Chapter 7 is the most commonly filed type of bankruptcy in the United States, and it is the one most people picture when they hear the word. In plain English: Chapter 7 asks the court to wipe out your qualifying debts, usually in about 4 to 6 months, in exchange for letting a trustee check whether you own anything the law does not protect.
In Florida, that check very often comes up empty. Most consumer Chapter 7 cases here are what courts call no-asset cases, meaning the filer keeps their protected property and the qualifying debts are discharged.
The official name is misleading
Chapter 7 is formally called liquidation bankruptcy, which sounds like everything you own gets sold. That is not how it works in practice. The law only allows the trustee to take property that is not protected by an exemption, and Florida law protects a long list of property categories, including the homestead in many cases, retirement accounts, and more.
So the honest framing is this: Chapter 7 is a trade. You give up property the law does not protect, which for many Florida households is nothing at all, and in return the court permanently erases your qualifying debts.
What Chapter 7 can erase
The discharge typically covers unsecured debts, meaning debts with no collateral behind them:
- Credit card balances
- Medical bills
- Personal loans and payday loans
- Old utility and phone bills
- Deficiency balances after a repossession or foreclosure
- Many personally backed debts from a failed business
Some debts generally survive, including most recent taxes, domestic support obligations, most student loans, and court fines. Secured debts, like a mortgage or car loan, work differently: the personal debt can be discharged, but the lender keeps its lien, so you keep paying if you want to keep the property. The details are covered in our guide to how the bankruptcy discharge works.
Who qualifies: the means test
Chapter 7 has an income screen called the means test. If your household income is at or below the Florida median for your household size, you generally pass. If you are above it, a more detailed calculation of your actual expenses decides the question, and many above-median filers still qualify. If your debt is primarily business debt, the means test does not apply at all.
The numbers change regularly. The figures effective April 1, 2026 put the Florida median at $69,876 for a one-person household and $86,523 for two. The full breakdown, and how the calculation actually runs, is in our guide to the Florida means test.
The timeline, step by step
A typical Florida Chapter 7 case follows a predictable rhythm set by federal rules:
- Day 0: the petition is filed. The automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 takes effect immediately. Garnishments, lawsuits, repossessions, and most collection calls must stop.
- Day 14: schedules due. The detailed paperwork listing your debts, assets, income, and expenses is due 14 days after the petition, unless it was filed with the petition.
- Day 21 to 50: the 341 meeting. Between 21 and 50 days after filing, you attend a short recorded meeting where the trustee asks questions under oath. Creditors are invited but rarely appear. Our guide to the 341 meeting of creditors walks through it.
- 60 days after the first 341 date: course certificate due. You complete a short financial management course and file the certificate. This window is also the deadline for most objections to discharge.
- Month 4 to 6: discharge. If no objections are pending, the court enters the discharge order and your qualifying debts are gone.
What a trustee actually does
A Chapter 7 trustee is a private professional appointed to review your paperwork, run the 341 meeting, and look for non-exempt assets to administer for creditors. In a no-asset case, the trustee files a short report and the case moves to discharge. The trustee is not your lawyer and not your adversary; they are an administrator with a defined legal job.
Common reasons Chapter 7 fits
Chapter 7 tends to fit people whose debt is mostly unsecured, whose income passes the means test or whose debt is primarily from a business, and who are either current on the secured property they want to keep or ready to let go of property they cannot afford. People who are behind on a mortgage they want to save usually look at Chapter 13 instead, because Chapter 7 has no built-in mechanism to catch up arrears over time.
Common reasons it does not fit
If you earn well above the median and your expenses do not justify Chapter 7, if you have significant non-exempt assets you want to keep, or if you need time to cure a mortgage or car loan default, another chapter may serve you better. The comparison is laid out in which bankruptcy chapter fits you.
The two required courses
Every individual filer completes two short courses: a credit counseling session within the 180 days before filing, and a financial management course after filing. Both are offered by approved providers, both can be done online or by phone, and neither is difficult. They are boxes Congress added in 2005, and missing them can derail an otherwise smooth case, so we calendar both from day one.
See your options
Reading about Chapter 7 is a start. Knowing whether it fits your numbers is the real question, and that takes about 3 minutes with our free 3-minute options check, or call Recalde Fresh Start at (305) 792-9100.