is not automatically wiped out. The debts you listed when you first filed are still there, but your legal responsibility for them shifts. In the new Chapter 7 case, unsecured dischargeable debts like credit cards and medical bills can be eliminated, but non-dischargeable debts such as recent tax debt, student loans, and back child support will follow you right through the conversion.

Debts you take on after you filed the original Chapter 13 but before the conversion get treated based on when they happened. Generally, new debt incurred during the Chapter 13 without court permission is the filer's personal liability. If you convert to Chapter 7, that post-filing debt is typically not covered by the Chapter 7 discharge, meaning you will still owe it after the case closes.

If your Chapter 13 plan is failing right now, the most important thing is to act immediately before the court dismisses your case on its own. A dismissal often leaves you worse off than when you started, because interest and penalties may have piled up and you lose the automatic stay that kept creditors away. Common options include modifying your plan to lower payments, getting permission for a temporary payment break, or converting to a Chapter 7 if you now qualify. Every option depends on why the plan is failing, so you must contact your attorney before missing a payment.

Here's what to do next:

1. Call your bankruptcy attorney today. Nothing else protects you if you wait. If you lost your job, had a medical emergency, or face a sudden drop in income, your lawyer can act fast. If you don't have one, contact the one who originally filed your case.
2. Ask whether a plan modification fits. If your income dropped but you still want to save your home or car, the court can often approve lower monthly payments or extend the plan timeline if your disposable income changed through no fault of your own.
3. Ask whether a conversion to Chapter 7 is possible. If your income now falls below your state's median or you no longer have disposable income, switching chapters may wipe out remaining dischargeable debt. But you might lose non-exempt property you were protecting in Chapter 13, so review what you own first. (Earlier sections of this article explain when conversion is allowed.)
4. Consider voluntary dismissal only as a last resort with a clear backup plan. Dismissal leaves you without court protection. Creditors can resume collections, garnish wages, or foreclose immediately. If you go this route, know exactly which debts will survive and whether you will refile later.

Do not stop making whatever partial payment you can afford until your attorney tells you to. A single unapproved missed payment can get your case thrown out. If you wait until after a dismissal, you lose the option to modify or convert. The later section on cases that backfire explains why dismissing without a strategy creates bigger problems, especially if you plan to refile too soon.

Filing again can backfire when the court sees a pattern of bad faith, timing manipulation, or abuse of the bankruptcy system. A new filing does not automatically grant you a fresh start, and in some cases, it may leave you worse off than before.

Common scenarios where refiling can hurt you:

• Filing solely to stop a foreclosure or repossession with no real plan to reorganize: Courts may dismiss your case as a bad-faith filing and restrict your ability to refile anytime soon.
• Violating the timing rules for discharges: If you file a new Chapter 7 too soon after a prior Chapter 7 discharge, you may end up with no discharge at all, meaning all old debts survive and you still owe them.
• Abusing the automatic stay: If you had a case dismissed within the prior year and you refile, the automatic stay may only last 30 days or never kick in at all unless you prove the new case is legitimate.
• Damaging your credit with little benefit: A second bankruptcy can lower your credit score further and stay on your report longer without actually wiping out the debts that are troubling you.
• Losing control in a converted case: If your Chapter 13 fails and the case converts to Chapter 7, a trustee can sell non-exempt assets you intended to keep, leaving you with less than if you had simply dismissed and waited.