Louisiana: Homestead Exemption Amounts
The short answer
Louisiana protects up to $35,000 of your home's value from seizure by an ordinary money-judgment creditor, and the full value of the home if the debt came directly from a catastrophic or terminal illness or injury. The protection is automatic; you don't file a declaration to get it, though you can waive it in a recorded writing (lenders usually require this in a mortgage). A married couple gets one homestead exemption, not one each. The home can be up to 5 acres inside a city or 200 acres outside one. Certain debts, the mortgage, the purchase price, taxes, and work done on the home, can still reach it despite the exemption.
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This is the general rule in Louisiana. Ezel applies current Louisiana law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | 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 |
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| Exemption amount | $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 |
| Size or acreage limit | 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, or do you have to file something? | 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 |
| Who qualifies, and can spouses double it? | 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 |
| What it actually protects you from | 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 |
| Debts that can still reach your home | 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 |
| Protection for sale proceeds | 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 |
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Governing law
Louisiana's creditor homestead exemption is in La. R.S. 20:1, passed under the authority of the state constitution's exemption clause, La. Const. art. XII, § 9. The statute does all the real work, it sets the dollar amount, the acreage, the list of debts that can still reach the home, and the rules for waiving the exemption. One important distinction: this is the exemption that protects your home from a creditor's seizure. Louisiana also has a separate property-tax homestead exemption (La. Const. art. VII, § 21) that lowers your property tax bill on up to $75,000 of value; that one has nothing to do with judgment creditors and is not what this page covers.
Exemption amount
$35,000 of the home's value. Louisiana's distinctive feature is what happens when the debt comes from a serious medical event: for an obligation arising directly from a catastrophic or terminal illness or injury, the exemption applies to the full value of the home (measured as of one year before the seizure), not the $35,000 cap. The statute defines that trigger narrowly, the illness or injury has to create uninsured obligations to health-care providers of more than $10,000 that are also more than half of the debtor's average annual adjusted gross income over the last three years. A 2024 bill would have raised the acreage and value figures, but it did not pass, so $35,000 remains the number.
Size or acreage limit
The homestead can include the residence plus contiguous tracts up to 5 acres if it's inside a municipality, or up to 200 acres if it's not. Louisiana limits the homestead by both the dollar value ($35,000) and this land area. It can be rural or urban.
Automatic, or do you have to file something?
Automatic. Even though the statute is titled "Declaration of homestead," you don't have to record a declaration to have the exemption, it applies because you own and occupy the property as your bona fide homestead. What you can do is give it up: under R.S. 20:1(D), you can waive the exemption by signing a written waiver that gets recorded in the parish mortgage records. If you're married, your spouse has to sign the waiver too, unless the home is your separate property. Lenders routinely include this waiver in a mortgage. One thing you can't be made to waive it for: medical treatment, medical services, or hospitalization.
Who qualifies, and can spouses double it?
The owner who occupies the home as a bona fide homestead. The exemption is one per homestead, not one per person: the statute expressly limits it to "not more than one homestead owned by the husband or the wife," so a married couple shares a single $35,000 exemption, they can't double it. It carries over to a surviving spouse or the minor children of a deceased owner, and it keeps applying through a community-property split if one spouse continues to live there.
What it actually protects you from
The home is exempt "from seizure and sale under any writ, mandate, or process whatsoever", in other words, an ordinary judgment creditor can't just seize and sell it, up to $35,000 of value (or the full value for a qualifying catastrophic-illness debt). It's a value cap, not an absolute shield: a creditor whose debt isn't on the excluded list can still force the sale of a home worth more than $35,000, but you keep the first $35,000 of value out of the proceeds.
Debts that can still reach your home
The statute names eight kinds of debt the exemption doesn't stop: (1) the purchase price of the property; (2) labor, money, or materials furnished 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 home; (7) money advanced on a mortgage of the home; and (8) obligations arising from a felony or misdemeanor conviction that could carry at least six months in jail. For the mortgage and the association loan, if the borrower was married at the time, the spouse had to consent.
Protection for sale proceeds
Louisiana doesn't give the cash from a regular home sale its own protected period. There is one specific proceeds rule, though: if a gubernatorially declared disaster damages your home and you receive property-insurance money for it, that money stays exempt automatically as long as it's kept separately in an escrow account identified as insurance proceeds for repairing or replacing the home. Separately, the statute preserves your right to sell your homestead voluntarily, but a sale can't wipe out or impair a creditor's existing rights in the property.
What trips people up
The most common mix-up is between Louisiana's two "homestead exemptions." This one (R.S. 20:1) shields your home equity from creditors. A totally separate one lowers your property tax bill, that's the $75,000/160-acre exemption you'll see on parish assessor websites and constitutional article VII. They share a name and nothing else. Second, don't assume spouses can each claim $35,000: Louisiana allows only one homestead exemption per couple. Third, the medical-debt rule is powerful but narrow, the full-value protection only kicks in when the illness or injury meets the statute's specific size test. And finally, "automatic" doesn't mean untouchable: your mortgage lender almost certainly had you waive the exemption, and the purchase price, taxes, and contractor bills for work on the home can still reach it.
Common questions
Do I need to file anything to protect my home in Louisiana? No. The exemption applies automatically to your bona fide homestead. You'd only sign paperwork to give it up, a waiver, which a mortgage lender typically requires.
My debt is from a huge hospital bill, is my home protected? Possibly in full. If the debt arose directly from a catastrophic or terminal illness or injury as the statute defines it, the exemption covers your home's entire value, not just $35,000. The medical debt has to be large relative to your income to qualify.
Can my spouse and I each protect $35,000? No. Louisiana gives one homestead exemption per couple, not one per spouse.
Can a creditor still take my house if it's worth more than $35,000? A creditor whose debt isn't one of the statute's exceptions can force a sale of a home worth more than the exemption, but you keep the first $35,000 of value. Debts like your mortgage, the purchase price, taxes, or a contractor's lien can reach further.
Statutes and sources
- La. R.S. 20:1(A) (homestead definition, 5/200-acre limits, $35,000 value, catastrophic-illness full value, disaster-insurance proceeds), https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=81983 (accessed 2026-07-09)
- La. R.S. 20:1(B) (surviving spouse; one homestead per couple), https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=81983 (accessed 2026-07-09)
- La. R.S. 20:1(C) (eight excluded debts), https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=81983 (accessed 2026-07-09)
- La. R.S. 20:1(D) (voluntary sale; written recorded waiver; medical-debt limit), https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=81983 (accessed 2026-07-09)
Source links
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