Were all items listed in the Texas personal-property exemption statute protected from execution regardless of their total value?

Texas AG Opinion JM-807: Aggregate Cap on Exempt Personal Property

Plain-English summary

The question was whether a debtor could keep every category of personal property listed in Property Code section 42.002 regardless of value, or whether all claimed items together had to remain within the value limit in section 42.001.

The Attorney General concluded that the two sections worked together. Section 42.002 identified the property eligible for the exemption, and section 42.001 limited the aggregate fair-market value of the claimed items. Under the law in 1987, the cap was $30,000 for a family and $15,000 for a single adult who was not a family member.

The opinion also looked to the predecessor statute because the Property Code was a nonsubstantive recodification. That earlier text placed the dollar limits directly before the list of exempt property, confirming that the list did not create an unlimited exemption.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1987. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Did every item named in section 42.002 qualify for exemption?

The listed categories were the only personal-property categories eligible under the provisions considered in JM-807, but eligibility did not remove the aggregate value cap.

Was the dollar limit applied to each item separately?

No. The opinion applied the limit to the aggregate fair-market value of all personal property claimed under the exemption.

What limits did the opinion apply?

The 1987 statute protected eligible property worth no more than $30,000 for a family or $15,000 for a single adult who was not a member of a family.

Did liens remain enforceable against otherwise eligible property?

Yes. The quoted section 42.001 excluded debts secured by a lien on the property and debts due for rents or landlord advances.

Why did the opinion discuss the former statute?

Because the Property Code was enacted as a nonsubstantive recodification, the predecessor statute helped confirm that the legislature had already tied the list of property to an aggregate value ceiling.

Background and statutory framework

Texas Constitution article XVI, section 16 directed the legislature to protect a portion of personal property from forced sale. Property Code section 42.001 set the value limits and section 42.002 listed the eligible categories.

JM-807 read those sections as parts of one exemption. It also quoted former V.T.C.S. article 3836, which stated the family and single-adult limits in a parenthetical immediately before the list of protected property.

The opinion contrasted that capped scheme with an earlier 1935 law that had listed specific exempt items without a value limit.

Citations

Constitution and statutes:

• Texas Constitution article XVI, section 16
• Property Code sections 42.001 and 42.002
• Former V.T.C.S. article 3836
• Acts 1983, 68th Legislature, chapter 576, section 1.001(a)
• Acts 1973, 63rd Legislature, chapter 588, section 2, at 1628
• Acts 1935, 44th Legislature, chapter 145, section 1, at 384

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-807
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1987/jm0807.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Obvious character-level OCR errors have been corrected, but minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

October 6, 1987

Honorable Neal Birmingham
Cass County District Attorney
P. O. Box 940
Linden, Texas 75563

Opinion No. JM-807

Re: Whether $30,000 is the aggregate limit on articles exempt from execution under sections 42.001 and 42.002 of the Property Code

Dear Mr. Birmingham:

You ask the following question:

Is the property "eligible for the exemption" under Sec. 42.002 Property Code property that the owner may retain free of execution regardless of value or may the owner retain title to only those items of property set out in Sec. 42.002 that do not exceed in the aggregate, $30,000.00 for a family or $15,000.00 for a single adult?

The Texas Constitution makes it the duty of the legislature to protect from forced sale a certain portion of personal property of heads of family and of unmarried adults. Tex. Const. art. XVI, § 16. The legislature has carried out that duty by enacting articles 42.001 and 42.002 of the Property Code. Section 42.001 provides:

(a) Eligible personal property that is owned by a family and that has an aggregate fair market value of not more than $30,000 is exempt from attachment, execution, and seizure for the satisfaction of debts, except for encumbrances properly fixed on the property.

(b) Eligible personal property that is owned by a single adult who is not a member of a family and that has an aggregate fair market value of not more than $15,000 is exempt from attachment, execution, and seizure for the satisfaction of debts, except for encumbrances properly fixed on the property.

(c) The exemption provided in this section does not apply to a debt that is secured by a lien on the property or that is due for rents or advances from a landlord to the landlord's tenant.

Section 42.002 sets out items of property that are "eligible for the exemption." Your question is whether the listed items are exempt regardless of value or whether the listed items are exempt only as long as the aggregate value is not greater than the relevant limit set out in section 42.001.

Section 42.001 states that "eligible" items up to a specified amount are exempt. Section 42.002 lists "eligible" items. Those provisions, read together, make clear that only the items listed in section 42.002 may be claimed under the exemption and that listed items may only be claimed to the extent that their aggregate value does not exceed the relevant limit set out in section 42.001.

The Property Code is the product of a nonsubstantive recodification. Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 576, § 1.001(a). The prior statute governing exempt personal property provided:

Personal property (not to exceed aggregate fair market value of $15,000 for each single, adult person, not a constituent of a family, or $30,000 for a family) is exempt from attachment, execution and every type of seizure for the satisfaction of liabilities, except for encumbrances properly fixed thereon, if included among the following: [list omitted].

Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., ch. 588, § 2, at 1628 (codified at V.T.C.S. art. 3836). The parenthetical in that provision leaves no room for doubt that the list of exempt personal property was intended to create an exemption only for personal property that does not exceed a fair market value of $30,000 for a family or $15,000 for a single person. See Acts 1935, 44th Leg., ch. 145, § 1, at 384 (repealed by Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., ch. 588, § 4, at 1629) (former law set out specific items of exempt personal property with no limit on value).

SUMMARY

The items listed in article 42.001 of the Property Code are the only items that may be claimed as exempt under article 42.002 of the Property Code, and the listed items may be claimed only to the extent that their aggregate fair market value does not exceed $30,000 for a family or $15,000 for a single adult.

JIM MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas

MARY KELLER
Executive Assistant Attorney General

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY
Special Assistant Attorney General

RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee

Prepared by Sarah Woelk
Assistant Attorney General