Homestead Exemption Amounts by State
How much of my home's equity is protected from a money judgment in this state, and what do I have to do to protect it?
Jurisdictions
All 51 verified
Statutes checked
Every entry, oldest check July 9, 2026
Columns
8 per state
Access
Free, no account needed
What this survey covers
A homestead exemption protects some or all of the equity in your home from being seized and sold to pay an ordinary money judgment, but "protects" means something very different from state to state. Some states set a flat dollar amount; others cap by the size of the land instead and protect the home's full value no matter how much it's worth. Some states protect you automatically the moment you live there; others reward (or require) filing a recorded declaration. This survey answers one question, state by state: how much of your home's equity is actually protected from a judgment creditor, and what, if anything, do you have to do to protect it? Each state's page states the rule in plain English, quotes the constitutional or statutory text it comes from, and shows the date we last verified it.
How to read the table
Each column is one feature of the state's homestead protection, answered the same way for every state, with the citation compressed into the cell. Read the exemption amount and the size/acreage limit columns together. The 51 jurisdictions fall into three broad shapes. Most set a dollar cap on the protected equity, and the figures range enormously, from a few thousand dollars in a handful of states to several hundred thousand in others, with some amounts adjusted for inflation every year and others frozen for decades. A second group (including Texas, Florida, and Washington, D.C.) puts no dollar cap on the home's value at all, the entire equity is protected, limited only by how much land the home sits on, or, as in D.C., not limited at all. A third, small group (New Jersey and Pennsylvania) has no general state homestead exemption, and Delaware protects a residence only in bankruptcy; in those places the practical protection usually comes from federal bankruptcy law or from how the home is co-owned, not from a state homestead statute. Watch the "automatic, or do you have to file something?" column closely: in most states the exemption is automatic, but a cluster of states (such as Georgia, Nevada, Virginia, Washington, and Montana) require recording a declaration before it does its full work. And in at least one state (California), recording a declaration does more than paperwork, it can stop a judgment lien from attaching to your home's equity in the first place, instead of merely giving you a defense once a creditor tries to force a sale. A few states (Wyoming and Alabama among them) also let co-owners who both live in the home each claim a full exemption, doubling the protected amount. Click a state for the full plain-English page: the rule dimension by dimension, the practical traps people actually hit, and the verbatim constitutional or statutory text with official source links.
A note on scope
This survey covers protection from an ordinary CIVIL money judgment under state law, not the separate, unrelated PROPERTY TAX homestead exemption many states also call by the same name (that one lowers your property tax bill; it has nothing to do with creditors). It also doesn't independently verify each state's bankruptcy exemption election rules under federal law, where a state has little or no state-law protection, the page says so plainly and notes that a federal bankruptcy exemption may be available instead, but readers filing bankruptcy should confirm the current federal and state election rules with a bankruptcy attorney.
State by state
Every column answered the same way for each jurisdiction. Open a state for the full page, with the statute text and the date it was checked.
Scroll sideways in the table to see all columns →
| State | Governing law | Exemption amount | Size or acreage limit | Automatic, or do you have to file something? | Who qualifies, and can spouses double it? | What it actually protects you from | Debts that can still reach your home | Protection for sale proceeds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama verified 2026-07-09 | Ala. Code Title 6, Ch. 10 (Exemptions), Art. 1. § 6-10-2 sets the homestead amount and 160-acre limit; § 6-10-1 says which law's amount applies (in bankruptcy, the law in effect on the petition-filing date); § 6-10-12 has the State Treasurer adjust the dollar amount for inflation every three years; § 6-10-3 requires a spouse's consent to mortgage the homestead; § 6-10-4 preserves certain liens; § 6-10-20 allows an optional recorded declaration. Rooted in Ala. Const. art. X, § 205. §§ 6-10-1 and 6-10-2 were amended by 2026 Act 2026-203 (HB96), effective June 1, 2026 |
$18,800 of equity for most homeowners; $56,400 if the owner is 62 or older or an individual with a disability (new, effective June 1, 2026, per Act 2026-203). The statute prints a $15,000 base (§ 6-10-2(a)(i)), which § 6-10-12 raises for inflation every three years: currently $18,800, for exemptions claimed on or after April 1, 2024. The next adjustment, $20,475, has already been published but does not take effect until exemptions claimed on or after April 1, 2027. The $56,400 senior/disability figure is a flat amount fixed by the 2026 act, not the inflation-adjusted one |
160 acres. Alabama limits the homestead by BOTH a dollar value (above) and land area: the homestead may not exceed 160 acres (§ 6-10-2), whether the interest is a fee or a lesser estate. A mobile or manufactured home used as the principal residence counts as a homestead |
Automatic and self-executing: you hold the exemption without recording anything, and you assert it if a creditor levies (you can claim it after a levy and before the sale). Recording is optional: under § 6-10-20 a resident 'may, at any time' file a sworn declaration describing the claimed homestead with the probate judge. A recorded declaration adds public notice and legal weight to the claim, but is not required to have the exemption |
Any resident of Alabama who occupies the property as a homestead. Joint owners can EACH claim the exemption separately, 'to the same extent and value as an unmarried individual' (§ 6-10-2): genuine per-owner doubling with no aggregate cap. Two joint owners get $18,800 each ($37,600 combined), or $56,400 each ($112,800) if both are 62+ or disabled. The $56,400 amount is per qualifying person: in a couple, only the spouse who is 62+ or disabled uses $56,400, while a younger, non-disabled co-owner still uses $18,800. The exemption continues for a surviving spouse and minor children after the owner's death |
Exempts the homestead from 'levy, sale, execution or other process for debt collection' during the owner's life and occupancy (§ 6-10-2): i.e., from an ordinary money-judgment creditor. In bankruptcy, § 6-10-1(b) fixes the exemption amount as of the date the petition is filed (a 2026 change); outside bankruptcy, § 6-10-1(a) uses the amount in effect when the debt was created. If the home is worth more than the exemption, the value above the exempt dollar amount (and above 160 acres) can still be reached through the statutory procedure for setting the homestead apart |
Section 6-10-4 preserves several claims despite the exemption: a laborer's, merchant's, or materialman's lien for work or materials on the home; a vendor's lien for unpaid purchase money; and any deed, mortgage, or lien 'lawfully executed or created' (so a mortgage you validly granted, and a lien created by law such as one for taxes, still bind). A mortgage or conveyance of the homestead by a married person is valid only with the other spouse's signed, acknowledged consent (§ 6-10-3). Federal law, for example a federal tax lien, can also override the state exemption |
None specified by statute. Alabama's homestead chapter has no separate provision protecting the cash proceeds of a sale for a set period, the way some states protect proceeds for 6 to 12 months. The exemption attaches to the homestead property and the owner's occupancy of it; if you sell and take cash, the statute does not carry the protection forward to those proceeds |
| Alaska verified 2026-09-27 | Alaska Stat. Title 09, ch. 09.38 ('Alaska Exemptions Act'). § 09.38.010 creates the exemption and sets the $54,000 base; § 09.38.060 protects traceable proceeds; § 09.38.065 lists claims that can reach exempt property; § 09.38.115 requires inflation adjustment through 8 AAC 95.030, which currently sets $72,900. Section 09.38.070 limits some security interests in personal goods, not the homestead itself |
$72,900 of the individual's interest in the principal residence. The statute caps the homestead exemption at $54,000 (AS 09.38.010(a)), but AS 09.38.115 requires the dollar amounts to be adjusted for inflation, and the current adjusted figure set by regulation is $72,900 (8 AAC 95.030(a)). Confirm the current regulation figure, since it changes when the state re-adjusts. The exemption is on the owner's interest (equity), so prior mortgages come off first |
None. Alaska imposes no acreage or lot-size limit on the homestead: the only cap is the dollar figure. The exemption is 'the individual's interest in property in this state used as the principal residence of the individual or the dependents of the individual' (AS 09.38.010(a)), with no reference to land area |
Automatic. The Alaska Exemptions Act applies by law; there is no homestead declaration to record and no advance filing required. The exemption is asserted when a creditor tries to levy or when the debtor files for bankruptcy, not through any recorded document |
An individual whose principal residence (or that of the individual's dependents) the property is (AS 09.38.010(a)). No doubling: if property is owned by the entirety or in common, each owner gets a homestead exemption in that owner's interest, but 'the aggregate value of multiple homestead exemptions allowable with respect to a single living unit' may not exceed the cap, and each owner's exemption is limited to that owner's pro rata portion (AS 09.38.010(b)). So a married couple sharing one home splits a single $72,900 exemption; they do not each get $72,900 |
Exempts up to $72,900 of the owner's interest in the principal residence from a judgment creditor's levy and execution. If the home is sold under execution, the sale becomes effective only on court confirmation, and for 60 days after the sale the individual may repurchase it by paying the sale costs plus the lesser of (a) the difference between the highest bid and the exemption amount, or (b) the creditor's claim; if not repurchased, the clerk remits the exempt amount to the individual first, then the balance (less costs) to the creditor (AS 09.38.010(c)) |
Under AS 09.38.065(a), a creditor may still levy on exempt property, including the homestead, to enforce a claim for: child support; unpaid earnings (up to one month's compensation) owed by the debtor as an employer; state or local taxes; the purchase price of the property or a purchase-money loan; labor or materials to improve or preserve the property (a mechanic's/materials claim); a special assessment for a public improvement; and crime-victim restitution. And under AS 09.38.065(b), the exemption 'does not affect any statutory lien or security interest', so a mortgage or other consensual lien you granted still reaches the home |
Traceable proceeds from a voluntary sale of an exempt homestead stay exempt for 6 months after receipt (AS 09.38.060(a)). Condemnation, loss, damage, or destruction proceeds stay traceably exempt for 12 months. The total protected proceeds cannot exceed the homestead cap |
| Arizona verified 2026-10-07 | A.R.S. §§ 33-1101–33-1105 govern the Arizona homestead exemption. |
$437,600 in 2026, computed from the $400,000 base using annual August CPI-U changes and upward $100 rounding (A.R.S. § 33-1101(A), (D)). |
No separate acreage cap; a house must sit on one compact body of land. Condos, cooperatives, and listed movable shelters also qualify (A.R.S. § 33-1101(A)). |
Automatic. If a creditor demands designation for multiple possible homes, respond within 30 days by recording a claim or sending a certified letter; late assertion requires recording (A.R.S. § 33-1102(A)). |
Arizona residents age 18 or older; one exemption for a married couple or single person, without spousal doubling (A.R.S. § 33-1101(A)–(B)). |
Protects the exempt interest from attachment, execution, and forced sale; a judicial sale can proceed when the debtor’s interest exceeds the exemption plus higher-priority consensual liens (A.R.S. §§ 33-1101(A), 33-1105). |
Consensual liens; specified labor/material liens; qualifying support-arrearage liens; and recorded civil judgments or other nonconsensual liens when equity exceeds the exemption (A.R.S. § 33-1103(A)). |
Identifiable cash sale proceeds remain exempt up to the cap for 18 months or until a new homestead is established, whichever is sooner; refinancing cash is excluded (A.R.S. § 33-1101(C)). |
| Arkansas verified 2026-08-24 | Ark. Const. art. 9, § 3 creates the judgment-lien and forced-sale exemption; §§ 4-5 set the rural and urban value-and-acreage rules; § 6 preserves specified rights for a surviving spouse and children. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-66-217 lets an eligible Arkansas bankruptcy debtor elect state or federal exemptions |
The text states a $2,500 value ceiling, but guarantees a minimum tract without regard to value: at least 80 rural acres or one-quarter urban acre (Ark. Const. art. 9, §§ 4-5). A $350,000 rural residence was claimed exempt under § 4 in In re Kelley |
Rural: up to 160 acres, subject to the $2,500 clause but never reduced below 80 acres regardless of value (§ 4). Urban: up to 1 acre, subject to the same value clause but never reduced below one-quarter acre regardless of value (§ 5) |
Article 9 states the exemption directly and contains no declaration, recording, or advance-filing condition. Sections 4-5 say the owner selects the land within the applicable limits |
The resident must be married or the head of a family (§ 3). The text protects one homestead and states no separate per-spouse multiplier. Section 6 supplies continuing rights for the surviving spouse and minor children under its terms |
The qualifying homestead is not subject to a judgment or decree lien, sale under execution, or other process, except for the debts listed in § 3 |
Section 3 excepts purchase money; specific, laborers', or mechanics' liens for improving the homestead; taxes; and claims for money due from specified fiduciaries in that capacity |
No express proceeds window appears in art. 9, §§ 3-6. Those provisions protect the homestead land and improvements but do not state how cash from a voluntary sale is treated |
| California verified 2026-07-09 | Code Civ. Proc. §§ 704.710-704.850 (automatic exemption); §§ 704.910-704.995 (declared homestead); § 699.730 (consumer-debt sale ban) |
Greater of countywide median home price (capped at $600,000) or $300,000, both CPI-adjusted every January 1 (CCP § 704.730) |
None: California limits by dollar value only, not by lot size or acreage |
Automatic on residency, no filing required (CCP § 704.720(a)); an optional recorded Declaration of Homestead adds lien-attachment protection and voluntary-sale-proceeds protection (§§ 704.910, 704.950, 704.960) |
A judgment debtor or their spouse who resides in the dwelling (CCP § 704.710); only one homestead is exempt per married couple even if they live apart (§ 704.720(c)-(d)) |
Forced sale below the exemption amount; a declared homestead also blocks a judgment lien from attaching beyond the exemption amount; separately, most unsecured consumer debt can't force a home sale at all regardless of equity (CCP § 699.730) |
Mortgages, deeds of trust, and other consensual liens or encumbrances (CCP § 703.010(b)); property taxes; and, for consumer debt specifically, wages, taxes, child/spousal support, government fines, tort judgments, and certain large financial-institution debts over $75,000 (adjusted) (§ 699.730(b)) |
Automatic exemption: 6 months after an execution sale, damage/destruction, or condemnation, ending early if re-homesteaded (CCP § 704.720(b)). Declared homestead only: also 6 months after a VOLUNTARY sale (§ 704.960(a)) |
| Colorado verified 2026-08-15 | C.R.S. § 38-41-201 (amount and definitions), § 38-41-202 (automatic creation), § 38-41-204 (surviving spouse and minor children), § 38-41-205 (qualifying property), § 38-41-206 (levy and sale procedure), and § 38-41-207 (proceeds), with the main 2022 changes enacted by SB 22-086 |
$250,000 if occupied as a home by an owner or an owner's family; $350,000 if occupied by an owner, an owner's spouse, or an owner's dependent who is elderly (60+) or disabled. Raised from $75,000/$105,000 by 2022 SB 22-086, effective 4/7/2022 |
None. A homestead may consist of a dwelling, a house and lot(s) (including a manufactured home, mobile home, trailer, or trailer coach), or a farm of any number of acres |
Automatic once the occupancy and property-type requirements are met: no recording needed for the exemption itself to exist. Recording a written declaration matters for a different reason: once one is recorded, both spouses' signatures are required to convey or encumber the property; without one, only the owner spouse's signature is needed. A declaration is also required (not just optional) to homestead against a debt incurred before 7/1/1975 |
The dollar amount is a single, per-homestead cap covering the owner or the owner's family together; the statute does not provide a separate exemption for each co-owner. On the owner's death, § 38-41-204 continues the exemption for a surviving spouse or minor children, but makes the homestead liable for estate debts if neither survives |
Protects equity up to the cap from execution and attachment for any debt, contract, or civil obligation. A creditor seeking to force a sale must first file affidavits (including an independent appraisal) showing the property's value exceeds the exemption amount before any levy proceeding can go forward (§ 38-41-206) |
The statute measures the exemption against equity 'in excess of any liens or encumbrances... in existence at the time of any levy', so a mortgage, deed of trust, mechanic's lien, or tax lien that already encumbers the property is accounted for before the exemption amount is even calculated, rather than being overridden by it |
Sale proceeds, insurance proceeds from destruction of the home, and proceeds from a forced sale under § 38-41-206 all stay exempt for 3 years after receipt, as long as they're kept separate and identifiable. If reinvested in another home, the same exemption carries over to the new property (though not against a vendor's lien or purchase-money mortgage on the new property). The 3-year window was itself extended from 2 years by the 2022 amendment |
| Connecticut verified 2026-08-12 | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-352b(21) creates the homestead exemption as one item in the general list of property exempt from postjudgment collection, and § 52-352a supplies the definitions ('homestead,' 'value,' 'exemptioner'). Both are in Title 52, Chapter 906 (Postjudgment Procedures). Purely statutory: Connecticut has no constitutional homestead. The $250,000 figure was set by 2021 P.A. 21-161 (HB 6466), effective Oct. 1, 2021, raising it from $75,000 |
$250,000 of home equity per exemptioner (§ 52-352b(21)). 'Value' is the fair market value of the real property LESS any statutory or consensual lien that encumbers it (§§ 52-352b(21), 52-352a(1)), so it protects net equity above your mortgage and other liens. It's a flat figure with no inflation adjustment. One reduction: against a money judgment arising from sexual abuse or exploitation of a minor, sexual assault, or other willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct by a natural person, the exemption is only $75,000 |
None. Connecticut caps the exemption only by dollar value, not by lot size or acreage. 'Homestead' is defined broadly as owner-occupied real property, a cooperative, or a mobile manufactured home used as a primary residence (§ 52-352a(5)), so a single-family house, condominium, co-op unit, or mobile home all qualify, regardless of how large the land is |
Automatic. The homestead is exempt by operation of law; nothing has to be recorded in advance. Connecticut has no required homestead declaration: you claim the exemption when a creditor tries to reach the home through execution, or on your bankruptcy schedules. (A homeowner can record a voluntary notice for the record, but it is not a condition of the exemption.) |
The exemption belongs to any 'natural person' whose owner-occupied real property, co-op, or mobile home is their primary residence (§§ 52-352a(4)-(5), 52-352b). Because it runs per exemptioner, two people who both own and occupy the same home, for example, a married couple who are joint owners, can each claim $250,000, protecting up to $500,000 of equity in that one home |
The homestead is 'exempt,' which § 52-352a(3) defines as 'not subject to any form of process or court order for the purpose of debt collection.' In practice, a money-judgment creditor can't reach the first $250,000 of your net home equity through execution or a forced sale. Because 'value' is measured after subtracting mortgages and other liens, the exemption shields the equity you hold above those encumbrances, up to the cap |
Connecticut builds its exceptions into how 'value' is measured rather than listing carve-out debts: the protected value is the home's fair market value LESS 'any statutory or consensual lien which encumbers it' (§ 52-352b(21)). So a mortgage or home-equity loan you signed (consensual liens) and property-tax or mechanic's liens (statutory liens) effectively come first: the exemption only protects equity above them. The exemption also shrinks to $75,000 against a judgment for sexual abuse, sexual assault, or other willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct. Federal tax liens reach the home under federal law |
No dedicated window for cash sale proceeds. Section 52-352b protects the homestead's value and, separately, insurance money paid on exempt property 'to the same extent that the property was exempt' (§ 52-352b(17)), but there is no provision keeping the cash proceeds of a voluntary sale exempt for a set period the way Oregon (one year) or California (six months) does. Don't assume a grace window exists between selling and rebuying |
| Delaware verified 2026-08-11 | 10 Del. C. §§ 4901-4903 govern ordinary execution: land may be seized and sold, while the listed exemptions cover personal property. Section 4914 separately creates a principal-residence exemption only in a federal bankruptcy or state insolvency proceeding |
Ordinary state-court judgment: $0 of home equity. Federal bankruptcy or state insolvency only: up to $200,000 of equity in the debtor's principal residence under § 4914(c)(1), increased from the former $125,000 cap on August 2, 2024 |
None. Delaware's ordinary execution law supplies no homestead exemption to limit by acreage; the bankruptcy-only principal-residence exemption is limited by value rather than land area |
There is no Delaware declaration that creates protection from an ordinary judgment. The § 4914 exemption is claimed within a federal bankruptcy or state insolvency proceeding and does not require an advance real-property recording |
The § 4914 residence exemption is limited to a debtor domiciled in Delaware in a federal bankruptcy or state insolvency proceeding. Section 4914(d) caps an individual or joint case at one $200,000 principal-residence total, so spouses do not double it to $400,000 |
Nothing under the general state-court execution scheme: § 4901 permits execution against land. In bankruptcy or insolvency, § 4914(c)(1) excludes up to $200,000 of qualifying principal-residence equity from the estate |
Section 4914(e) denies its residence exemption for specified securities-law debts, fiduciary or securities fraud, and a criminal act, intentional tort, or wilful or reckless misconduct causing serious physical injury or death within the preceding 5 years |
None under the ordinary execution scheme. Section 4914 protects principal-residence equity in a bankruptcy or insolvency estate but states no separate post-sale proceeds period |
| District of Columbia verified 2026-07-10 | D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(14) (residence exemption); § 15-501(b) (unpaid-wages carve-out). No separate homestead chapter |
Unlimited: no dollar cap on the residence's value (D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(14)) |
None: the statute sets no acreage or lot-size limit |
Automatic; claimed in the collection or bankruptcy process, no recording or declaration required (§ 15-501(a)) |
A head of a family or householder residing in D.C., or who earns the major portion of their livelihood in D.C. (§ 15-501(a)); value is unlimited, so spousal doubling is moot |
The residence is 'free and exempt from distraint, attachment, levy, or seizure and sale on execution or decree of any court' (§ 15-501(a)): protects the full equity from a judgment-creditor forced sale |
Deed of trust, mortgage, mechanic's lien, or tax lien (§ 15-501(a)(14)); and a debt for the wages of servants, common laborers, or clerks (§ 15-501(b)) |
None stated: the statute has no sale-proceeds exemption window |
| Florida verified 2026-07-09 | Fla. Const. art. X, § 4; Fla. Stat. §§ 222.01, 222.02 (optional designation procedures) |
None: no dollar limit on the home's value; the only limit is acreage (see next dimension) |
Up to 1/2 acre of contiguous land within a municipality; up to 160 acres outside a municipality (Fla. Const. art. X, § 4(a)(1)) |
Automatic and self-executing under the Constitution, no filing required; Fla. Stat. § 222.01 lets an owner voluntarily record a designation BEFORE a levy, and § 222.02 lets one be filed by affidavit AFTER a levy; § 222.01(2)-(4) separately lets an owner facing a pending sale or mortgage force a judgment lienor to act within 45 days or lose the claim against that buyer or lender |
A natural person who resides on the property; the exemption inures to the surviving spouse or heirs after the owner's death (Fla. Const. art. X, § 4(b)); runs per homestead, not per person: no explicit doubling for a married couple sharing one home |
Broader than a mere sale bar: the Constitution states that no judgment, decree, or execution is even a LIEN on the homestead at all (not just that a forced sale is barred), except for the specific obligations listed below |
Taxes and assessments on the property; obligations contracted for the purchase, improvement, or repair of the property; and obligations contracted for house, field, or other labor performed on the property (Fla. Const. art. X, § 4(a)) |
Not fixed by statute: a judicially created 'reasonable time' rule: sale proceeds stay exempt if the owner had a good-faith intent before and at the time of sale to reinvest in a new homestead, kept the funds uncommingled, and held them separately for that purpose (Orange Brevard Plumbing & Heating Co. v. La Croix, 137 So. 2d 201 (Fla. 1962)) |
| Georgia verified 2026-07-09 | O.C.G.A. Sec. 44-13-1 (Title 44, Ch. 13, Art. 1, "Constitutional Exemptions") governs an ORDINARY civil-judgment levy and sale: the scope of this survey. A separate, larger exemption, O.C.G.A. Sec. 44-13-100(a)(1) ("Statutory Exemptions"), applies only "for purposes of bankruptcy and intestate insolvent estates," not to an ordinary judgment outside bankruptcy; a debtor may use one scheme or the other, never both (Sec. 44-13-21) |
$5,000 for other real or personal property, or $21,500 specifically for real or personal property that is the debtor's primary residence (Sec. 44-13-1), unchanged since a 2012 amendment. Georgia's SEPARATE bankruptcy-only exemption under Sec. 44-13-100(a)(1) was more than doubled to $50,000 (one debtor) / $100,000 (title held by one of two spouses using it as their primary residence) by 2026 House Bill 1024, effective July 1, 2026, but that larger figure applies only inside bankruptcy, not to an ordinary civil judgment |
None: Georgia caps by dollar value only, with no separate acreage or lot-size restriction in either exemption scheme |
NOT automatic: a declaration/petition is REQUIRED, not just optional. A debtor (or, if the debtor refuses, the debtor's spouse or someone acting for the debtor's minor children or dependents, per Sec. 44-13-2) must file a sworn petition with the probate court of the county where they reside, listing the specific property claimed and a list of all creditors (Sec. 44-13-4); the judge must DISMISS the petition if it doesn't comply. Nothing is exempt from levy and sale until this court process formally "sets apart" the property |
Any debtor domiciled in Georgia who successfully petitions the probate court; if the debtor won't apply, the debtor's spouse or a representative of the debtor's minor children or dependents can file instead, and it's just as binding as if the debtor had done it (Sec. 44-13-2). No stated doubling of the Sec. 44-13-1 dollar figures for joint owners: it's a single $5,000/$21,500 pool for the property set apart, unlike the separate bankruptcy-only exemption, which does expressly double for spouses |
Once property is formally "set apart" through the petition process, "no court or ministerial officer in this state shall ever have jurisdiction or authority to enforce any judgment, execution, or decree" against it (Sec. 44-13-1): a standing bar on enforcement once granted, not just a defense raised at the moment of a forced sale |
The set-apart protection doesn't reach debts for taxes, the purchase money of the property, labor done on the property, material furnished for the property, or removal of encumbrances on the property (Sec. 44-13-1) |
No automatic, time-limited cash exemption for sale proceeds the way some states have. Instead, a debtor who wants to sell set-apart property must petition the superior court for an order of sale; the court-ordered sale passes clear title to the buyer, and the proceeds must be reinvested for the same exempt use, carrying the same exemption for the same remaining time period (Sec. 44-13-16) |
| Hawaii verified 2026-07-10 | Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 651, pt. III.B ('Exemptions, Real Property'), §§ 651-91 to 651-96. § 651-92 sets the dollar amounts and lists the debts it does not stop; § 651-91 defines 'head of a family,' 'person,' and 'real property' (a one-acre cap); § 651-93 covers separated/divorced spouses; § 651-95 governs a forced sale and how proceeds are split; § 651-96 protects sale proceeds for six months. Purely statutory, Hawaii has no constitutional homestead provision |
$30,000 of equity if you are the head of a family or 65 or older; $20,000 for anyone else (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 651-92(a)). The cap is on the interest 'over and above all liens and encumbrances' recorded before the creditor's lien: i.e., your equity after prior mortgages. The figures are fixed by appraisal, are flat (no inflation adjustment), and have been unchanged since 1978; bills to raise them are introduced regularly but none has passed |
Yes: one acre. The 'real property' eligible for the exemption is 'the dwelling house in which the owner resides and one parcel of land not to exceed one acre' plus the other buildings on it (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 651-91). A condominium or stock-cooperative unit, and land held under a long-term (20+ year) lease, also qualify |
Automatic. Hawaii has no required or recorded homestead declaration; the exemption applies by statute (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 651-92) and is asserted only if a creditor attempts to attach or execute against the home. If a sale is ordered, the court pays you the exempt amount first (§ 651-95). Recording a declaration is optional and does not create or enlarge the exemption |
The owner-defendant who resides in the home: $30,000 for a 'head of a family' (defined in § 651-91 to include a married couple and various individuals caring for a dependent relative) or a person 65 or older, and $20,000 for any other person. Doubling is expressly barred: 'Not more than one exemption shall be claimed on any one parcel of real property even though more than one person residing on such real property may otherwise be entitled to an exemption' (§ 651-92). Narrow exception: separated or divorcing spouses may each claim a separate exemption as a 'person' until they reconcile (§ 651-93) |
Exemption from 'attachment or execution': a creditor cannot seize and sell the home for an ordinary money judgment except as to equity above the exempt amount (§ 651-92(a)). If the home is worth more than the exemption plus prior liens and can't be physically divided, the court can order it sold (§ 651-95), but you are paid your $30,000 or $20,000 first out of the proceeds, ahead of the judgment creditor |
The exemption does NOT apply to: (1) a mechanic's/materialman's lien (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 507-42); (2) a mortgage, security agreement, or other consensual security interest; (3) a federal or state tax lien; (4) a county improvement-district lien; or (5) any lien or encumbrance recorded against the property before you acquired it and began living there (§ 651-92(b)) |
Six months. After a sale, 'the money paid to the defendant as the defendant's exemption' keeps the same protection against attachment and execution for six months (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 651-96). If you apply the proceeds to buy a new home within that window, the new home's protection dates back to the sale of the old one |
| Idaho verified 2026-10-07 | Idaho Code §§ 55-1001 to 55-1005, 55-1008, 55-1009 (homestead, exemptions, liens, and proceeds) |
Up to $175,000 per qualifying claim (§§ 55-1002, 55-1003); net value is market value less liens (§ 55-1001(3)) |
No acreage cap; the $175,000 value cap applies regardless of area (§ 55-1003) |
Automatic on occupancy as a principal residence; record a declaration for land claimed before occupancy (§ 55-1004) |
Principal home of an owner or intended residence; each spouse may claim separately (§§ 55-1001, 55-1002) |
Attachment, execution, or forced sale up to the exemption; recorded judgment lien reaches excess value (§§ 55-1008, 55-1009) |
Prior liens or attachments; mechanic’s, laborer’s or vendor’s liens; qualifying mortgages and other consensual liens (§ 55-1005) |
Good-faith voluntary sale proceeds for a new homestead, or insurance proceeds for restoration/replacement, exempt for one year from receipt up to the cap (§ 55-1008(1)) |
| Illinois verified 2026-07-09 | 735 ILCS 5/12-901 through 12-907 (Code of Civil Procedure, Part 9, "Exemption of Homestead"): wholly statutory, no separate constitutional homestead provision |
$50,000 for one individual owner; $100,000 total for 2+ owners, split proportionally by ownership percentage (not a flat per-person double): effective Jan. 1, 2026 via P.A. 104-120, up from $15,000/$30,000 |
None: Illinois limits purely by dollar value, regardless of lot size or acreage |
Automatic on ownership/occupancy, no filing or recorded declaration required (735 ILCS 5/12-901); a judgment can still attach as a lien to the property's title once recorded (735 ILCS 5/12-101): the exemption applies when a creditor tries to foreclose that lien or force a sale, not by blocking the lien from attaching in the first place |
Any individual who owns or rightfully leases/possesses the property and occupies it as a residence (including a condo, co-op interest, or personal property used as a residence); not a per-person or per-couple "double": 2+ owners share one $100,000 pool, each capped at their proportionate ownership share |
Blocks attachment, judgment, levy, and judgment sale of the exempt equity, and exempts the homestead from the ordinary laws of conveyance, descent, and legacy, but a judgment can still be filed as a lien against the title (735 ILCS 5/12-101); the exemption operates at the point a creditor tries to foreclose that lien or force a sale, with a 6-month statutory redemption period |
Property taxes/assessments; debt or liability for the purchase or improvement of the property itself; enforcement of certain condominium liens under the Condominium Property Act Sec. 9(g)(1); enforcement of an eviction order under 735 ILCS 5/9-102(a)(7)-(8); and property subject to drug-asset forfeiture under specified Illinois forfeiture statutes |
Sale proceeds exempt for 1 year after actual receipt, and the same exemption carries over if reinvested in a new homestead (735 ILCS 5/12-906); insurance proceeds for a destroyed homestead building are exempt to the same extent the building itself would have been (735 ILCS 5/12-907) |
| Indiana verified 2026-07-09 | Ind. Code Title 34, Art. 55 (Execution of Judgments), Ch. 10 (Sales and Execution of Real Estate: Exemptions), Sec. 34-55-10-1 through 34-55-10-14: wholly statutory, no constitutional homestead provision. The chapter is the general schedule Indiana uses both for ordinary civil judgment execution and (because Indiana has opted out of the federal bankruptcy exemptions under 11 U.S.C. Sec. 522(b)) as the exclusive property-exemption list in a bankruptcy filed by an Indiana debtor |
The statute's own printed figure is $15,000, but Sec. 34-55-10-2.5 requires the Department of Financial Institutions to reset all three dollar amounts in Sec. 34-55-10-2(c)(1)-(3) every six years based on the change in the CPI-U, rounded to the nearest $50, and a rule can never lower an amount below its July 1, 2005 level. The rule now in force took effect March 1, 2022, setting the residence exemption at $22,750 (from $19,300); the next mandatory reset must take effect between January 1 and March 1, 2028. The exemption is 'individually available' to each spouse in a married couple who jointly own the home as tenants by the entireties, so a couple filing together can combine for $45,500 |
None: Indiana caps the exemption purely by dollar value, regardless of the size of the lot. It covers real estate or personal property (including a mobile home) that serves as the debtor's or a dependent's personal or family residence |
Automatic: no filing or recording is required in advance. The exemption exists by operation of the statute itself. It only gets applied in practice when a creditor actually executes or attaches the property: the DEBTOR (not a court-appointed panel, as some other states use) gets to designate which real property, personal property, or both, will be treated as the exempted property (Sec. 34-55-10-3). If the real estate can be divided by metes and bounds without material injury, only the homestead portion is carved out that way and the remainder is what's sold (Sec. 34-55-10-11) |
Any debtor domiciled in Indiana whose (or whose dependent's) personal or family residence the property constitutes. The residence exemption is 'individually available to joint debtors' who hold the property as tenants by the entireties, in practice, a married couple who both own and jointly claim the exemption can combine two individual exemptions for $45,500 total, rather than sharing one pooled amount. Separately, and on top of the dollar-capped exemption, Sec. 34-55-10-2(c)(5) gives a debtor an independent, uncapped exemption in any interest held as a tenant by the entireties, but only against a debt for which the debtor alone (not both spouses jointly) is liable |
The listed property is 'exempt' from being reached to satisfy a judgment, this chapter is Indiana's general judgment-execution exemption schedule (Article 55 covers execution of judgments generally) and, separately, is the schedule Indiana debtors must use in bankruptcy because Indiana opted out of the federal exemptions. Sec. 34-55-10-2(a) confirms the exemption applies to judgments obtained on or after October 1, 1977, i.e., it isn't limited to a formal bankruptcy filing |
Sec. 34-55-10-14 lists two categories the exemption doesn't reach: (1) a laborer's or mechanic's lien, or a lien for the purchase money, of the exempted real property; and (2) the exemption doesn't excuse the property from taxation or from a tax sale. Separately, the tenancy-by-the-entireties exemption in (c)(5) doesn't apply against a debt for which the debtor and the debtor's spouse are jointly liable: only against a debt owed by one spouse alone |
No dedicated statute in this chapter tracks or protects the cash proceeds of a voluntary or involuntary sale of the exempt home the way some states' laws do. The exemption operates through the debtor's point-of-levy designation right (Sec. 34-55-10-3) rather than as a property right that follows sale proceeds for a set window; cash a debtor holds separately falls under the much smaller $300 (statutory) / $450 (currently adjusted) intangible-personal-property exemption in Sec. 34-55-10-2(c)(3), not a homestead-specific proceeds rule |
| Iowa verified 2026-08-10 | Iowa Code chapter 561; § 561.16 exempts the homestead from judicial sale, § 561.2 sets size, and § 561.21 lists enforceable debts |
No dollar cap; full value protected within the acreage limit. Section 561.2 permits enlargement to a $500 minimum value when the allowed land is worth less |
One-half acre within a city plat; 40 acres elsewhere. One dwelling plus proper appurtenances; qualifying owner-used business building limited to $300 (§§ 561.2–561.3) |
Automatic. Optional owner platting does not create the exemption. If unplatted at levy, officer gives 10 days to plat, then plats and records it at the owner's cost (§§ 561.4–561.5) |
Owner-occupied home, including qualifying trust-beneficiary occupancy. One homestead per household unit, not per spouse or co-owner (§§ 561.1, 561.16) |
Exempt from judicial sale for ordinary money judgments unless a statute expressly provides otherwise (§ 561.16) |
Pre-acquisition debts after other property is exhausted; written contracts expressly charging the homestead after other pledged property is exhausted; mechanic's liens and improvement debts (§ 561.21). Married-owner conveyance/encumbrance generally requires spouse's execution (§ 561.13) |
No fixed cash window. A replacement homestead acquired with old-home proceeds remains exempt to the old home's value where the former home was exempt (§ 561.20) |
| Kansas verified 2026-08-24 | Kan. Const. art. 15, § 9 creates the homestead protection; K.S.A. § 60-2301 restates it and includes manufactured and mobile homes; K.S.A. § 12-524a preserves pre-annexation homestead rights until a later sale |
No Kansas-law dollar ceiling appears in art. 15, § 9 or § 60-2301. The protection is limited by acreage or qualifying-home type rather than value; separate federal bankruptcy limits can still apply under 11 U.S.C. § 522(p)(1) |
160 acres of farming land, or 1 acre within an incorporated town or city; § 60-2301 also covers a manufactured home or mobile home occupied as a residence |
The constitution and § 60-2301 state the exemption directly and contain no declaration, recording, or advance-filing condition. Occupancy as a residence is part of the rule |
Section 60-2301 covers a residence occupied by the owner, the owner's family, or both. Kansas states no dollar amount to double. When a husband-and-wife relationship exists, alienation and consensual-lien rules require both spouses' consent |
The homestead is exempt from forced sale under any process of law within the statutory limits. The constitution and statute separately restrict alienation without joint spousal consent when that relationship exists |
Taxes; purchase-money obligations; obligations for improvements; and a lien given with both spouses' consent when the marital relationship exists (Kan. Const. art. 15, § 9; K.S.A. § 60-2301) |
No fixed statutory period. In re Ginther applies the Kansas rule that proceeds intended in good faith for another Kansas homestead remain exempt for a reasonable time, but proceeds intended for an out-of-state home do not |
| Kentucky verified 2026-07-09 | KRS 427.060 ('Homestead and burial plot exemptions, Exceptions'), in KRS Chapter 427 (Exemptions). Purely statutory, the $5,000 amount and its exceptions are all in § 427.060. KRS 427.170 separately lets a Kentucky bankruptcy debtor elect the federal exemptions (11 U.S.C. § 522(d)) instead of the state set |
$5,000 of equity in the residence (or a burial plot). It is a flat figure with no inflation adjustment, unchanged since the section took effect April 9, 1980, making Kentucky's one of the lowest and most static creditor homestead exemptions in the country. Because § 427.060 exempts 'an individual debtor's aggregate interest,' a married couple who both own the home can each claim it, doubling the protection to $10,000 |
None. KRS 427.060 caps only by dollar value ($5,000); it sets no acreage or lot-size limit. It covers real or personal property used as a permanent residence, a house, condominium, or mobile/manufactured home, and a burial plot |
Automatic. Nothing has to be recorded in advance; the exemption is raised as a defense when a creditor tries to reach the home through a judicial sale or other execution. Kentucky has no required 'homestead declaration.' In a bankruptcy case, a debtor claims it on the exemption schedules, or, under KRS 427.170, elects the federal exemption system instead (you must pick one system, not mix the two) |
Any individual debtor who (or whose dependent) uses the property as a permanent residence in Kentucky. Because the statute protects 'an individual debtor's aggregate interest,' each owner gets a separate $5,000: a married couple who both own the home and file together can double it to $10,000. It is one exemption per residence, not per property owned |
Exempts up to $5,000 of your equity 'from sale under execution, attachment or judgment' (§ 427.060): from an ordinary money-judgment creditor's forced sale. A judgment lien can still attach to the home's title; what the exemption does is protect the first $5,000 of value if a creditor tries to force a judicial sale. If your equity over senior liens is $5,000 or less, a creditor generally gains nothing from forcing a sale |
Built into § 427.060: the exemption does NOT block (a) foreclosure of a mortgage you gave on the homestead, or (b) purchase money still owed on the property. It also does not apply at all if the debt or liability existed BEFORE you bought the property or built the improvements: a distinctive Kentucky 'pre-existing debt' carve-out. As in every state, tax liens (including federal tax liens) can also reach the home outside this exemption |
KRS 427.060 has no separate provision keeping the cash proceeds of a sale exempt for a set period. The exemption operates against a forced sale, the debtor takes the first $5,000 of value from a judicial sale, after senior liens like a mortgage, but there is no statutory window protecting the cash after a voluntary sale |
| Louisiana verified 2026-07-09 | La. R.S. 20:1 (homestead exemption from seizure and sale), enacted under the authority of La. Const. art. XII, § 9. The amount, acreage, exceptions, and waiver rules are entirely statutory. Note: this is Louisiana's CREDITOR homestead (protection from a creditor's seizure); it is a different thing from the property-TAX homestead exemption under La. Const. art. VII, § 21 ($75,000 of value / 160 acres), which only lowers property taxes and is outside this survey |
$35,000 of the homestead's value. Louisiana adds a distinctive carve-out: for a debt arising directly from a catastrophic or terminal illness or injury, the exemption jumps to the FULL value of the home (measured as of one year before the seizure), not just $35,000. 'Catastrophic or terminal illness or injury' means one creating uninsured health-care obligations over $10,000 that also exceed 50% of the debtor's average annual adjusted gross income over the prior three years (R.S. 20:1(A)(3)). A 2024 bill to raise the figure did not pass; $35,000 is the current amount |
5 acres if the residence is within a municipality; 200 acres if it is not (R.S. 20:1(A)(1)). Louisiana caps by BOTH the $35,000 value and this acreage. The homestead is the residence plus any contiguous tracts up to those limits, whether rural or urban |
Automatic. Despite the statute's title ('Declaration of homestead'), R.S. 20:1 does not require recording a declaration to have the exemption: it arises from owning and occupying the bona fide homestead. It can be WAIVED, though: under R.S. 20:1(D) a homeowner may waive the exemption in a signed writing recorded in the parish mortgage records (if married, the spouse must also sign, unless the home is that owner's separate property). Lenders routinely require this waiver in a mortgage. A waiver cannot be required or given for medical treatment, services, or hospitalization |
The owner who occupies the residence as a bona fide homestead. The exemption is per homestead, not per owner: R.S. 20:1(B) limits it to 'not more than one homestead owned by the husband or the wife,' so a married couple gets ONE $35,000 exemption, not one each: Louisiana does not allow spouses to double it. It extends to a surviving spouse or minor children of a deceased owner, and continues through a community-property dissolution if a spouse keeps occupying the home |
Exempts the homestead 'from seizure and sale under any writ, mandate, or process whatsoever' (R.S. 20:1(A)(2)), from an ordinary money-judgment creditor, up to $35,000 of value (or the full value for a catastrophic/terminal-illness debt). It is a value cap, not absolute: a creditor whose debt isn't on the excluded list can still force the sale of a home worth more than $35,000, but the debtor's first $35,000 of value is protected |
R.S. 20:1(C) lists eight debts the exemption does NOT block: (1) the property's purchase price; (2) labor, money, or materials to build, repair, or improve the home; (3) money a public officer, fiduciary, or attorney collected or received on deposit; (4) taxes or assessments; (5) rent that carries a privilege on the property; (6) a loan from a homestead or building-and-loan association secured by the property; (7) money advanced on a mortgage of the property; and (8) obligations from a felony or misdemeanor conviction carrying possible imprisonment of at least six months. For the association-loan and mortgage exceptions, a married borrower's spouse must have consented at the time |
Limited and specific: there is no general exemption window for the cash proceeds of an ordinary sale. But R.S. 20:1(A)(2) automatically extends the exemption to property-INSURANCE proceeds paid for damage from a gubernatorially declared disaster, if they are held separately in an escrow account identified as insurance proceeds for the home's repair or replacement. R.S. 20:1(D) also preserves the owner's right to sell the homestead voluntarily, though a sale can't impair existing creditors' rights |
| Maine verified 2026-08-10 | 14 M.R.S. §§ 4422(1), 4426; residence exemption from attachment and execution, with current amounts set by Me. Sup. Jud. Ct. Admin. Order JB-24-02 |
$94,300 ordinary tier; $188,550 if debtor/dependent is 60+ or disabled, or minor dependents principally reside there. Current order also adjusts the higher joint-fraction base to $282,800 |
No acreage limit; covers qualifying real or personal residence property, a cooperative residence, and a burial plot (§ 4422(1)(A)) |
Automatic statutory exemption; § 4422 states no advance declaration or recording condition |
Debtor or dependent uses property as residence. Joint interest is limited to the lesser of the applicable individual amount or the debtor's fractional share multiplied by $188,550/$282,800; no simple doubling |
Residence equity up to the applicable amount is exempt from attachment and execution; amount is fixed at the exemption in effect when the creditor's lien was recorded (§ 4422(1)(E)) |
Express exclusions: fraudulently conveyed property and judgments based on torts involving more than ordinary negligence (§ 4422 opening clause and (1)(D)) |
Exempt sale proceeds, and money returned under Title 36, § 943-C, remain exempt for 12 months from receipt for reinvestment in a residence (§ 4422(1)(C)) |
| Maryland verified 2026-08-12 | Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 11-504(b)(1)(XI) (general execution exemption) and § 11-504(f) (separate bankruptcy-only exemption), both added/revised by 2026 Md. Laws ch. 400 (SB 939), eff. 6/1/2026. Related: Real Prop. § 4-108 (tenancy by the entirety) |
General (any money judgment): $150,000 per individual; $300,000 if the individual is at least 65, CPI-adjusted every 3 years starting 10/1/2027. Bankruptcy-only (§ 11-504(f)): $150,000 baseline; $300,000 if the individual is at least 60 AND a veteran or has a qualifying disability, adjusted annually starting FY2028. Before 6/1/2026, Maryland had no general homestead exemption and only a $31,575 federal-tied bankruptcy exemption |
None: both exemptions are dollar caps only, with no acreage or lot-size limit in the statutory text |
Automatic. No recording, declaration, or court filing is required for either exemption. The sheriff-appraisal-at-levy procedure in § 11-504(c) applies only to the household-goods and cash/property wildcard items, not to the homestead item |
Any individual debtor domiciled in Maryland who owns and occupies the property (including certain revocable-trust ownership). The bankruptcy exemption (§ 11-504(f)) expressly caps a joint claim by multiple owners on the same property at $300,000 total. The new general exemption (§ 11-504(b)(1)(XI)) contains no comparable cap in its text: whether co-owners can each claim a separate $150,000/$300,000 outside bankruptcy is not yet settled by case law |
Protects equity up to the cap from a forced sale to satisfy an ordinary money judgment. Separately, Maryland courts have long held that property owned by married co-owners as tenants by the entirety is immune from a judgment against only one spouse (Marburg v. Cole, 49 Md. 402 (1878); Columbian Carbon Co. v. Kight, 207 Md. 203 (1955)): a different, older protection that doesn't depend on the dollar exemption at all |
The exemption applies only to a creditor collecting through execution on a judgment. It does not stop a mortgage lender, a property-tax authority, or a mechanic's-lien holder from enforcing its own lien directly against the property. Tenancy-by-the-entirety protection doesn't apply to a debt owed jointly by both spouses, and a federal tax lien can still reach entirety property |
None found in the current text of § 11-504: unlike some states, Maryland's statute does not include an explicit window protecting the cash proceeds of a home sale after the sale occurs |
| Massachusetts verified 2026-07-09 | M.G.L. c. 188, Sec. 1-14 ("Homesteads"): wholly statutory, no constitutional provision. The chapter was entirely rewritten by 2010 Mass. Acts ch. 395 (eff. 2011-03-16, creating the automatic exemption for the first time); the current dollar figures were last set by 2024 Mass. Acts ch. 150, the "Affordable Homes Act" (eff. 2024-08-06), with a further technical amendment to Sec. 1 by 2026 Mass. Acts ch. 102, Sec. 301 (eff. 2026-06-12) that did not change the dollar amounts |
Automatic exemption: $125,000 per home (Sec. 1, Sec. 4), unchanged since the 2011 rewrite. Declared (regular) exemption: $1,000,000 per home (Sec. 1, Sec. 3) if a declaration is recorded, raised from $500,000 by the 2024 Affordable Homes Act. Elderly (62+) or disabled owner's declared exemption (Sec. 2): $1,000,000 PER QUALIFYING OWNER, and unlike the regular declared exemption this one stacks, a married couple who are both 62+ or disabled and own as joint tenants or tenants by the entirety can together protect $2,250,000 ($1,000,000 x 2 declarations, plus a $250,000 bonus for more than one owner under the joint-tenancy formula in Sec. 1) |
None: purely a dollar cap. "Home" covers a single-family dwelling, a 2-to-4-family dwelling, a manufactured home, a condominium unit, or a residential cooperative housing unit, each together with the land it sits on and any accessory structures |
Both exist side by side. The $125,000 automatic exemption applies with no filing at all (Sec. 4). To get the much larger $1,000,000 (or stacked elderly/disabled) exemption, an owner must record a written declaration of homestead: signed and acknowledged under penalty of perjury by each owner to be benefited, identifying any non-titled spouse, and recorded at the registry of deeds for the county where the home sits (Sec. 5). Recording a declaration doesn't erase the automatic protection that already applied to the period before recording; if the declaration is later invalidated, the automatic exemption is reinstated |
Any owner (including a joint tenant, tenant by the entirety, tenant in common, life estate holder, trust beneficiary, or co-op lessee-shareholder) who occupies or intends to occupy the home as a principal residence. The automatic exemption and the regular declared exemption are capped PER HOME, not per person: joint tenants/tenants by the entirety share one $125,000 or $1,000,000 pool; tenants in common and trust beneficiaries split it proportionally (automatic) or evenly by headcount (declared). The elderly/disabled declaration is the exception: each qualifying owner gets their OWN full $1,000,000, without reduction or proration among other owners, so it can genuinely stack between spouses |
An estate of homestead is exempt from the laws of conveyance, descent, devise, attachment, seizure, execution on judgment, levy, and sale for payment of debts or legacies, up to the exemption amount, for both the automatic and the declared exemption alike, subject to the same list of exceptions in Sec. 3(b) |
Sec. 3(b) lists six categories the homestead doesn't block: (1) a sale for federal, state, or local taxes, assessments, claims, and liens; (2) a lien on the home recorded before the estate of homestead was created; (3) a mortgage on the home (Sec. 8, Sec. 9); (4) a court order for spousal, former-spousal, or child support; (5) a claim for ground rent where the home sits on land the owner doesn't own; and (6) an execution to enforce a judgment based on fraud, duress, undue influence, or lack of capacity |
If the home is sold (voluntarily or involuntarily) or taken, sale/taking proceeds stay protected until the person acquires a new principal residence or 1 year after the sale or taking, whichever comes first (Sec. 11(a)(1)). If the home is damaged by fire or other casualty, insurance proceeds stay protected until reconstruction is complete or a new home is acquired, or 2 years after the casualty, whichever comes first (Sec. 11(a)(2)). Living in a trailer, manufactured home, or other temporary housing during that window doesn't count as establishing a new principal residence and doesn't cut the protection short (Sec. 11(b)) |
| Michigan verified 2026-08-15 | Mich. Const. art. X, Sec. 3 (sets a $3,500 constitutional floor) implemented by MCL 600.6023(1)(g) (Revised Judicature Act, Ch. 60) at exactly that floor; related: MCL 600.6023a (tenancy-by-entirety exemption) and MCL 600.6060 (equity of redemption) |
$3,500: the constitutional minimum itself, unchanged since the 1963 Michigan Constitution took effect Jan. 1, 1964, and unraised since a 2012 statutory reenactment (2012 PA 553, eff. Jan. 2, 2013) that otherwise left the figure untouched |
Not more than 40 acres of land and dwelling outside a recorded plat, city, or village, or 1 lot within one: a real second axis, but the $3,500 dollar cap is the binding constraint in nearly every case at current property values |
Automatic: no filing or recorded declaration exists under this scheme at all. (Michigan's separate 'Principal Residence Exemption' affidavit is a property-TAX filing, unrelated to this judgment exemption.) |
Available to any resident who owns and occupies the property; the $3,500 figure is not explicitly doubled for married co-owners. Separately and much more powerful: real property spouses hold as tenants by the entirety is entirely exempt from execution on a judgment against only one spouse (MCL 600.6023a), independent of the $3,500 cap |
Exempt from levy and sale under execution, plus a separate exemption for the 'equity of redemption' on mortgaged property (MCL 600.6060) so a judgment creditor can't force a sale of that equity either; doesn't block a lawfully obtained mortgage from being enforced |
A lawfully obtained mortgage on the home isn't blocked by the exemption, and a mortgage needs the debtor's spouse's signature unless it's a purchase-money mortgage or has gone unchallenged on record for 25 years. MCL 600.6023(2) also leaves intact liens that other law excludes from exemption; delinquent property taxes, for example, are foreclosed under a separate statutory process rather than this execution exemption |
None under this general judgment scheme: MCL 600.6023 contains no protection for cash proceeds after a voluntary sale |
| Minnesota verified 2026-08-10 | Minn. Stat. §§ 510.01–510.02, 510.05, 510.07–510.08; § 510.02 adjusts through § 550.37, subd. 4a, and current figures come from Commerce's corrected 2026 notice |
$540,000 residential; $1,350,000 primarily agricultural, effective July 1, 2026. One cap per homestead, whether claimed by one or more debtors |
Up to 160 acres (§ 510.02, subd. 1) |
Arises from owning and occupying the dwelling; no advance declaration stated. If property exceeds area and boundaries are unset, owner describes the exempt part after levy (§ 510.08(a)) |
Debtor owns and occupies the dwelling. Per-homestead cap does not multiply for multiple debtors (§§ 510.01–510.02) |
Exempt from seizure or sale under legal process for debt not lawfully charged on the homestead in writing, subject to statutory exceptions and the value cap |
Lawful mortgage; valid tax/assessment lien; state care claims under §§ 246.53 and 256B.15; laborer/material-supplier liens; valid-waiver claim under § 481.13; construction, repair, improvement, or labor debts stated in § 510.01 |
Sale proceeds exempt for 1 year from debts the home escaped, except child-support/maintenance arrears; insurance proceeds exempt for 1 year (§ 510.07) |
| Mississippi verified 2026-08-24 | Miss. Code Ann. Title 85, ch. 3; core homestead §§ 85-3-21 to -51. Miss. Const. art. 4, § 94 states that the Legislature shall never create by law any distinction between men's and women's property rights and confirms legislative authority to regulate homestead sales; it does not itself state the creditor exemption |
$75,000 of net equity after taxes and other liens are deducted; insurance proceeds for a damaged or destroyed homestead are protected up to $75,000 (§§ 85-3-21, -23) |
160 acres statewide, together with the $75,000 value cap. Excess land may be separated and sold under the statutory allotment procedure (§§ 85-3-21, -35) |
Automatic when the statutory ownership, occupancy, and residency rules apply. Optional acknowledged declaration is recorded in the chancery Homestead Record and binds the filer, spouse, and creditors as to the selection (§§ 85-3-25, -27, -31) |
Mississippi resident and citizen who is a householder and owns and occupies the residence; limited age-60 continuation after moving out. The chapter states one homestead cap and no express spouse-stacking rule (§§ 85-3-21, -51) |
Exempt from seizure or sale under execution or attachment up to the caps. If indivisible property exceeds $75,000 and the debtor does not pay the surplus valuation within 60 days, it may be sold and $75,000 is paid to the debtor (§§ 85-3-21, -37) |
Purchase money; taxes or assessments; labor or materials furnished for the property; judgments for labor performed or on forfeited recognizance/bail bond; statutory liens and voluntary security interests remain enforceable (§§ 85-3-47, 85-3-1(m)) |
Sale proceeds of exempt property are exempt under § 85-3-1(b)(i), with no duration or reinvestment deadline stated there. Insurance proceeds for homestead damage or destruction are separately protected up to $75,000 (§ 85-3-23) |
| Missouri verified 2026-07-09 | Mo. Rev. Stat. Sec. 513.475 to 513.530 (Title XXXV, Ch. 513, "Executions and Exemptions"): wholly statutory, no constitutional homestead provision. The current $15,000 figure was set by 2003 H.B. 613 (eff. 2003-08-28), raised from $8,000. A 2026 act (HB 1870, signed 2026-05-06; see pending_legislation) raises it to $40,000 effective January 1, 2027, and adds a triennial inflation adjustment starting April 1, 2029 (new Sec. 513.423); the $15,000 figure controls through 2026-12-31 |
$15,000 total, per homestead: NOT doubled for a married couple or for multiple owners. Sec. 513.475.1 is explicit: if only one owner claims the exemption, that owner gets the full $15,000; if more than one owner of the SAME homestead claims it, their combined exemptions still can't exceed $15,000 in the aggregate |
None: Missouri caps the exemption purely by dollar value. It covers "a dwelling house and appurtenances, and the land used in connection therewith," with no separate acreage restriction |
Automatic: no filing or recording is required for the exemption to exist. It only gets applied at the point a creditor actually levies execution: if the property is worth more than $15,000, the owner has the first right to designate and choose which part of the property the exemption applies to, up to the limit (Sec. 513.480). If the owner refuses or fails to choose, the sheriff appoints three disinterested appraisers, sworn to a faithful discharge of their duties, to fix the location and boundaries of the exempt homestead instead, and the remainder is levied on as in any other case |
Any person who uses a dwelling as their homestead. There is no spousal doubling, the $15,000 aggregate applies regardless of how many owners share the home. Separately, Sec. 513.475.2 gives the homestead a distinctive family-protection feature unrelated to the dollar cap: neither spouse, acting alone, can sell, mortgage, or otherwise alienate the homestead, any such solo transaction is null and void, though the husband and wife can jointly convey, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of it together |
The homestead, together with its rents, issues, and products, is exempt from attachment and execution, but only for debts and causes of action that arose AFTER the homestead was acquired (Sec. 513.510). A cause of action that already existed at the time the person acquired title (measured from the date the deed was filed for record, or from when they became invested with title by descent or devise) can still reach the homestead. Separately, if a person later trades up to a new, larger homestead using proceeds from selling the old one, the PRIOR homestead loses its exemption and becomes liable for the person's debts once the new one is acquired (Sec. 513.515), Missouri only protects one homestead at a time |
Sec. 513.510's carve-out is itself the main exception: any debt or cause of action that existed before the homestead was acquired isn't blocked by the exemption. Beyond that, ordinary consensual liens (like a mortgage) are handled through the same value-and-location-fixing procedure as an unencumbered homestead (Sec. 513.485) rather than through a separate statutory exception list |
No general rule protects the cash proceeds of an ordinary voluntary or involuntary sale of the homestead for a set window the way some states' laws do. The one proceeds-related mechanism that does exist is narrow: when a homestead is shared among co-owners and can't practically be divided or occupied separately, a court may order the property sold and then "control the investment of the proceeds of such sale in a new homestead, or their payment out of court" (Sec. 513.525, 513.530), but this only applies to that specific co-ownership dispute scenario, not to an ordinary sale by a sole owner |
| Montana verified 2026-07-10 | Mont. Code Ann. Title 70, ch. 32 ('Homesteads'), Parts 1-3 (§§ 70-32-101 to 70-32-303). § 70-32-104 sets the dollar cap; §§ 70-32-105 to 70-32-107 require a recorded declaration; § 70-32-201 is the exemption; § 70-32-202 lists debts it does not stop; §§ 70-32-213 and 70-32-216 protect different categories of proceeds. Purely statutory: Montana has no constitutional homestead provision |
A single dollar cap that increases automatically each year. Mont. Code Ann. § 70-32-104(3) sets the limit at $350,000 in 2021 and requires it to 'increase by 4% every calendar year after 2021,' with the Department of Revenue adopting rules for the figure. That formula yields roughly $425,800 in 2026 (about $409,450 in 2025; confirm the current Department of Revenue figure). A co-owner who holds only an undivided fractional interest gets an exemption proportional to that interest, not the full cap (§ 70-32-104(2)) |
None. Montana caps the homestead only by dollar value; the homestead chapter sets no acreage or lot-size limit. A homestead is 'the dwelling house or mobile home, and all appurtenances, in which the claimant resides and the land, if any, on which the same is situated' (§ 70-32-101): a mobile or manufactured home qualifies, even on leased land |
Declaration REQUIRED. Under § 70-32-105 the person 'must execute and acknowledge, in the same manner as a grant of real property is acknowledged, a declaration of homestead and file the same for record.' In plain terms: fill out a declaration, sign it before a notary, and record it with the county clerk and recorder (§§ 70-32-106, 70-32-107). A mortgage executed and recorded before the declaration remains enforceable (§ 70-32-202(3)); the statute does not say every earlier unsecured creditor defeats a later-recorded declaration |
The claimant who actually resides in the dwelling (§ 70-32-101). A married claimant may select the homestead from the property of either spouse; an unmarried claimant from any of their own property (§ 70-32-103(1)). Property a person put into their own revocable living trust still qualifies (§ 70-32-103(2)). No spousal doubling of the cap: there is one homestead, and co-owners holding undivided interests each get an exemption proportional to their share, which together cannot exceed the single cap (§ 70-32-104(2)) |
'The homestead is exempt from execution or forced sale, except as in this chapter provided' (§ 70-32-201). A money-judgment creditor cannot seize and sell the home for equity within the cap. If your equity exceeds the exemption (plus prior liens) and the land can't be physically divided, the court can order the whole property appraised and sold (§§ 70-32-204 to 70-32-210), but you are paid your exempt amount out of the proceeds first |
Section 70-32-202 makes the homestead subject to forced sale for three kinds of debt: (1) 'debts secured by construction or vendors' liens upon the premises'; (2) 'debts secured by mortgages on the premises, executed and acknowledged by the husband and wife or by an unmarried claimant'; and (3) 'debts secured by mortgages on the premises, executed and recorded before the declaration of homestead was filed for record.' So your own mortgage, a contractor's/materialman's lien, and any mortgage predating your declaration all still reach the home |
18 months, with tracing. Section 70-32-216 protects traceable proceeds when qualifying property is voluntarily sold, condemned, lost, damaged, or destroyed and indemnified; the debtor may use FIFO, LIFO, or another reasonable tracing method. Section 70-32-213 separately protects money paid to the claimant from an execution sale for 18 months |
| Nebraska verified 2026-08-15 | Neb. Rev. Stat. Chapter 40 ('Homesteads'), §§ 40-101 to 40-116. § 40-101 creates the exemption and sets the $120,000 amount and the acreage/lot limits; § 40-103 lists the debts that can still force a sale; §§ 40-113 and 40-116 protect sale proceeds for six months. Purely statutory. The scheme was substantially rewritten by Laws 2024, LB1195: which raised the dollar figure and repealed the old separate 'selection' section (§ 40-102) |
$120,000 in value (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 40-101), raised from $60,000 effective July 18, 2024 (Laws 2024, LB1195, § 10). The statute caps 'a homestead not exceeding one hundred twenty thousand dollars in value'; in practice that protects your equity up to $120,000, since a forced sale first pays any mortgage. The figure is flat, with no inflation adjustment: a point critics note, since 160 acres of Nebraska land or an average home is worth far more |
Yes: in addition to the dollar cap. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 40-101 limits the homestead to the dwelling plus 'not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres of land ... not in any incorporated city or village, or, at the option of the claimant, a quantity of contiguous land not exceeding two lots within any incorporated city or village.' So a rural homestead can be up to 160 acres; an in-town homestead is capped at two contiguous lots. Both the size limit and the $120,000 value limit apply |
Automatic. The exemption applies by operation of law to 'each natural person residing in this state' who lives in the home (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 40-101): there is no recording requirement and, since Laws 2024, LB1195 repealed the old selection section (§ 40-102), no separate selection filing. You claim the exemption when a creditor tries to execute; the sheriff and appraisers then value the property. You may record an optional homestead declaration for public notice and evidence, and that is the document the panel on this page prepares, but recording is permissive, not required |
'Each natural person residing in this state' who resides in the dwelling (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 40-101). The 2024 repeal of § 40-102 removed the old limits to a 'head of a family' or someone 65-plus, so any Nebraska resident who occupies the home now qualifies, single or married, with or without children. Doubling is UNSETTLED: long-standing case law holds a single parcel supports only one homestead (a bankruptcy court applied that in In re Hudson, Feb. 2024, to cap married debtors at one exemption), but LB1195's new 'each natural person' wording has prompted an argument that co-owning spouses may each claim $120,000. The courts have not yet resolved whether the 2024 change overrides the one-homestead-per-parcel rule, don't assume doubling is available |
A judgment lien AND a forced sale. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 40-101 makes the homestead exempt 'from judgment liens and from execution or forced sale', so a judgment lien doesn't even attach to your homestead up to the exempt amount, and a general creditor can't have it sold on execution. If the homestead is worth more than $120,000 and can't be physically divided, a statutory appraisal-and-sale procedure (§§ 40-104 to 40-113) applies, and the claimant is paid the $120,000 first from the proceeds. Equity above the cap is reachable |
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 40-103 says the homestead 'is subject to execution or forced sale in satisfaction of judgments obtained (1) on debts secured by mechanics', laborers', or vendors' liens upon the premises and (2) on debts secured by mortgages or trust deeds upon the premises executed and acknowledged by a claimant.' In plain terms: a contractor's or supplier's lien, a vendor's (purchase-money) lien, and any mortgage or deed of trust you signed all reach the home. (Laws 2024, LB1195 changed this so the claimant alone, not necessarily both spouses, must have signed the mortgage.) Property taxes reach the home through the separate tax-lien system, outside the exemption |
Six months. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 40-116 protects the proceeds of a homestead 'conveyed by the claimant, or sold for the satisfaction of any lien mentioned in section 40-103': the proceeds up to the exemption amount get 'for the period of six months thereafter, the same protection ... which the law gives to the homestead,' and you may use them to buy another homestead. Section 40-113 gives the same six-month protection to money paid to the claimant when an indivisible homestead is sold on execution. So sell or lose the home to a covered lien and you have six months to reinvest the protected amount |
| Nevada verified 2026-07-09 | Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 115 ('Homesteads'). NRS 115.010 creates the exemption and sets the $605,000 amount; NRS 115.020 requires recording a declaration of homestead to claim it; NRS 115.005 defines 'homestead' and 'equity.' Purely statutory. A married owner also can't mortgage or convey the homestead unless both spouses sign (NRS 115.040) |
$605,000 of EQUITY in your home (NRS 115.010(2)). 'Equity' is the home's fair market value minus the mortgages and other liens carved out of the exemption (NRS 115.005(1)), so it protects your net stake above what you owe, up to $605,000. It's a flat figure, not inflation-indexed. (If you've established rare 'allodial title' to the land, the exemption instead covers all equity, but that's a special, seldom-used status.) |
None. Nevada caps the exemption by dollar value only, not by lot size or acreage. A 'homestead' can be a quantity of land with the dwelling on it, a mobile home (whether or not you own the land under it), or a condominium or co-op unit under NRS chapter 116 or 117 (NRS 115.005(2)): with no maximum number of acres |
Declaration REQUIRED: Nevada is one of the few states where you must file to be protected at all. Under NRS 115.020 you 'select' the homestead by recording a signed, acknowledged Declaration of Homestead with the county recorder, stating your intent to claim the property as a homestead. Without a recorded declaration the exemption doesn't attach. The state Real Estate Division publishes a free form (NRS 115.025), and recording is inexpensive. This is exactly the document the panel on this page prepares |
The exemption belongs to a single person or a married couple who select and record the homestead (NRS 115.005(2), 115.020). It's a single $605,000 per homestead: Nevada does NOT let two spouses stack it to $1,210,000. Tenants in common may each declare a homestead on their respective undivided interests (NRS 115.030). When the homestead is community property, on the first spouse's death it vests in the survivor with the exemption continuing (NRS 115.060) |
A forced sale on execution. NRS 115.010(1) says the homestead 'is not subject to forced sale on execution or any final process from any court,' up to the exempt amount. If a creditor swears your equity tops $605,000, the court appoints three appraisers; the home can be sold only if the equity exceeds $605,000, and then you're paid the first $605,000 first, and 'no bid under $605,000 may be received' (NRS 115.050). Equity above the cap is reachable |
NRS 115.010(3) carves out: purchase-money debt (obligations to buy the property), debts for improvements including a lawful mechanic's lien, legal taxes, any mortgage or deed of trust you signed (including a second mortgage, refinance, line of credit, or home-equity loan), and HOA/common-interest-community liens under NRS 116.3116 or 117.070. The home is never exempt from sale for taxes (NRS 115.080) or from Nevada Medicaid estate recovery (NRS 115.090). Federal tax liens also reach it under federal law |
Reinvestment within tight deadlines. Under NRS 115.055, the $605,000 in proceeds from a forced sale of the homestead stay exempt ONLY if they are reinvested in another like-kind property (for which a new homestead will be declared) that you identify within 45 days of the sale and take possession of within 180 days. Miss those windows and the proceeds lose their protection: there's no open-ended grace period |
| New Hampshire verified 2026-08-12 | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. Title XLIX, ch. 480 ('The Homestead Right'), §§ 480:1 to 480:9. § 480:1 sets the $400,000 amount (raised from $120,000 by 2025 ch. 282 / HB 617, eff. Jan. 1, 2026) and its conditions; § 480:3-a covers duration and a surviving spouse; § 480:4 lists the debts the exemption does not stop; § 480:5-a governs conveying or encumbering it; § 480:8-a lets a court set it off. Purely statutory: New Hampshire has no constitutional homestead provision |
$400,000 of home equity per person (N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 480:1(I)), raised from $120,000 effective January 1, 2026 (2025 ch. 282 / HB 617). Co-owners' exemptions on one property are capped at $550,000 total (§ 480:1(III)). Protection is UNLIMITED, the home's full market value, when the debt comes from unpaid medical bills or a terminal or catastrophic injury or illness (§ 480:1(IV)). The cap protects equity, i.e., value net of what you owe |
None. New Hampshire caps the homestead by dollar value only: no acreage or lot-size limit. Besides a house, the homestead right covers manufactured housing (RSA 674:31), a mobile home, a housing cooperative, and a condominium, so long as it is occupied as a dwelling (§ 480:1(I)); for manufactured housing the right does not extend to land the owner doesn't also own |
Automatic. The homestead right is 'created by this chapter' and arises by law once you occupy the home: New Hampshire requires no recorded declaration to obtain it (unlike Massachusetts). One condition was added in 2026: § 480:1(II) requires the home to have been 'continuously used as a primary residence for the previous 12 months.' An owner or creditor may ask the superior court to formally set off the homestead (§ 480:8-a), but that is not a precondition to the protection |
'Every person' who occupies the home as a primary residence for the prior 12 months (§ 480:1(I)-(II)); the beneficiary of a qualifying trust that owns the home also qualifies (§ 480:1(V)). Doubling is allowed but capped: multiple owners' homestead exemptions on one property may total up to $550,000, versus $400,000 for a single owner (§ 480:1(III)). A surviving spouse keeps the homestead right for life after the owner's death (§ 480:3-a) |
The homestead right 'does not cancel or erase any debt'; instead it is 'exempt from attachment during its continuance from levy or sale on execution, and from liability to be encumbered or taken for the payment of debts,' except for the listed exceptions (N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 480:4). A sheriff levying an execution takes the property 'subject to any such homestead right' (§ 480:7), so a creditor can't force a sale to reach equity within the exempt amount |
Seven carve-outs in § 480:4: (1) taxes; (2) forfeited bail bonds and domestic-support obligations; (3) mechanic's and similar liens for construction, repair, or improvement of the home; (4) mortgages made a charge on it by law; (5) homeowner- or condo-association assessment liens (RSA 356-B); (6) debts that existed when the homestead was purchased (unless the § 480:1(II) proceeds-rollover applies); and (7) executions levied under this chapter. Separately, a homestead can be conveyed or encumbered only by a deed the owner and spouse both sign, except a purchase-money mortgage (§ 480:5-a) |
Six months. Proceeds from the sale of a qualifying homestead 'shall also be protected if reinvested within 6 months in a new primary residence' (N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 480:1(II)). That rollover also spares the proceeds from the pre-existing-debt exception in § 480:4(VI) |
| New Jersey verified 2026-07-09 | N.J.S.A. 2A:17-19 (Title 2A, ch. 17, "Amount; exceptions") is the general execution-exemption statute; it creates no homestead or real-property exemption at all. Related, and doing the actual protective work for married owners: N.J.S.A. 46:3-17.2 and 46:3-17.4 (tenancy by the entirety) |
None. There is no dollar amount protecting home equity from an ordinary judgment. (N.J.S.A. 2A:17-19 protects $1,000 of goods, chattels, and other personal property: not real estate.) |
Not applicable: with no homestead exemption, there is no acreage or size limit to set |
Not applicable: there is no recording mechanism because there is no exemption to record. (Some secondary sources reference a New Jersey 'homestead declaration'; no such filing exists under state law for judgment-execution purposes.) |
Not applicable to a homestead exemption, since none exists. What actually protects a married owner: real property held as tenants by the entirety (N.J.S.A. 46:3-17.2) can't be severed, alienated, or affected by either spouse without the other's written consent (N.J.S.A. 46:3-17.4), which New Jersey courts have read to block a creditor of only one spouse from forcing a sale or partition of the home (Jimenez v. Jimenez, 454 N.J. Super. 432 (App. Div. 2018)) |
Nothing, under a homestead theory: a judgment creditor can reach a debtor's home equity in New Jersey through the ordinary execution process, subject only to the mortgage and any other liens. Tenancy-by-the-entirety ownership is the real protection for married co-owners, and it works differently: it blocks a sale to satisfy a judgment against just one spouse, rather than exempting a dollar amount |
Not applicable to a homestead exemption. Tenancy-by-the-entirety protection doesn't apply to a joint debt owed by both spouses together, and a federal tax lien can still reach entirety property even against only one spouse (United States v. Craft, 535 U.S. 274 (2002)) |
None under state law, for the same reason there's no underlying exemption. A debtor who actually files bankruptcy can elect the federal homestead exemption instead (11 U.S.C. Sec. 522(d)(1), $31,575 for cases filed 4/1/2025-3/31/2028), which is not tied to New Jersey's state exemption scheme at all |
| New Mexico verified 2026-08-16 | NMSA 1978 §§ 42-10-9 to -14. Section 42-10-9 creates the homestead; § 42-10-13 supplies the court-claim procedure; § 42-10-14 requires biennial dollar adjustments |
Current Supreme Court Form 4-808A states $150,000 for the ordinary state-court execution homestead. Section 42-10-9 states a $300,000 recent-surviving-spouse base; both statutory figures are subject to § 42-10-14 adjustments |
No acreage or lot-size limit stated. The statute protects a primary-residence 'domicile,' including a mobile home, trailer, RV, outbuilding, or similar shelter (§ 42-10-9(C)) |
No advance recording or current statutory declaration procedure. Claim the exemption in the proper court after execution or garnishment begins; the court notice requires filing and service within its stated 10-day period (§ 42-10-13; Form 4-808A) |
A person claiming a domicile or owned land as that person's primary residence. Current § 42-10-9 does not expressly state that joint owners or spouses may stack separate ordinary amounts; do not assume doubling |
Attachment, execution, or foreclosure by a judgment creditor, plus receiver/trustee insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings and probate administration, within the applicable amount (§ 42-10-9(A)) |
Taxes, garnishment, recorded mortgagee or lessor liens, recorded laborer/materialman liens for construction or repair, and properly perfected secured-creditor liens (§§ 42-10-9(E), 42-10-11) |
No homestead sale-proceeds protection or reinvestment window stated in §§ 42-10-9 to -14. A resident who does not own a homestead instead has the separate, adjustable $15,000 statutory-base in-lieu exemption (§ 42-10-10) |
| New York verified 2026-07-09 | N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5206 |
$204,825 (NYC + Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester, Putnam); $170,700 (Dutchess, Albany, Columbia, Orange, Saratoga, Ulster); $102,400 (all other counties): effective 4/1/2024, next adjustment 4/1/2027 |
None: limited by dollar value only; covers a house lot, co-op shares, a condo unit, or a mobile home (CPLR § 5206(a)) |
Automatic, no filing required (CPLR § 5206 contains no recording requirement) |
The owner-occupant of the principal residence; continues after the owner's death for a surviving spouse and children until the youngest child reaches majority and the spouse dies (§ 5206(b)); ends if unoccupied over a year unless due to injury or destruction of the dwelling (§ 5206(c)). CPLR § 5206 itself states one figure per homestead, with no explicit spousal-doubling clause; a claim that married co-owners can 'double' the exemption comes from how New York's exemption interacts with federal bankruptcy joint-filing rules, not from this statute directly. A pending bill would instead limit each nonsolo bankruptcy owner to the exemption share matching that owner's fractional equity interest |
Property up to the exemption value, above existing liens and encumbrances, is exempt from a money judgment; the SURPLUS above that amount stays subject to the judgment lien (§ 5206(d)), and a creditor can bring a special court proceeding to force a sale of a homestead worth more than the exemption (§ 5206(e)) |
Not exempt from taxation or sale for non-payment of taxes or assessments; not exempt if the judgment was recovered wholly for the purchase price of the property (§ 5206(a)) |
Sale proceeds, up to the exemption amount, stay exempt for ONE YEAR after payment to the debtor; if a new exempt homestead is acquired before the year runs out, the exemption carries over to the new property (§ 5206(e)) |
| North Carolina verified 2026-07-09 | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1C-1601 (Ch. 1C, Art. 16, "Exempt Property") is the primary exemption, used for both an ordinary civil judgment and bankruptcy (North Carolina residents can't use the federal bankruptcy exemption list, § 1C-1601(f)). A debtor may instead ELECT the much smaller "constitutional exemption" under § 1C-1602 (implementing Article X of the N.C. Constitution), but not both for the same property |
$35,000 in a residence, or $60,000 for a qualifying unmarried debtor 65 or older whose property was previously held as tenants by the entirety or joint tenants with a now-deceased co-owner (§ 1C-1601(a)(1)); plus up to $5,000 more of any UNUSED portion of that amount, usable as a wildcard against other property (§ 1C-1601(a)(2)). The alternative constitutional election under § 1C-1602 is far smaller: $1,000 real property plus $500 personal property |
None: North Carolina caps by dollar value only |
Not self-executing: the debtor must affirmatively CLAIM the exemption through a post-judgment court procedure, or lose it. After judgment, before a creditor can execute, the court must serve the debtor written notice of exemption rights (§ 1C-1603(a)(4)); the debtor then has 20 DAYS to either file a motion and schedule of assets claiming specific exempt property or request a hearing before the clerk. Failing to respond within 20 days WAIVES the exemption (§ 1C-1603(e)(2), § 1C-1601(c)(3)) |
Any individual North Carolina resident who is a debtor. The statute states the amount as "the debtor's aggregate interest": it doesn't expressly double the $35,000 for a married couple, but each spouse who is separately liable on a judgment and holds their own interest in the property can claim their own exemption for that interest, the same per-person (not per-property) structure used in several other states |
Once property is allocated as exempt, it is "free of the enforcement of the claims of creditors for indebtedness incurred before or after the exempt property is set aside... for so long as the debtor owns it" (§ 1C-1604(a)): a standing bar on enforcement, not just a defense raised when a creditor tries to force a sale. The exemption ends if the debtor conveys the property to someone else, as to liens that attached before the conveyance |
The exemption doesn't apply to: claims of the United States; state/local tax, appearance-bond, or fiduciary-bond claims; a laborer's or mechanic's lien for work on the specific property; obligations for the purchase of the specific property; contractual security interests in the specific property (with a carve-out still protecting household goods against certain nonpossessory security interests); non-judicial statutory liens; child support, alimony, or distributive-award orders; and criminal restitution orders docketed as civil judgments (§ 1C-1601(e)) |
No standalone time-limited cash exemption for voluntary sale proceeds. Instead, the exemption is tied to continued ownership: it ends once the property is conveyed away (§ 1C-1604(a)), though the debtor may have new exemptions allotted in replacement property. If exempt property is worth MORE than the allowed exemption, the clerk can order a court-supervised sale, paying the debtor's exempt share first before any remaining proceeds go to creditors (§ 1C-1603(e)(10)) |
| North Dakota verified 2026-07-10 | N.D.C.C. Title 47 ('Property'), ch. 47-18 ('Homestead'). § 47-18-01 sets the value cap and creates the exemption; § 47-18-03 covers selection when the claimant is married; § 47-18-04 lists the debts that can still reach the home; § 47-18-05 requires both spouses to sign any conveyance or encumbrance; §§ 47-18-06 to 47-18-14 govern the appraisal, division, and forced sale of an over-value homestead; § 47-18-16 protects sale proceeds; §§ 47-18-17 to 47-18-20 provide an optional recorded declaration. The rule is statutory |
$150,000 in value, over and above liens or encumbrances. The homestead consists of the land, dwelling, appurtenances, and improvements, 'the total not to exceed one hundred fifty thousand dollars in value, over and above liens or encumbrances or both' (§ 47-18-01). It is an equity cap measured after prior liens: your home's value minus existing mortgages, protected up to $150,000. This figure was raised from $100,000 by SB 2206 (2023), so older sources citing $100,000 are stale |
None. North Dakota caps the homestead by dollar value, not by acreage: the current statute sets no acre limit. The only spatial rule is contiguity: the homestead 'may not embrace different lots or tracts of land unless the lots or tracts of land are contiguous,' meaning tracts that share a common point (or would but for an intervening road or right of way) (§ 47-18-01). (Older secondary sources citing a 2-acre / 160-acre limit describe a superseded version.) |
Automatic. The homestead 'shall be exempt from judgment lien and from execution or forced sale' by statute (§ 47-18-01), and § 47-18-17 makes the point explicit: 'A failure to make such declaration shall not impair the homestead right.' You may voluntarily execute, acknowledge, and record a declaration of homestead (§§ 47-18-18 to 47-18-20) to give public notice of the claim, but it is optional and is not a condition of the protection |
Any individual, 'whether married or unmarried,' residing in North Dakota who resides on the land (§ 47-18-01). If the claimant is married, the homestead may be selected from the separate property of either spouse with the other spouse's consent (§ 47-18-03). No doubling: the statute sets a single $150,000 cap per homestead regardless of one or two owners. And a married person's homestead 'cannot be conveyed or encumbered' unless both spouses sign (§ 47-18-05), which protects a non-signing spouse |
The homestead is 'exempt from judgment lien and from execution or forced sale' up to $150,000 of value over liens (§ 47-18-01). If a creditor believes your equity exceeds that, it may petition for a court appraisal (§ 47-18-06). If the property can be divided without material injury, the appraisers set off enough (including the residence) to equal the exemption and the rest can be sold (§ 47-18-12). If it can't be divided, the court may order a sale, but no bid below the exemption amount is accepted, and you are paid your $150,000 first (§§ 47-18-13, 47-18-14) |
Under § 47-18-04 the homestead is subject to forced sale for: (1) mechanics', construction, or laborers' liens for work or materials that improved the home; (2) a mortgage 'executed and acknowledged by both husband and wife, or an unmarried claimant'; (3) debts for the purchase of the home and 'all taxes accruing and levied thereon'; and (4) all other debts only to the extent the appraised value exceeds $150,000 over liens. Separately, a non-purchase-money mortgage on a homestead of 40 acres or more must carry a conspicuous, separately signed homestead-waiver notice to be effective (§ 47-18-05.1) |
One year. If the homestead is conveyed (§ 47-18-05) or sold to satisfy a lien listed in § 47-18-04, the sale price or proceeds 'beyond the amount necessary to satisfy such lien,' up to the $150,000 exemption, keep 'the same protection against legal process as the law gives to the homestead' for one year from the conveyance (§ 47-18-16). In a forced sale of an over-value homestead, the exempt amount is paid to the claimant, and for a married claimant the court may order the $150,000 held in court with the same protection as the home (§ 47-18-14) |
| Ohio verified 2026-10-07 | Ohio Rev. Code §§ 2329.66(A)(1), (B), (D), 2329.661, 2329.02 |
$182,625 per qualifying person through March 31, 2028; $125,000 statutory base adjusted triennially (§ 2329.66(B)) |
No separate acreage limit in § 2329.66(A)(1); one qualifying parcel or item of residential property |
§ 2329.66(A)(1) states the exemption without requiring a recorded homestead declaration |
Ohio domiciliary’s interest in one residence used by that person or a dependent; applies to each qualifying person’s interest (§ 2329.66(A)(1)) |
Execution, garnishment, attachment, or sale up to the exemption; health-care judgment lien enforcement has a special delay (§ 2329.66(A)(1)) |
Mortgages and other specified liens, small manual-labor claims, uninsured-driver tort judgments (§ 2329.661) |
§ 2329.66(A)(1) protects an interest in residential property; it does not set a sale-proceeds holding period |
| Oklahoma verified 2026-07-09 | Oklahoma's creditor homestead protection is both constitutional and statutory. Okla. Const. art. XII, § 2 protects the family homestead 'from forced sale for the payment of debts,' and Title 31 (Homestead and Exemptions) implements it: 31 O.S. § 1 exempts the home (as a principal residence) from forced sale, § 2 sets the size limits, and § 5 lists the debts the exemption can't stop. Very stable: the constitutional article dates to statehood (amended 1997) and the statutes are longstanding |
No dollar limit: Oklahoma protects the home's FULL value from a creditor's forced sale, one of the minority of states (with Texas and Florida) that cap by land size instead of dollars. There is one exception: under 31 O.S. § 2(C), if more than 25% of the improvements' square footage is used for business purposes, the homestead exemption is capped at $5,000. Otherwise the equity is protected regardless of how much the home is worth |
Yes: this is Oklahoma's real limit. Under 31 O.S. § 2 (mirroring Okla. Const. art. XII, § 1), a homestead outside a city or town may be up to 160 acres (in one or more parcels, owner's choice); inside a city or town, up to 1 acre. At least 75% of the improvements' square footage must be the principal residence to qualify. The exemption covers a house or a manufactured home used as the principal residence (§ 1) |
Automatic. The constitutional and statutory homestead protection applies by operation of law to your principal residence, there is no creditor 'homestead declaration' to record, and you raise the exemption if a creditor tries to force a sale. (Don't confuse this with the separate property-TAX homestead exemption, which does require filing Oklahoma Tax Commission Form 921 with the county assessor, that program only lowers your tax bill and has nothing to do with creditors.) |
The exemption runs to the home as the 'principal residence' of a person residing in Oklahoma (31 O.S. § 1); the constitution frames it as 'the homestead of the family' (art. XII, § 2). It is one homestead per family/principal residence, not a per-owner dollar amount, and because the protected value is unlimited there is nothing to 'double.' A distinctive rule: a married owner cannot sell or mortgage the homestead without the spouse's consent (art. XII, § 2). Temporary renting doesn't lose the exemption if no other homestead has been acquired (§ 2(E)) |
A forced sale. Okla. Const. art. XII, § 2 and 31 O.S. § 1 protect the homestead 'from forced sale for the payment of debts': an ordinary money-judgment creditor can't make the sheriff sell your principal residence to collect, no matter how much equity you have. The protection is specifically against the forced sale; a creditor can still obtain and record a money judgment, but can't execute against the homestead itself while it remains your homestead |
Three debts tied to the home are carved out by Okla. Const. art. XII, § 2 and 31 O.S. § 5: (1) purchase money for the homestead, (2) taxes or other legal assessments due on it, and (3) work and material used to construct improvements on it (a contractor's/mechanic's lien). The constitution also expressly preserves the right to mortgage the homestead (with the spouse joining) and to foreclose that mortgage, so a lender you signed with isn't blocked. Federal tax liens reach the home under federal law |
None by statute. Title 31's homestead sections (31 O.S. §§ 1, 2, 5) contain no provision keeping the cash proceeds of a homestead sale exempt for a set period: unlike Oregon (one year) or California (six months). Oklahoma's protection attaches to the home itself, not to sale proceeds; a homeowner planning to sell and rebuy shouldn't assume a statutory grace window exists |
| Oregon verified 2026-07-09 | ORS 18.395 ('Homestead exemption'), plus ORS 18.402 (size and value limits), ORS 18.406 (liens the exemption can't reach), and ORS 18.398 (child-support exception): all in ORS Chapter 18 (Judgments). Purely statutory. The dollar amount is set at $150,000/$300,000 in the statute but is indexed for inflation every July 1 by the State Court Administrator (ORS 18.395(1)(d)) and published on the Oregon Judicial Department website. Overhauled by 2024 SB 1595 (2024 Or. Laws ch. 100), effective Jan. 1, 2025 |
$158,300 of home equity for a single judgment debtor, or $316,700 for two or more judgment debtors in the same household: the amounts in effect July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. The statutory base is $150,000/$300,000 (ORS 18.395(1)(a)), raised each July 1 for the prior year's West-region CPI by the State Court Administrator, so the figure changes yearly on its own. For a debt from a child- or spousal-support obligation or a restitution money award, the exemption is only $40,000/$50,000 (ORS 18.395(1)(b)) and is NOT inflation-adjusted |
Yes. ORS 18.402 caps the homestead at 160 acres if it is outside a town or city laid off into blocks and lots, or at one block if inside one, and the land also may not exceed in value the applicable ORS 18.395 dollar amount. So Oregon limits by BOTH size and dollars (unlike Texas or Florida, which cap only by acreage). The exemption reaches a house, and also a manufactured dwelling or a floating home used as a residence (ORS 18.395(10)) |
Automatic. ORS 18.395(1)(a) makes the exemption 'effective without the necessity of a claim thereof by the judgment debtor': nothing has to be recorded ahead of time. Oregon has no required or statutorily created 'homestead declaration'; you assert the exemption when a creditor tries to reach the home. Recording a voluntary declaration is only evidence of the claim and adds no separate legal protection the statute doesn't already give automatically |
The homestead must be the actual abode of and occupied by the owner, or the owner's spouse, parent, or child (ORS 18.395(1)(c)); a temporary absence with intent to return doesn't defeat it. A single judgment debtor gets $158,300. When two or more members of a household are judgment debtors, their combined exemption is capped at $316,700 (ORS 18.395(1)(a)): a couple can reach the higher figure but cannot stack beyond it |
More than a bare forced-sale defense. The homestead is exempt 'from sale on execution, from the lien of every judgment and from liability in any form for the debts of the owner' up to the exemption amount (ORS 18.395(1)(a)), so a judgment lien attaches only to equity ABOVE the exemption, not to the protected portion. A separate rule bars selling the home on execution at all for a judgment of $3,000 or less (ORS 18.395(5)). When the home is sold or transferred, the owner can use the ORS 18.412 notice procedure to clear the judgment lien from the property |
By ORS 18.406, the exemption does not apply to a construction lien for work, labor, or materials furnished to improve the homestead itself; to purchase-money liens; to a mortgage or trust deed you lawfully signed; or to a seller's enforcement of a land-sale contract. Property taxes and other governmental tax liens (including federal tax liens) reach the home under general law. And under ORS 18.398 a court has discretion to deny the exemption, in whole or part, when the judgment is for child support |
Yes, and longer than most states. Under ORS 18.395(2), the cash proceeds of a homestead sale stay exempt (up to the same $158,300/$316,700 amount) for up to one year after the sale, so long as you hold them intending to buy another homestead. Oregon's one-year window is more generous than the six months common in states like California and Texas |
| Pennsylvania verified 2026-07-09 | 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 8121-8128 (Subchapter B, Exemptions from Execution): specifically § 8123 (general monetary exemption) and § 8124 (exemption of particular property, which lists no homestead or real-estate category) |
No dedicated homestead exemption exists. Real property counts toward the SAME $300 general exemption that covers all other property types combined (42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 8123(a)) |
Not applicable: there is no dedicated homestead provision to limit by size |
Not automatic: the debtor must affirmatively claim the $300 general exemption and may designate which specific property it applies to (§ 8123(a)) |
Applies to any individual judgment debtor claiming it; no spousal-doubling provision exists because there is no dedicated homestead amount to double. Married co-owners commonly rely instead on Pennsylvania's common-law tenancy-by-the-entireties doctrine, which can shield the home from a creditor of only one spouse |
Almost nothing homestead-specific: the $300 general exemption is shared across all property types, not reserved for a home. Real protection for home equity in Pennsylvania comes only from the FEDERAL bankruptcy exemption (11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(1)) if elected in an actual bankruptcy filing, or from tenancy-by-the-entireties ownership outside bankruptcy |
The $300 general exemption does not apply at all to: a support judgment; a judgment against a debtor that isn't an individual; a judgment for board of 4 weeks or less; a wage judgment of $100 or less; or a mortgage-foreclosure judgment (limited to the mortgaged property itself, not a deficiency judgment) (§ 8123(b)) |
None found in the statute: no provision protects sale proceeds specifically |
| Rhode Island verified 2026-07-10 | R.I. Gen. Laws Title 9 ('Courts and Civil Procedure, Procedure Generally'), ch. 26 ('Levy and Sale on Execution'), § 9-26-4.1 ('Homestead estate exemption'), the single section that creates and defines the homestead estate. It sits alongside § 9-26-4, the general list of personal property exempt from attachment. Purely statutory; Rhode Island has no constitutional homestead provision |
$500,000. Section 9-26-4.1(a) creates 'an estate of homestead to the extent of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in the land and buildings, or personal property that the owner uses as a residence.' It is a flat figure with no inflation adjustment (last amended in 2016) and applies to the value of the home, not net equity, though it is subordinate to any mortgage the owners signed |
None. Rhode Island caps the homestead only by the $500,000 dollar figure; the statute sets no acreage or lot-size limit. The estate can attach to 'land and buildings' or to 'personal property that the owner uses as a residence,' and § 9-26-4.1(d) confirms it reaches a manufactured home or a cooperative-housing unit |
Automatic: no filing required. Section 9-26-4.1(a) states the estate 'shall be automatic by operation of law, and without any requirement or necessity for the filing of a declaration, a statement in a deed, or any other documentation,' and subsection (b) repeats that 'it shall not be necessary to record a declaration of homestead in order to take advantage of the homestead estate exemption.' You get the protection simply by occupying (or intending to occupy) the home as your principal residence |
An 'owner of a home', a sole owner, joint tenant, tenant by the entirety, or tenant in common, or someone who rightfully possesses the home by lease (if they owned it before transferring to the lessor), as a life tenant, or as the beneficiary of a revocable or irrevocable trust, who occupies or intends to occupy it as a principal residence (§ 9-26-4.1(a)-(b)). No doubling: 'only one individual may acquire an estate of homestead in the home for the benefit of his or her family,' and the estate may be acquired 'on only one principal residence for the benefit of a family' (§ 9-26-4.1(b)) |
The estate 'shall be exempt from the laws of attachment, levy on execution, and sale for payment of debts or legacies' up to $500,000 (§ 9-26-4.1(a)): the tools a money-judgment creditor uses to seize and sell a home. It is subordinate to a mortgage signed by all the owners; a mortgage signed by fewer than all owners is superior only to the homestead of the owners who signed it, protecting a non-signing co-owner's share (§ 9-26-4.1(c)) |
Section 9-26-4.1(a) lists seven carve-outs: (1) taxes and sewer, water, lighting-district, and fire-district liens/assessments; (2) a debt contracted before the homestead estate was acquired; (3) a debt to purchase the home; (4) a family-court order for spousal or child support; (5) ground rent where the buildings sit on land the owner doesn't own; (6) a debt or lien for the state's reimbursement of medical assistance (§ 40-8-15); and (7) a debt owed to a federally insured deposit-taking institution or a title-19 licensee. Subsection (b) adds that the exemption doesn't apply to a mortgage or other voluntary lien, or a mechanics' lien (ch. 28 of title 34) |
None specified. Section 9-26-4.1 protects the homestead estate in the residence itself but contains no provision protecting the cash proceeds after a voluntary or forced sale: unlike states that give a fixed window (often six months) to hold or reinvest the exempt proceeds. Rhode Island's statute simply has no proceeds clause |
| South Carolina verified 2026-07-09 | S.C. Code Ann. § 15-41-30 ('Property exempt from attachment, levy, and sale'), the general debtor-exemption statute: § 15-41-30(A)(1) creates the homestead exemption and § 15-41-30(B) adjusts the dollar amounts for inflation every even-numbered year. §§ 15-41-10 and 15-41-20 govern a forced sale (minimum bid, exempt amount held by the clerk); § 15-41-35 opts South Carolina out of the federal bankruptcy exemptions. Wholly statutory today (historically rooted in S.C. Const. art. III, § 28) |
$80,125 of equity in a residence or burial plot as of July 1, 2026 (up from $76,125 since July 1, 2024). The statute's printed figure is $50,000 (§ 15-41-30(A)(1)(a)), but § 15-41-30(B) raises it every even-numbered year by the Southeastern CPI, rounded to the nearest $25, published in the State Register by the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office. The $80,125 figure is the July 1, 2026 biennial adjustment reported by multiple bankruptcy-practitioner sources; the last figure confirmed on an official government table is the July 1, 2024 amount of $76,125: confirm the current number against the State Register before relying on it |
None. South Carolina caps the exemption purely by dollar value, not by lot size or acreage. It applies to a house, a cooperative unit used as a residence, or a burial plot, with no separate size limit |
Automatic: no advance recording or declaration is required. You assert the exemption when it matters: by claiming it in response to a creditor's levy or execution, or by listing it on your bankruptcy schedules. South Carolina has no pre-recorded 'homestead declaration' that changes what a lien attaches to (unlike California); the exemption exists by statute and is claimed within the collection or bankruptcy process |
Any debtor domiciled in South Carolina who (or whose dependent) uses the property as a residence. Co-owners can each claim their own exemption, a genuine doubling, but the total for one home is capped: 'the aggregate value of multiple homestead exemptions allowable with respect to a single living unit may not exceed' $160,250 (adjusted), and each owner is limited to his fractional share of that cap. So two equal co-owners (e.g., spouses) get $80,125 each, $160,250 combined. A qualifying surviving spouse may claim an additional exemption in the same amount for an interest inherited from the deceased spouse (§ 15-41-30(A)(1)(b)) |
Exempts your equity, up to the exemption amount, from 'attachment, levy, and sale under any mesne or final process issued by a court or bankruptcy proceeding': that is, from an ordinary money-judgment creditor, whether the creditor is executing a state-court judgment or you are in bankruptcy. It protects a dollar amount of equity, not the house outright: if your equity exceeds the exemption the home can still be sold, but § 15-41-10 bars any bid below the exemption amount and § 15-41-20 requires the exempt sum to be deposited with the clerk of court and paid out to you |
The statute lists no debt-specific carve-outs. Because it exempts only 'the debtor's aggregate interest' (net equity) from a court's 'mesne or final process,' liens that attach to the property itself are not erased by it: a mortgage or deed of trust you signed, a property-tax lien, or a mechanic's lien for work on the home reach the property outside the exemption, which protects only the equity left after them. Separately, a debtor not domiciled in South Carolina long enough (generally two years for a bankruptcy case) may have to use another state's or the federal exemptions instead (11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)) |
No separate statutory window protecting the cash proceeds of a voluntary sale (unlike states with a 6-to-12-month rule). The protection operates at a forced sale instead: § 15-41-10 forbids the officer from accepting any bid below the exemption amount, and § 15-41-20 requires the exempt amount the officer collects to be deposited with the clerk of court and paid to you on a petition to the court of common pleas, so your protected dollars survive a forced sale, but the statute carries no stand-alone proceeds-exemption period |
| South Dakota verified 2026-07-10 | SDCL Title 43, ch. 43-31 ('Homestead Exemption') and ch. 43-45 ('Personal Property Exempt From Process'). § 43-31-1 exempts the homestead from judicial sale, judgment lien, and all court process; § 43-31-2 defines what the homestead embraces; § 43-31-4 sets the acreage limits; § 43-31-6 covers optional selection and platting; § 43-31-17 requires both spouses to sign any conveyance or encumbrance; § 43-45-3 declares the homestead absolutely exempt and caps sale proceeds. The rule is statutory |
No dollar limit on the home's value. The homestead is 'absolutely exempt' (SDCL 43-45-3(1)) and 'exempt from judicial sale, from judgment lien, and from all mesne or final process from any court' regardless of how much it is worth (SDCL 43-31-1): South Dakota is a full-value homestead state, limited by land area rather than dollars. A dollar figure appears only for sale proceeds: $100,000 for one year after a sale (raised by SL 2025, ch 185), or $170,000 for a person 70 or older or their unremarried surviving spouse (SDCL 43-45-3(2)) |
Yes: this is the real limit. If the home is within a town plat, the homestead 'must not exceed one acre'; if not within a town plat, it 'must not embrace in the aggregate more than one hundred sixty acres' (SDCL 43-31-4). Special mineral-land rules: one acre in a town, 40 acres for a placer claim, five acres for a lode mining claim. The homestead is one dwelling house (or a qualifying mobile home) plus appurtenant buildings (SDCL 43-31-2); a mobile home must be larger than 240 square feet and registered in South Dakota at least six months before the claim |
Automatic. The family homestead is exempt 'so long as it continues to possess the character of a homestead' (SDCL 43-31-1) with no advance filing required. You may voluntarily select, mark off, plat, and record the homestead (SDCL 43-31-6), but you don't have to: if you don't, the officer holding an execution against you will mark it off and plat it during the process (and add the cost to the execution). So a recorded declaration is optional, never a precondition to the protection |
The homestead 'of every family, resident in this state' (SDCL 43-31-1). If an owner uses two or more houses at different times, the owner selects which one is the homestead (SDCL 43-31-2): one homestead per family, so there is no doubling of the (already unlimited) value. Enhanced protections exist for a person 70 or older and their unremarried surviving spouse (a higher $170,000 proceeds cap, and a tax-sale exemption). A married owner's mortgage or conveyance of the homestead is valid only if both spouses sign it (SDCL 43-31-17), which protects a non-signing spouse |
The homestead is 'exempt from judicial sale, from judgment lien, and from all mesne or final process from any court' (SDCL 43-31-1) and 'absolutely exempt' (SDCL 43-45-3(1)). A general money-judgment creditor cannot force a sale of the homestead at all, no matter how valuable it is, as long as it stays within the acreage limits. Unusually, a homestead worth less than $170,000 owned by a person 70 or older (or their unremarried surviving spouse) is also exempt from sale for taxes so long as it keeps its homestead character (SDCL 43-31-1) |
The exemption shields the home from a general judgment creditor, not from debts the home itself secures. A mortgage or other encumbrance the owner granted binds the homestead, and, if the owner is married, is valid only if both spouses signed it (SDCL 43-31-17). Property taxes still reach the home (except the senior tax-sale exemption for a sub-$170,000 homestead of a person 70+ in SDCL 43-31-1). And a creditor or lienholder of a mobile home that was classified as a homestead before January 1, 1973 'may not be cut off and is not subject to a homestead exemption' (SDCL 43-31-1). Purchase-money and mechanic's/laborer's claims for the home likewise are not defeated by the exemption |
One year, and this is where the only real dollar cap lives. If the homestead is sold, voluntarily, or under a partition sale in chapter 21-19, the proceeds are 'absolutely exempt for a period of one year after the receipt of the proceeds by the owner,' but only up to $100,000 (raised by SL 2025, ch 185), or up to $170,000 for a person 70 or older or their unremarried surviving spouse (SDCL 43-45-3(2)). If the home is divided by court order in a divorce (SDCL 25-4-44) and a lien imposed for the nonoccupant spouse (SDCL 25-4-42), homestead protection attaches to that lien for one year |
| Tennessee verified 2026-07-09 | Tenn. Code Ann. Title 26, Ch. 2, Part 3 (Sec. 26-2-301 to 26-2-312): wholly statutory; Tenn. Const. art. XI, Sec. 11 only authorizes the legislature to set a homestead exemption, it doesn't fix an amount itself. Current dollar figures trace to 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 301 (eff. 2022-01-01); the survivor-benefit rule was most recently expanded by 2026 Tenn. Acts, ch. 709 (eff. 2026-05-05, upon the Governor's signature) |
$35,000 for a single owner; $52,500 combined for joint owners who both claim the exemption in the same proceeding (split equally, i.e. $26,250 each), but if only one of several joint owners is actually a party to the proceeding, that owner's exemption is just $35,000, not a share of $52,500. Both figures were raised from $25,000/$7,500 by the 2021 act. An older age-62 supplemental tier (an extra amount for owners 62 and up) was deleted by that same 2021 act, effective 2022-01-01, several still-circulating secondary sources describe that repealed tier as current law; it is not |
None currently. An earlier draft of the 2021 reform bill would have removed the dollar cap entirely in exchange for a flat 5-acre size limit, but that version did not survive to enactment: current law keeps the dollar-cap-only approach with no separate acreage restriction |
Fully automatic: no filing or recording is required in advance for the exemption to exist. It's only formally carved out of the property when a creditor actually executes or attaches the real estate: the levying officer summons three disinterested freeholders (unconnected to either side), who examine the property under oath, set apart the homestead portion in writing, and only the remainder becomes subject to sale (Sec. 26-2-308). The owner has the right to choose which parcel serves as the homestead if they have more than one qualifying property (Sec. 26-2-307) |
Any individual, whether head of a family or not, who owns real property used by the individual or the individual's spouse or dependent as a principal place of residence. Joint owners' combined exemption is capped at $52,500 (not simply $35,000 doubled), split evenly between however many owners claim it in the same case; an owner who claims alone (the other joint owner not being a party) gets only the $35,000 individual figure. When the head of a family dies, the exemption continues for the surviving spouse and any minor child, and, since a 2026 amendment, also for a surviving child who is 18 or older and has a developmental or intellectual disability, for as long as that person uses the property as their principal residence |
The homestead is not subject to execution, attachment, or sale under legal proceedings during the owner's life, and it's exempt from seizure in criminal cases as well as civil ones. There are a handful of narrow, old carve-outs where it is NOT exempt even in a criminal context: distress or sale for taxes, fines and costs for certain election-law violations (voting outside one's home precinct), for illegally carrying a concealed deadly weapon, or for selling or giving away liquor on election days |
The exemption doesn't apply against: (1) public taxes legally assessed on the property; (2) a debt or liability contracted for the property's purchase, or legally incurred for improvements made to it; and (3) a debt secured by the homestead where the exemption has been waived by written contract (a marital homestead can't be waived without both spouses' joint consent). A deed or mortgage conveying the property, if duly executed, passes it free of the homestead exemption, but the exemption can't be waived in a promissory note or other debt instrument that doesn't itself convey the property |
Insurance proceeds from a homestead destroyed by fire or other disaster are exempt up to $35,000 (raised from $5,000 by the 2021 act), but this doesn't cut off a mortgagee's interest in those proceeds if the mortgage was in writing at the time of the loss. Tennessee repealed its separate reinvestment-tracing statute for voluntary SALE proceeds (former Sec. 26-2-309) in the same 2021 act, so unlike some states, there's no standalone statutory window protecting cash from a voluntary sale of the home itself, only the fire/casualty insurance-proceeds protection remains on the books |
| Texas verified 2026-08-11 | Tex. Const. art. XVI, §§ 50-51 creates the forced-sale protection and acreage limits; Tex. Prop. Code §§ 41.001-.002 and 41.005 provide the creditor-exemption, classification, and over-acreage designation rules |
No dollar cap. A qualifying homestead is exempt from seizure for creditors' claims, subject to the constitutionally and statutorily listed encumbrances; acreage rather than value is the limiting measure |
Urban: no more than 10 acres in one or more contiguous lots. Rural: no more than 200 acres for a family or 100 acres for a single adult, and rural land may be in one or more parcels (§ 41.002) |
The Constitution itself protects the homestead from forced sale, with no advance-filing condition. Section 41.005 permits a signed, acknowledged, county-recorded voluntary designation when the claimant's property exceeds the applicable 10-, 100-, or 200-acre cap |
A family or single adult may have a homestead. The urban limit is 10 acres for either; the rural limit is 200 acres for a family and 100 acres for a single adult. These are per-homestead acreage limits, not separate dollar exemptions that spouses stack |
A homestead is exempt from seizure for creditors' claims under § 41.001(a), and article XVI, § 50(a) protects it from forced sale for debts other than the enumerated exceptions |
Purchase money; property taxes; qualifying written improvement contracts; an owelty of partition; refinance of a homestead lien; a qualifying home-equity extension of credit; and a qualifying reverse mortgage (§ 41.001(b); Tex. Const. art. XVI, § 50(a)) |
Sale proceeds are not subject to seizure for a creditor's claim for 6 months after the sale (§ 41.001(c)) |
| Utah verified 2026-07-09 | Utah Code § 78B-5-503 creates the homestead exemption (part of the Utah Exemptions Act, Title 78B ch. 5), and § 78B-5-504 supplies the declaration-and-execution procedure. Purely statutory: Utah has no constitutional homestead. The dollar figures are inflation-adjusted every year: § 78B-5-503(2)(e) freezes the statutory base at its May 14, 2019 level and directs the State Auditor to calculate and publish the current amounts by January 1 each year |
$53,700 of value in a primary personal residence; $6,400 for other real property that is not your primary residence (2026 figures the State Auditor published under § 78B-5-503(2)(e); the statutory base is $42,000/$5,000, set for 2019). Adjusted for inflation every year: the number changes each January regardless of any new legislation, so always confirm the current year's figure before relying on it |
One acre. The higher ($53,700) exemption covers a 'primary personal residence': the dwelling or mobile home 'and the land surrounding it, not exceeding one acre' (§ 78B-5-503(1)(c)). Land beyond one acre isn't part of the primary-residence homestead; other real property falls under the lower $6,400 figure. There's no separate rural/urban acreage split like Texas or Florida |
You must claim it: Utah is not purely automatic. To keep the homestead against an execution sale you must either record a signed, acknowledged 'declaration of homestead' with the county recorder in advance, OR serve one on the sheriff before the sale (§ 78B-5-504(1)). If you do neither, § 78B-5-504(3) says title passes to the buyer 'free and clear of all homestead rights.' Recording in advance is the safe route; the topic's declaration document is that filing |
Any individual who owns and occupies the property. Joint owners each get their own exemption, but it's capped per household: § 78B-5-503(2)(b) limits the total to $107,500 per household for a primary residence ($12,800 for non-primary) in 2026. So two spouses who co-own their home can roughly double the individual amount, up to that household ceiling. A married claimant must also state that the spouse hasn't filed a separate declaration (§ 78B-5-504(2)(a)) |
The homestead is 'exempt from judicial lien and from levy, execution, or forced sale' up to the exemption amount (§ 78B-5-503(3)), so Utah's exemption reaches the judgment lien itself, not just a forced sale. And § 78B-5-504(5) bars an execution sale of homestead property unless a bid exceeds the declared exemption amount. Protection is capped at the dollar figure; equity above $53,700 is still reachable |
Four carve-outs in § 78B-5-503(3): (a) property-tax and assessment liens; (b) purchase-money debt, security interests and judicial liens for the price of the property (your mortgage); (c) judicial liens for unpaid child support or maintenance; and (d) consensual liens you agreed to by contract (a mortgage or deed of trust). Federal tax liens reach the home too, § 78B-5-503(7) makes the homestead a 'property right' the IRS can pursue under federal law |
One year: among the longest windows in the country (tied with Oregon). Cash proceeds of a sale, up to the exemption amount in effect at the time of sale, stay exempt 'for one year after the receipt of the proceeds' (§ 78B-5-503(5)(b)). And selling one homestead doesn't stop you from selecting or buying another (§ 78B-5-503(6)) |
| Vermont verified 2026-08-15 | 27 V.S.A. ch. 3 (Estates of Homestead), §§ 101-185; § 101 sets the core exemption |
$125,000 in value (27 V.S.A. § 101) |
None: the dwelling house, outbuildings, and land used with it, capped by the $125,000 value only, not by acreage |
Automatic; no filing required. On a levy the owner designates the protected $125,000 portion (§ 102). A recorded declaration is not required for the creditor exemption |
A natural person who owns and uses/keeps the property as a homestead (§ 101); the statute caps each person's homestead at $125,000 and states no separate couple limit. A surviving spouse takes the protected homestead (§ 105), while § 106(b) protects minor children through proceeds in its limited abandonment-sale route |
The homestead 'shall be exempt from attachment and execution' (§ 101): protects up to $125,000 of equity from a judgment-creditor forced sale; a creditor may reach only value above the exemption |
Debts/causes of action existing before the homestead was acquired (§ 107); property taxes (§ 108); a mortgage on the property (§ 103) |
No fixed cash-window; a new homestead bought with the proceeds of the old one is protected from the old debts the prior homestead escaped (§ 109); court-controlled reinvestment in limited sale situations (§ 185) |
| Virginia verified 2026-07-09 | Va. Code Sec. 34-4 (Title 34, Ch. 2, "Homestead Exemption of Householder"): wholly statutory, no constitutional homestead provision; related sections: Sec. 34-4.1 (disabled-veteran addition), Sec. 34-1 (definitions), Sec. 34-6 (how the exemption is recorded) |
$5,000 general exemption ($10,000 if the householder is 65+) applicable to any real or personal property, PLUS a separate $50,000 exemption specifically for real or personal property used as the principal residence (raised from $25,000 by 2024 c. 656, eff. July 1, 2024), PLUS $500 per dependent; disabled veterans (40%+ service-connected disability) get an additional $10,000 (Sec. 34-4.1). A CPI-based adjustment to all these figures begins April 1, 2027 (not yet triggered as of this cell) |
None: Virginia limits purely by dollar value, regardless of lot size or acreage |
Declaration REQUIRED outside of bankruptcy: the householder must record a signed "Homestead Deed" (Sec. 34-6 for real estate, Sec. 34-14 for personal property) in the circuit court before the property is sold under execution or turned over to the creditor (Sec. 34-17); filing nothing means no protection. In an actual bankruptcy case, listing the property as exempt on Schedule C is sufficient instead (Sec. 34-6), and must happen within 5 days after the creditors' meeting concludes. |
Available to any Virginia resident ("householder"), plus $500 for each dependent the householder supports. Secondary legal-practice sources (a Virginia CLE debt-collection treatise; a legal aid society's homestead-deed guide) describe each spouse who is a co-owner/householder as able to record their own separate Homestead Deed, in effect doubling the $50,000 residence exemption to $100,000 for a married couple who both qualify: confirm this with counsel for a specific case, as this cell did not independently verify a controlling case on point |
Exempts the property from "creditor process arising out of a debt" (Sec. 34-4); Sec. 34-1 defines "debt" to include obligations "arising out of a contract or otherwise, but not an obligation resulting from an intentional tort": meaning the exemption covers ordinary contract and negligence judgments but does NOT protect against a judgment for an intentional tort |
Cannot be claimed against: (1) the purchase price of the exempted property itself, or property later exchanged for it (Sec. 34-5(1)); (2) spousal or child support obligations (Sec. 34-5(2)). Separately, Sec. 34-3 says the exemption doesn't extend to a distress or lien for state or local taxes, or a lien for the unpaid purchase price of the exempted articles |
Sale or exchange proceeds stay exempt to the same extent the original property was, but only if re-set-apart by a new recorded writing under Sec. 34-6/34-14 stating the source of the funds (Sec. 34-20): there's no automatic time-limited window like some states use. Separately, Sec. 34-21 lets a householder REUSE any exemption amount once claimed after 8 years have passed, resetting the lifetime cap rather than exhausting it permanently |
| Washington verified 2026-10-07 | RCW 6.13.010, .030, .040, .070, .080, .090 (homestead, amount, declaration, exceptions, liens) |
Greater of $125,000 or prior-year county median single-family sale price; special pension-tax judgment has no dollar limit (RCW 6.13.030) |
No acreage cap for land intended for a home (RCW 6.13.010(1)) |
Automatic on principal-residence occupancy; record a declaration for land claimed before occupancy (RCW 6.13.040) |
Owner or dependent uses property as residence; one statutory amount per homestead, without an express spouse multiplier (RCW 6.13.010) |
Attachment, execution, and forced sale up to the exemption; judgment lien reaches excess value (RCW 6.13.070, .090) |
Specified property liens, support, Medicaid recovery, association liens, and unremitted sales/use taxes (RCW 6.13.080) |
Qualifying voluntary-sale or insurance proceeds exempt for one year from receipt; bankruptcy forced-sale proceeds excluded (RCW 6.13.070(3), .010(2)(c)) |
| West Virginia verified 2026-08-16 | W. Va. Const. art. VI, § 48 and W. Va. Code §§ 38-9-1 to 38-9-6 govern the ordinary state-law homestead exemption; § 38-10-4 creates a separate bankruptcy-only exemption |
$5,000 of homestead value (§§ 38-9-1, 38-9-3(a)), plus another $7,500 only against qualifying catastrophic-illness medical or hospital debt (§ 38-9-3(b)); the separate bankruptcy-only residence exemption is $35,000 (§ 38-10-4(a)) |
None stated: § 38-9-2 defines the homestead by ownership and principal-home use, while Article 9 limits the exemption by value rather than acreage or lot size |
Automatic: a qualifying owner has the exemption 'by operation of law' (§ 38-9-1), and § 38-9-3 likewise describes the current exemption as granted by operation of law |
A qualifying West Virginia resident who is a husband, wife, parent, or other head of a household and owns a homestead; also the infant children of deceased or insane parents (§ 38-9-1). Article 9 does not expressly say that co-owners may stack multiple $5,000 exemptions |
Protects up to $5,000 of homestead value from debts and liabilities and forced sale; a creditor may sue to subject value above $5,000 to the debt (§§ 38-9-3(a), 38-9-4). Value is fair market value minus liens other than judicial liens (§ 38-9-2) |
No protection against purchase-money debt, debt for permanent improvements, property taxes or county/district/municipal levies, or the older debts and liabilities preserved by the constitutional and statutory transition clauses (W. Va. Const. art. VI, § 48; § 38-9-3(a)) |
No post-sale cash-proceeds period is stated in Article 9. Its complete current text protects the homestead, defines its value, permits a creditor action against excess value, addresses descent and waiver, but does not carry the exemption into voluntary-sale proceeds (§§ 38-9-1 to 38-9-6) |
| Wisconsin verified 2026-08-11 | Wis. Stat. § 815.20 creates the exemption; § 815.21 governs selection after levy; § 990.01(13)-(14) defines the homestead and exempt homestead |
$75,000 per qualifying resident owner. If spouses own the land jointly, in common, or as marital property, § 815.20 permits each spouse to claim $75,000, which computes to $150,000 combined |
The dwelling and surrounding land reasonably necessary for home use, not less than 0.25 acre if available and not more than 40 acres (§ 990.01(13)-(14)) |
No advance declaration is required: the official § 815.20 annotation states that the exemption does not depend on a formal claim and occupancy when a lien attaches is sufficient. After a levy, § 815.21 allows notice of the claim any time before sale and says failure to select does not impair the underlying right |
A resident owner who occupies the exempt homestead qualifies. Each spouse may claim a separate $75,000 only when the land is owned by husband and wife jointly, in common, or as marital property; the two authorized claims total $150,000 |
Up to the applicable amount, the homestead is exempt from execution, every judgment lien, and liability for the owner's debts. The official Rumage annotation states that a judgment lien may attach to equity above the exemption |
Mortgages, laborers' liens, mechanics' liens, purchase-money liens, taxes, and exceptions otherwise provided by law (§ 815.20(1)) |
Up to $75,000 of sale proceeds for 2 years while held with the intention to procure another homestead (§ 815.20(1)) |
| Wyoming verified 2026-07-10 | Wyo. Stat. §§ 1-20-101 to 1-20-104 (Title 1, ch. 20, Property Exempt From Execution or Attachment) |
$100,000 in value per person (Wyo. Stat. § 1-20-101; raised from $20,000 by 2023 HB 174, ch. 84) |
None: a house on a lot or lots or lands of any number of acres, or a house trailer/movable home (§ 1-20-104); value cap only |
Automatic while the home is occupied as a residence by the owner or their family (§ 1-20-102(a)); no filing or declaration required |
A bona fide Wyoming resident occupying the home (§§ 1-20-102(a), 1-20-108(b)); joint owner-occupants EACH get the exemption, so two can reach $200,000 (§ 1-20-102(b)) |
The homestead is 'exempt from execution and attachment arising from any debt, contract or civil obligation' (§ 1-20-101): protects up to $100,000 of equity from a judgment-creditor forced sale |
Purchase money of the property (§ 1-20-108(a)); a mortgage/deed of trust is enforceable against the home; residency is required (§ 1-20-108(b)) |
None stated: Title 1, ch. 20 has no sale-proceeds exemption window |
All 51 jurisdictions verified. Each state page shows the statute text and verification date behind its row.
Have a specific situation?
A 50-state comparison shows the landscape. Ask your exact question and see what your state's law says for your facts, with citations.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Starts from the statutes this survey is built on
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace