Bankruptcy Filing Fees Rise Again
The Budger Reconciliation Act, approved by the House of Representitives earlier this week and by the Senate yesterday, raised the fees associated with filing for bankruptcy. Under the new fee structure, the cost of filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will rise from $220 to $245, and the cost of filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy will rise from $150 to $235. These prices still do not include the various fees found under 28 U.S.C. 1930 (b), which raise the costs to $299 to file for Chapter 7 and $274 to file for Chapter 13.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings were intended to increase in cost from $1,000 to $2,750, but due to an error in which section was cited in the bill, only railroad bankruptcy fees were raised for Chapter 11.
This increase was opposed by all democratic senators, and several republicans. It took the vote of Vide President Dick Chaney to break the tie and pass the act. This new fee structure has been put in place solely to raise funds, and at the expense of the Americans who can least afford it. The new fees do not go into effect until 60 days after the bill was passed, and it still must pass the House one more time, due to edits made by the Senate to avoid violating Senate budget reconciliation rules.
