Bankruptcy Marketing. Built For Firms Rebuilding What Debt Broke.
From the consumer debtor filing Chapter 7 on a kitchen table to the small-business owner negotiating Subchapter V — your firm serves people and businesses at their hardest financial moment. We build marketing that meets them without judgment and closes without pressure.
ANTI-STIGMA · FEE-TRANSPARENT · ABA 7.1 COMPLIANT
THE CONSUMER DEBTOR
Calls after a medical crisis, a job loss, a divorce. Emotional. Searching on mobile at 11pm. Price-sensitive and stigma-sensitive. Expects a judgment-free consult and clear fee quote in the same call.
THE SMALL-BUSINESS OWNER
Calls when the line of credit gets pulled or the landlord files for eviction. Businesslike but stressed. Researching Subchapter V, commercial workouts, personal guarantees. Expects a strategic conversation with a partner — not a filing mill.
Chapter 7
Liquidation bankruptcy for consumers and small businesses who qualify under the means test.
Chapter 13
Repayment-plan bankruptcy for debtors with regular income and assets to protect.
Means Test
The federal income qualification that determines Chapter 7 eligibility under § 707(b).
Foreclosure Defense
Automatic stay protection, loan modifications, and Chapter 13 mortgage cures.
Creditor Harassment
FDCPA enforcement, stay violations, and post-discharge creditor misconduct.
Discharge & Exemptions
Navigating federal and state exemption schemes and defending discharge in litigation.
Credit Rebuilding
Post-discharge credit repair, secured cards, and the 12 – 24 month rebuild arc.
Student Loan Workouts
Discharge litigation, IDR enrollment strategy, and adversary proceedings under Brunner and Frank.
What's Driving The Call Right Now.
Bankruptcy is almost never about the debt itself. It's about the life event that made the debt unmanageable. Your site has to let the visitor recognize themselves in under 30 seconds.
Medical Debt
A single hospital stay or diagnosis that blew past the deductible and didn't stop.
Job Loss
Severance ran out before the next role landed.
Divorce
A two-income household suddenly servicing the same debt on half the income.
Business Failure
Personal guarantees activated when the LLC couldn't cover the lease or the SBA note.
Foreclosure Notice
Mortgage acceleration letter arrived. Sale date already scheduled.
Wage Garnishment
Default judgment entered, paycheck already being cut before the next payroll hits.
Your ad creative, landing copy, and intake scripts should map to at least three of these triggers — or you're leaving qualified consults on the table.
Your Fresh Start Path.
What firms that do this well show the visitor. No pressure, no scare tactics, no footnotes in fine print. The path is the pitch.
EVALUATION
Free consult, no commitment. We review income, assets, debts, and goals.
MEANS TEST
Federal calculation determines Chapter 7 eligibility. Takes about 20 minutes.
FILING
Petition filed with the bankruptcy court. Automatic stay protects you from creditor contact the same day.
341 MEETING
Short trustee meeting — usually under 10 minutes. Creditors rarely appear.
DISCHARGE
Court order eliminates qualifying debt. Chapter 7 closes in ~4 months, Chapter 13 in 3 – 5 years.
CREDIT REBUILD
Secured cards, on-time payments, and a 12 – 24 month rebuild arc. Most clients break 700 within two years.
Two Funnels. One Practice.
Consumer filings and commercial restructuring need completely different intake architectures running off the same brand. Most firms try to force one funnel to serve both. The results are exactly what you'd expect.
THE CONSUMER FUNNEL
AD CHANNEL
LSAs, paid search, YouTube pre-roll
LANDING PAGE
Mobile-first, fee-transparent, means-test calculator embedded
INTAKE
24/7 text + phone, under-2-hour callback SLA
QUALIFICATION
Income-based, Chapter 7 vs. 13 triage in ~15 min
CONVERSION
Flat-fee quote on first call, retainer in 24 – 48 hours
THE COMMERCIAL FUNNEL
AD CHANNEL
LinkedIn, CFO/advisor referrals, SEO for Subchapter V + workouts
LANDING PAGE
Long-form authority content, partner bios front-and-center
INTAKE
Business hours, partner-led, 24-hour callback SLA
QUALIFICATION
Revenue/industry-based, Subchapter V vs. commercial workout triage
CONVERSION
Scoped engagement letter after strategy call, retainer in 5 – 10 business days
~380K
annual US Chapter 7 + Chapter 13 consumer filings — the floor your consumer funnel is competing for
62%
of bankruptcy consumer leads originate on mobile between 8pm and midnight
$1,500 – $3,500
typical Chapter 7 attorney fee range — your marketing has to justify the quote in one page
11 U.S.C. § 528
the federal rule requiring debt-relief-agency disclosures on every ad — we build around it, not against it
Industry benchmarks from U.S. Courts statistical tables and EOUST data — used for illustrative marketing planning purposes, not as guarantees of outcome.
Why Most Bankruptcy Marketing Misses
Stigma-blind copy.
"Take back control" and "fight your creditors" reads fine on a PI page. On a bankruptcy page, it shames the visitor before they read the fee. The tone has to change.
§ 528 afterthought.
Federal law requires debt-relief-agency disclosures on virtually every consumer bankruptcy ad. Most firms bolt these on as legal-page fine print. We integrate them into the creative.
Commercial leads routed through consumer intake.
The single biggest lost-matter pattern we see. A small-business owner with a Subchapter V opportunity calls the main line, gets the Chapter 7 intake script, and never calls back.
One Files Petitions. The Other Files Paperwork That Isn't A Petition.
The Licensed Bankruptcy Attorney
The Debt Relief Factory
Credentials
Licensed, bar-regulated, court-appearing
Credentials
Non-attorney call center, often unregulated across state lines
Court Appearance
Represents client at 341 meeting and any adversary proceedings
Court Appearance
Cannot appear — UPL concerns; client ends up self-representing
Fee Structure
Flat fee disclosed upfront, compliant with 11 U.S.C. § 528
Fee Structure
Monthly "enrollment fees" that stack for 24 – 48 months without filing anything
Actual Discharge
Files real petitions; real discharge orders; debt legally eliminated
Actual Discharge
"Settlement" approach that damages credit for years with no legal finality
Client Harm Exposure
Insured, supervised, accountable to bar and bankruptcy court
Client Harm Exposure
Subject to CFPB, FTC, and state AG enforcement actions routinely
11 U.S.C. § 110 regulates non-attorney petition preparers specifically, and 11 U.S.C. §§ 526 – 528 regulate debt relief agencies broadly. Your marketing should make the distinction between your firm and these operators crystal clear — not for ad copy bravado, but because the visitor genuinely doesn't know the difference.
Bankruptcy Channel Mix — Consumer + Commercial Blended.
Consumer filings lean LSAs + paid search. Commercial restructuring leans LinkedIn + referrals. A dual-market bankruptcy practice runs all six with the split tuned to filing mix — not vanity metrics.
Bankruptcy Lawyer Near Me
Chapter 7 Attorney
Chapter 13 Attorney
Bankruptcy Attorney Free Consultation
Foreclosure Defense Attorney
Means Test Calculator
Stop Wage Garnishment
File Bankruptcy Near Me
Subchapter V Attorney
Small Business Bankruptcy
Student Loan Discharge
Creditor Representation Attorney
Bankruptcy Marketing Has Two Rule Books.
Every consumer bankruptcy firm is simultaneously a law firm and — under 11 U.S.C. §§ 526 – 528 — a federally-defined debt relief agency. That means every ad, every landing page, and every intake script has to satisfy both the ABA Model Rules and the federal DRA disclosure regime. We build to both standards by default. No outcome guarantees. No "eliminate your debt overnight." No testimonials that imply guaranteed discharge. We treat the compliance line as creative constraint, not creative obstacle.
INDIANAPOLIS · HIGH-VOLUME CONSUMER
6-attorney consumer bankruptcy boutique, ~800 filings/year
Rebuilt the firm's mobile intake around a fee-transparent landing page with an embedded means-test calculator and 24/7 text intake. Segmented paid search into trigger-based ad groups (medical debt, job loss, foreclosure) so creative matched the caller's life event. Added a § 528-compliant disclosure overlay that increased trust signals without tanking conversion.
KANSAS CITY · HYBRID CONSUMER + SUBCHAPTER V
11-attorney firm, 70% consumer / 30% small-business restructuring
Ran a dual-funnel architecture off one domain — consumer funnel with LSAs and paid search, commercial funnel with LinkedIn thought leadership on Subchapter V. Split intake scripts so small-business calls never got the consumer triage. Subchapter V pipeline grew from zero to the firm's highest-margin matter type in eight months.
SALT LAKE CITY · COMMERCIAL RESTRUCTURING BOUTIQUE
14-attorney restructuring firm, Chapter 11 + creditor representation
Killed the consumer-leaning LSAs entirely (they were pulling the wrong caller and burning spend). Shifted the budget into LinkedIn authority content on Subchapter V, preference litigation, and commercial workouts. Partners published quarterly restructuring outlook reports. CPA and financial-advisor referrals became the firm's #2 source inside a year.
The team built the first bankruptcy ad creative we've ever run that didn't feel predatory. Consults went up. Refund requests went down.
— Managing Partner · 6-attorney consumer firm · Midwest metro
Our Subchapter V pipeline didn't exist. Now it's our best margin matter. Same firm, different funnel.
— Partner · 11-attorney hybrid firm · Plains metro
They rebuilt our intake around § 528 from day one instead of bolting it on. That alone saved us a Bar complaint we'd been dreading.
— Partner · 14-attorney restructuring boutique · Mountain West metro
Bankruptcy Marketing, Answered.
Can one website serve both consumer and commercial bankruptcy practices?
Yes, with a dual-funnel architecture. Separate landing paths, separate ad accounts, separate intake scripts, shared brand shell. Section 6 of this page is the argument.
How do the debt relief agency rules (§§ 526 – 528) actually show up in marketing?
Mandatory disclosures in advertising, specific language about what filing bankruptcy means, and restrictions on certain fee structures. We integrate these into creative from the start — not as fine-print retrofits.
Are fee-transparent landing pages really better for conversion?
In bankruptcy, almost always yes. The consumer buyer is price-sensitive and stigma-sensitive. Hiding the fee behind a form increases bounce. Publishing a range signals trust.
Do commercial restructuring firms need LSAs?
Usually no. LSAs pull consumer debtors, not CFOs or trustees. Commercial spend goes to LinkedIn, SEO for Subchapter V / workout keywords, and CPA/advisor referral programs.
How long before a bankruptcy marketing rebuild shows results?
30 days to measurable intake lift on consumer paid channels, 90 days to stable CPL, 6 – 9 months for commercial LinkedIn/SEO funnels to mature.
Can you help draft § 528-compliant disclosures?
We draft the marketing language and flag which disclosures are legally required. Final disclosure language is always approved by your firm before anything ships — we don't practice law, we build the engine.
Does an ABA 7.1-compliant bankruptcy ad have to look boring?
No. Compliance is creative constraint, not creative obstacle. We build ads that meet ABA 7.1, ABA 7.2, ABA 7.3, and the § 526 – 528 DRA disclosure regime — and still convert. The trick is integrating disclosure language into the creative rhythm rather than bolting it on as fine print.
Two Markets. One Bar. Let's Build The Engine That Serves Both.
Tell us about your practice — consumer, commercial, or both. We'll map your next 90 days of marketing against the filings you actually want to handle.