Chapter 7 wipes out credit cards, medical bills, personal loans and most other unsecured debt in about four months, and most people who file keep everything they own. You qualify by passing a means test built on six months of income. Our flat attorney fee for a typical case is $1,850, quoted on the first call.
What happens between the first call and the discharge
A Los Angeles Chapter 7 runs about three to four months from filing to discharge. The work before filing takes two to four weeks. We gather pay stubs, bank statements, tax returns and a list of everyone you owe, and Naomi drafts the petition. The day it's filed electronically with the Central District, the automatic stay takes effect and every creditor has to stop.
About thirty days later you attend the 341 meeting of creditors. Since June 2024 those meetings are on Zoom, so nobody drives to the Roybal Federal Building on Temple Street for it. The trustee asks you questions under oath for about ten minutes. Naomi is on the call with you; she attends every one herself.
Sixty days after that, if nobody objects, the court enters the discharge order. The week-by-week version is on the Chapter 7 timeline page, and the meeting itself is covered in what happens at a 341 meeting of creditors.
Who qualifies
Most people who call us pass the means test at the first step. The test compares your household's gross income over the six full calendar months before filing against the California median for a household your size. For cases filed on or after April 1, 2026, that median is $79,253 for one person, $102,797 for two, $116,541 for three and $139,071 for four. Below the line, you're in. Above it there's a second step that subtracts allowed expenses, and plenty of people above the median still qualify once the mortgage and the car payments come out.
Social Security doesn't count as income for this purpose. Household size counts the people living in the home who are supported by the income.
The full walkthrough is on the means test page, and the current figures are on the California median income table by household size. If you're between jobs or on unemployment, filing Chapter 7 with no income is usually the easiest test of all, though the timing of a new job matters. Married couples have a separate question, because one spouse can file alone but community property is in the estate either way. That's covered in Chapter 7 for married couples.
What gets wiped out, and what survives
Credit cards. Medical bills. Personal loans, payday loans, repossession deficiencies, old utility bills, most civil judgments. Those are the debts Chapter 7 was built for, and they're gone at discharge. The list of what Chapter 7 wipes out is longer than most people assume.
A few debts survive. Child support and spousal support always do. So do most student loans, recent income taxes, injury debts from a DUI, and anything a creditor proves you ran up by fraud. We go through the exceptions on the page about debts Chapter 7 will not discharge, because a couple of them surprise people every year.
Two categories get their own pages. Older income taxes can be discharged if they pass the three-year, two-year and 240-day rules, which we explain under Chapter 7 and tax debt. Student loans require a separate lawsuit inside the bankruptcy case showing undue hardship. Since the Justice Department's November 2022 guidance, those cases settle far more often than they used to, and Chapter 7 and student loans covers what it takes.
What you keep
Nearly everything, in a typical case. The trustee isn't interested in your couch or your clothes. The trustee is interested in equity that isn't covered by a California exemption, and in a no-asset case there isn't any.
Your house is almost never lost in a Chapter 7 if you're current on the mortgage and your equity fits inside the homestead exemption, which in Los Angeles County sits at the 2026 cap of $743,459. Can I keep my house in Chapter 7 walks through the math. Your car is the same question of equity against the vehicle exemption, roughly $7,500 under System 1, and most financed cars in this county have little equity to protect. See can I keep my car in Chapter 7.
Keeping a financed car raises two more decisions. The lender may send a reaffirmation agreement that puts you personally back on the loan. We often advise against signing, and the reasons are on the reaffirmation agreements page. The alternative, redeeming the vehicle under section 722, means paying the car's current value in one lump sum and owning it outright.
What the trustee is looking for
The Chapter 7 trustee is paid a percentage of what they recover for creditors, so they look. They read your bank statements for the months before filing. They ask about tax refunds you haven't received yet, money you gave a relative in the last year, and property you listed at a suspiciously low value. None of that is a problem if it's disclosed. All of it is a problem if it's hidden.
Naomi's habit is to find the issue before the trustee does. If you paid your mother back $3,000 in March, we talk about timing the filing so it isn't a recoverable preference. Our page on what the Chapter 7 trustee actually looks for lists the questions that come up on nearly every Zoom call.
What it costs, and when Chapter 7 is the wrong tool
Our flat attorney fee for a typical no-asset Chapter 7 is $1,850, quoted on the first call. The court's filing fee is $338, and the two required online courses run about $15 to $50 each. Because a debt owed to your own lawyer would be discharged along with everything else, the fee is paid before filing; payment plans over two to four months are routine. What bankruptcy costs in Los Angeles itemizes everything, including what the flat fee doesn't cover.
About one in seven people who call us are told not to file. Sometimes a prior discharge is inside the eight-year window, and the rules for a second Chapter 7 decide whether Chapter 13 works instead. Sometimes the income is too high, or the equity is too large, and a Chapter 13 plan protects it in a way Chapter 7 can't. Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 lays out how we decide. And sometimes bankruptcy isn't the answer at all, which you'll hear in the first thirty minutes rather than after you've paid.
Our Beverly Hills bankruptcy practice does one thing, consumer Chapter 7 and Chapter 13, in all five divisions of the Central District. Naomi has filed about 2,400 of these cases since 2006.
The thing people apologize for most on the first call is the number itself. Forty thousand in cards, sixty, a hundred. They say it like a confession. I've filed about 2,400 of these cases, and the balance is the least interesting fact in your file. What I want to know is whether you paid a relative back in the last year, whether a tax refund is coming, and what your income looked like in the six months before we file. Those three things decide the case. The balance just decides how relieved you'll be.
Questions people ask about this
Will I lose my house or car if I file Chapter 7 in Los Angeles?
Almost never, if you're current on the payments and your equity fits inside the exemptions. The Los Angeles County homestead is $743,459 in 2026, and the System 1 vehicle exemption is roughly $7,500. Most financed cars have little or no equity, so there's nothing for the trustee to take.
How long does Chapter 7 take?
About three to four months from filing to discharge. The 341 meeting is roughly 30 days after filing, on Zoom, and the discharge usually enters about 60 days after that. Preparation before filing adds two to four weeks.
Do I have to go to court?
Not in a typical case. The one required appearance is the 341 meeting, which has been held on Zoom in the Central District since June 2024. Naomi attends with you. Judges rarely see a no-asset Chapter 7 debtor at all.
What if my income is over the California median?
You go to the second step of the means test, which subtracts allowed living expenses, your mortgage and car payments, taxes and a few other categories. Plenty of people above the median still qualify. If you don't, Chapter 13 is usually the alternative.
Can I file Chapter 7 if I filed before?
Yes, if the earlier Chapter 7 was filed more than eight years ago, measured filing date to filing date. If you had a Chapter 13 discharge, the gap is generally six years with exceptions. Inside the window, a Chapter 13 may still be available.
What does the $1,850 include?
Preparing and filing the petition, the 341 meeting, the first reaffirmation agreement, and communication with the trustee through discharge. It does not include adversary proceedings, contested motions, or amendments caused by information we weren't given. Anything extra is quoted in writing before the work.
Talk it through with the attorney
If you want to know in thirty minutes whether Chapter 7 fits, and what it would cost you specifically, book a free video or phone consultation with Naomi. Evenings are available, and you'll get a number, not a pitch.