This is a very busy time for my bankruptcy practice as many of my clients are using their tax refund to pay the bankruptcy fee that they have needed to do for a while. Having a big lump sum of cash come into your account when you have had financial issues can be a big help and rather than spending it to pay down creditors or for other personal reasons, bankruptcy might be the right decision and a good place to park that money. My fees typically start at $1000 for attorney fees for simple cases. Filing fees and pulling your credit to populate my software is $330 and the two credit counseling fees that I recommend to people and which are mandated by the bankruptcy code will end up costing you $31. So for a simple case $1367 is the total out of pocket cost for your bankruptcy. Many times people tax refunds are suffice to cover this and you can move on with your fresh start and get your financial future on track in 2012. When you are living pay check to pay check and can barely find the income to pay creditors then bankruptcy is most likely your best decision that you can make. Call my office if you are in the situation and we can discuss options to help you move forward with a chapter 7 bankruptcy.