Chapter 13, the type where you pay back some of the debt, is what you have to do if you have a high income and need to file bankruptcy. It is possible to have to pay back 100% of your debt if you really make a lot of money, so much that your disposable income for the next 60 months would be sufficient to pay off all of your debt. You only get accepted assuming you comply with every rule and requirement. You have to attend the first meeting of creditors, provide the trustee with the last 60 days of paystubs (your attorney will want the last 6 months), the last 4 years of tax returns (or transcripts of your return), and list all your assets and debts.

By the way Child Support, Maintenance, Taxes, Student loans etc are not dischargeable.

The percentage of debt you have to pay back really depends on the equity you have in your assets and your disposable income so there is no clear cut answer without knowing anything else about your situation. You pay it back in 60 months if you are required to file a 13 instead of a 7.

The cost for bankruptcy varies by jurisdiction so I can’t answer that for you. For a chapter 13, most attorneys will require a partial payment up front and the rest to be paid through the plan, though some require full payment. For a chapter 7 payment is always up front.

A lawyer can’t guarantee your bankruptcy will receive a discharge. Especially not in a chapter 13 where a myriad of things can go wrong. If you ever get to the point you can’t make payments, your Chapter 13 can be dismissed (though if you are proactive and your circumstances have changed, you should be able to successfully convert to a chapter 7), so no, the attorney will not and cannot guarantee results.

Also in both types of bankruptcy, you have to complete a credit counselling class prior to filing and a debtor education class after. You have to use those approved by the US Trustee in your jurisdiction, which you can access at http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/.

Google bankruptcy on the web and look for Nolo press .

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Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005
With limited exceptions, people who plan to file for bankruptcy protection must get credit counseling from a government-approved organization within 180 days before they file. They also must complete a debtor education course to have their debts discharged.

In general, you must file a certificate of credit counseling completion when you file for bankruptcy, and evidence of completion of debtor education after you file for bankruptcy – but before your debts are discharged. Only credit counseling organizations and debtor education course providers that have been approved by the U.S. Trustee Program may issue these certificates. To protect against fraud, the certificates are produced through a central automated system and are numbered.

If you cancel the credit counseling, this may affect your ability to file unless you are going through an agencie not recognized by the government.

Just to add to this, you do have to do credit counseling prior to filing bankruptcy (see http://www.usdoj.gov/ust for a list of approved providers), but this does not involve paying an agency, it just involves ONE session on the phone or internet (sometimes in person if there’s one that is local). The only payment you’d be making is about $50 for that session. Stopping payment on your payments that you are currently making has zero impact on that.