Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Las Vegas

What a Chapter 7 does

Chapter 7 is the fastest form of bankruptcy and the one most individuals in Las Vegas file. You list everything you owe and everything you own, and the court discharges the debt that qualifies. Once it is discharged, the creditor can never collect it from you again.

Relief starts before the discharge. The day your petition is filed, the automatic stay takes effect, and most collection calls, wage garnishments, bank levies and pending collection lawsuits have to stop.

Credit card balances, medical bills, personal loans, old utility bills and deficiency balances on repossessed cars are usually discharged. Child support, alimony, certain taxes and most student loans usually are not. Federal student loans can sometimes be discharged through a separate case inside your bankruptcy; our Las Vegas Student Loan Attorney site explains how.

Do you qualify?

Two things decide most cases:

• The means test. If your household income over the six full months before you file is below the Nevada median for your household size, you qualify. If it is above, a second calculation looks at your allowed expenses. Our article on how the means test works in a Nevada Chapter 7 walks through it.
• A prior discharge. You generally cannot get a Chapter 7 discharge if you received one in a case filed within the last eight years.

We check both at your free consultation before you pay anything.

What you keep

Nevada's exemption laws protect most of what people own. In a typical Las Vegas Chapter 7, people keep their car, their household goods, their retirement accounts and, in most cases, their home.

• Can I keep my car? Nevada protects up to $15,000 of equity in one vehicle.
• Will I lose my house?
• Can the trustee take my 401(k) or IRA?
• Can the trustee take my tax refund?
• What happens to the money in my bank account?

Your lawyer has sat in the trustee's chair

Every Chapter 7 case is reviewed by a trustee, whose job is to look for property that can be sold for creditors and for transactions that can be undone. Brian D. Shapiro has served as a Chapter 7 trustee in Las Vegas for over 15 years and has administered over 15,000 cases.

That means we prepare your case knowing what the trustee will ask: recent payments to family, cars or property transferred before filing, tax refunds, inheritances, and money moved between accounts. Problems like these are much easier to deal with before filing than after. You can read more about Brian.

What it costs

Most Chapter 7 cases are a $2,500 flat fee. You pay no attorney fees before your petition is filed; then it is $250 a month, starting 30 days after filing. The one cost you pay before filing is the court's $338 filing fee, plus about $10 for the required credit counseling course. See every fee, including what the flat fee does not cover.

How it works

1. Free consultation by phone or video call.
2. You take the credit counseling course and send us your documents through the secure client portal.
3. We file a skeletal petition, and the automatic stay begins the same day.
4. We complete your full schedules within 14 days.
5. About a month after filing, you attend the meeting of creditors by Zoom. We prepare you and attend with you.
6. You take the debtor education course, and the court enters your discharge.

We file Chapter 7 cases only, and only in Nevada. If Chapter 13 is a better fit for you, we will tell you at the consultation.

Areas we serve

We represent people throughout Southern Nevada, including:

• Las Vegas
• North Las Vegas
• Henderson
• Summerlin
• Boulder City
• Pahrump
• Laughlin

Because everything is handled by phone, video call and our secure client portal, it makes no difference how far you are from the Strip.

Common questions