Maryland: Homestead Exemption Amounts
The short answer
Maryland enacted its first general, non-bankruptcy homestead exemption effective June 1, 2026: $150,000 of equity in an owner-occupied home is automatically protected from an ordinary money judgment, rising to $300,000 if you're 65 or older. Before that date Maryland had no state-law homestead exemption at all outside of bankruptcy. A separate, differently-structured exemption also applies inside an actual bankruptcy case. No recording or declaration is required for either. Married couples who own their home as tenants by the entirety have a separate, older form of protection against a creditor of only one spouse.
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This is the general rule in Maryland. Ezel applies current Maryland law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | 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) |
|---|---|
| Exemption amount | 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 |
| Size or acreage limit | None: both exemptions are dollar caps only, with no acreage or lot-size limit in the statutory text |
| Automatic, or do you have to file something? | 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 |
| Who qualifies, and can spouses double it? | 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 |
| What it actually protects you from | 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 |
| Debts that can still reach your home | 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 |
| Protection for sale proceeds | 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 |
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Requirements one by one
Governing law
The new general exemption lives in Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 11-504(b)(1)(XI), added by 2026 Md. Laws ch. 400 (Senate Bill 939), effective June 1, 2026. The same act separately revised the older, bankruptcy-only exemption at § 11-504(f). These are two distinct provisions with different dollar amounts and different age/eligibility rules, don't confuse them. As of this writing, Maryland's own compiled statute webpage had not yet been updated to show the amended text (over a month after the effective date), so the current, in-force language here comes from the official enrolled act itself.
Exemption amount
Outside of bankruptcy, under the new § 11-504(b)(1)(XI): $150,000 per individual, or $300,000 if you're at least 65 years old. These amounts are scheduled to be adjusted for inflation every three years starting October 1, 2027. Inside an actual bankruptcy case, § 11-504(f) instead protects $150,000 for most filers, or $300,000 if you're at least 60 and either a veteran or have a qualifying disability certified by a physician, adjusted annually starting fiscal year 2028. Before June 1, 2026, none of this existed: Maryland had no general exemption at all, and the bankruptcy-only exemption was capped at just $31,575, tied to a federal bankruptcy figure.
Size or acreage limit
None. Both exemptions are pure dollar caps; nothing in the statute limits the exemption by the size of the lot or the number of acres.
Automatic, or do you have to file something?
Automatic, for both exemptions. Maryland has no recorded "homestead declaration" of any kind. The only appraisal procedure in § 11-504(c) applies to two unrelated exemption items (household goods and the general cash/property wildcard), it doesn't gate the homestead exemption on any filing or appraisal step.
Who qualifies, and can spouses double it?
Any individual debtor domiciled in Maryland who owns and occupies the property qualifies, including a settlor's interest in certain revocable trusts. The bankruptcy exemption is explicit that if more than one person claims it on the same property in the same bankruptcy case, the combined total still can't exceed $300,000. The new general, non-bankruptcy exemption doesn't contain that same limiting language in its text, as of this writing there's no reported case addressing whether two co-owners (such as spouses who both hold title) can each claim a separate $150,000 (or $300,000) outside of bankruptcy. Treat that as an open question rather than a settled doubling right until a court or a later amendment clarifies it.
What it actually protects you from
Both exemptions protect equity up to the cap from being reached to satisfy an ordinary money judgment through execution. Separately, and regardless of any dollar exemption, Maryland has long recognized that property owned by a married couple as tenants by the entirety can't be reached by a creditor of only one spouse, the Court of Appeals described this as settled law going back to Marburg v. Cole in 1878, reaffirmed in Columbian Carbon Co. v. Kight in 1955. That protection works differently from the homestead exemption: it isn't capped at a dollar amount, but it only helps married co-owners, and only against a debt owed by just one spouse.
Debts that can still reach your home
The exemption only limits what a judgment creditor can reach through execution on a judgment, it doesn't interfere with a mortgage lender, a county tax collector, or a contractor with a mechanic's lien enforcing their own separate lien directly against the property. Tenancy-by-the-entirety protection has its own limits: it doesn't apply to a debt both spouses owe together, and the U.S. Supreme Court has held a federal tax lien can still reach one spouse's interest in entirety property even though an ordinary creditor couldn't.
Protection for sale proceeds
Maryland's statute doesn't include a specific window protecting the cash proceeds of a home sale the way some states do. If you sell your home, ask a local attorney how the proceeds are actually treated in your situation before assuming they carry the same protection the underlying exemption did.
What trips people up
Don't rely on a source that describes Maryland as having "no homestead exemption" or only a $31,575 bankruptcy exemption, that was accurate before June 1, 2026, and a great deal of legal commentary published earlier in 2026 still reflects the old rule (or an earlier, since-amended version of the bill that would have set a flat $125,000 bankruptcy figure). The version that actually became law is more generous and, unusually, extends real protection outside of bankruptcy for the first time. A broader companion bill, House Bill 1520, would have added still more protections (household goods, vehicles, tax credits) but stalled in the Senate and did not pass in the 2026 session, it is not law.
Common questions
Do I have to file anything to get this protection? No. Both the general exemption and the bankruptcy exemption are automatic. There's no Maryland homestead declaration to record.
I'm not filing bankruptcy, am I still protected? Yes, as of June 1, 2026. Before that date, Maryland residents facing an ordinary money judgment (outside bankruptcy) had no homestead protection at all under state law; now $150,000 (or $300,000 if you're 65+) of home equity is automatically protected from execution on a judgment.
My spouse has a judgment against just them, can the creditor take our house? If you own the home as tenants by the entirety (check whether your deed names you both as husband and wife), Maryland law has long protected entirety property from a creditor of only one spouse. This is separate from, and doesn't depend on, the dollar-amount homestead exemption.
Statutes and sources
- Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 11-504(b)(1)(XI) and (f), as amended by 2026 Md. Laws ch. 400 (SB 939), https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_400_sb0939e.pdf (accessed 2026-07-09)
- Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 11-504 (compiled page, not yet updated for ch. 400 as of this access), https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj§ion=11-504 (accessed 2026-07-09)
- SB 939 bill history and June 1, 2026 effective date, https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0939?ys=2026RS (accessed 2026-07-09)
- Maryland Legal Aid testimony confirming the pre-SB939 absence of any general homestead exemption, https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/cmte_testimony/2026/jud/1Ebzzgds_YDyRsfW_N_E50v_qi3zrHQDc.pdf (accessed 2026-07-09)
- HB 1520 status confirmed dead in the Senate, https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb1520?ys=2026RS (accessed 2026-07-09)
- Marburg v. Cole, 49 Md. 402 (1878); Columbian Carbon Co. v. Kight, 207 Md. 203 (1955), quoted in a Maryland General Assembly fiscal and policy note, https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2010rs/fnotes/bil_0005/sb0025.pdf (accessed 2026-07-09)
- Md. Code, Real Prop. § 4-108 (tenancy by the entirety), https://law.justia.com/codes/maryland/2005/grp/4-108.html (accessed 2026-07-09)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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