Homestead Exemptions: State Resources

State-by-state resource of each state’s homestead statutes and to key opinions interpreting the homestead exemptions in each state.

Filing for Exemptions and Forms

Please note that we do not assist persons with filing for their homestead exemption, nor do we sell or provide any forms for this purpose. Persons desiring such should either contact their local attorney, or often the office of their local county clerk or registrar of deeds, for such information and forms.

Please do not contact us for assistance in filing for homestead or to request forms.

Homestead and the New Bankruptcy Reform Act

Most significant is the limitation of the state homestead exemption in bankruptcy to $125,000, regardless of state law providing for a larger or unlimited exemption. This limitation applies to homestead interests that are acquired within a 1215-day (3 years and 4 months) period prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition. However, if the debtor has a claim arising from violations of federal or state securities law, RICO, fiduciary fraud, or from certain crimes or intentional torts, then the cap is $125,000 regardless of when the property was acquired. Rollovers of exempt homestead interests are not allowed even if those interests were exempt in both states. Thus, the debtor who moves from Texas to Florida will re-trigger the 1215 day period, despite the fact that both states have unlimited homestead exemptions.

Obviously, it will no longer be possible for debtors to wait until they have been sued to try to move to a state with an unlimited homestead exemption. Not so obviously, financial professionals and corporate officers or directors should now reconsider the idea of maintaining significant equity in their residences; if such a person ends up on the wrong end of a judgment, the debt may be one that will limit the homestead exemption in bankruptcy to $125,000, regardless of the length of residence in the state.

Full article at http://www.assetprotectionbook.com/Dev_May2005.htm#NewAct

Our Book Discusses Homestead Planning

Asset Protection: Concepts and Strategies for Protecting Your Wealth (McGraw-Hill), by Jay Adkisson and Chris Riser, is a unique work. The authors take a critical look at the fundamental theoretical and practical underpinnings of asset protection planning. Asset Protection reflects a unique holistic approach to asset protection planning that considers the specific circumstances of each individual client to produce specific solutions rather than an approach that results in the repeated use of a few "canned" solutions. The authors stake out contrarian positions on popularly marketed devices such as offshore asset protection trusts - devices that have landed their users in jail when challenged.

Asset Protection is not the typical rehash of tired, biased sales and marketing materials that characterizes most books on the topic. It is a dense and practical work written for financial and legal professionals and their clientele. Jay and Chris have a common-sense, practical style that has appealed to readers of their numerous published articles for years.

Asset Protection addresses fundamental issues such as the Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act and state exemption laws. The evolution of asset protection planning is covered - from informal planning by litigation attorneys; to the" in-your-face" techniques of the 1990s; to the turn of the millennium when offshore asset protection trusts proved often defective and despised by federal court judges, to the 21st century risk-management techniques and new strategies involving structured financial products, among others.

Practical, realistic, contrarian, innovative, and an enjoyable, understandable read for general financial readers and professionals alike, Asset Protection is unlike any other work on the subject.

	Asset Protection: Concepts & Strategies for Protecting Your Wealth by Jay D. Adkisson and Christopher M. Riser

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