Filing bankruptcy does not mean losing everything you own. Exemptions, laws that let a filer protect property up to a limit, decide what a trustee cannot sell. Which limits apply depends on the state you have lived in, whether that state lets you use the federal list, how much equity you have in each thing you own, and the chapter you file. The court decides any dispute.
This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice, and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Bankruptcy law and exemption amounts vary by state and change. Ask a bankruptcy lawyer, legal aid or the court about your situation. Free help may be available from legal aid offices, your bankruptcy court’s self-help pages and law school clinics.
Read this section in order: what an exemption is, which state’s law applies, which list you can use, then the house, the car and the state guides.
Start here: what an exemption protects
Filing creates a bankruptcy estate: nearly everything the filer owns on the filing date (11 U.S.C. 541). An exemption lets the filer take a set amount of that property back out of the estate. In Chapter 7, the trustee, the official appointed to run the case, must collect and sell property of the estate for creditors (704(a)(1)), but not property that is properly claimed as exempt.
- Exemptions protect equity, not the whole item. Equity is the property’s value minus what is owed on it, such as a mortgage or car loan. Value means fair market value on the filing date (11 U.S.C. 522(a)(2)), not the price paid or the tax assessment.
- An exemption doesn’t remove a loan. A mortgage or car loan stays on the property unless the court removes it, and a properly filed tax lien survives too (522(c)(2)). If payments stop, the lender can still act once the automatic stay, the court order that pauses collection, no longer protects the property.
- Exemptions matter in Chapter 13 too. Nothing is sold for this reason in Chapter 13, but the plan must generally pay unsecured creditors at least what they would have received in a Chapter 7 (1325(a)(4)). Equity no exemption covers usually raises that minimum.
Step 1: which state’s law applies
It isn’t always the state you live in today. The exemptions that apply are those of the state where your domicile, your settled home, was for the 730 days before filing. If you moved during that time, it is the state where you lived for the 180 days before those 730 days, or the larger part of them. If that rule leaves you with no exemption at all, you may use the federal list (522(b)(3)(A)). How the rule fits a particular move is a question for a lawyer or the court.
Step 2: the state list or the federal list
Section 522(b) gives each filer two routes: the federal list in 522(d), or their state’s exemptions plus other federal laws. Many states bar their residents from the federal list; Ohio, Florida and Illinois are among them. Where both are open, as in Texas and New York, you use one list or the other, not a mix (522(b)(1)). Spouses filing together must both use the same list, and in a joint case the federal amounts apply to each spouse separately (522(m)). More in bankruptcy and your spouse.
For cases filed on or after 1 April 2025, the federal list protects up to $31,575 of equity in a home, $5,025 in one vehicle, household goods up to $800 an item and $16,850 in total, and a wildcard of $1,675 plus up to $15,800 of any unused home amount (522(d); 90 FR 8941; next adjustment 1 April 2028). Our guide to the federal bankruptcy exemptions goes through every item, explains why the Code itself prints lower numbers, and sorts each state by what we read in its law: allowed, barred, or not confirmed.
Step 3: look up your state’s amounts
The bankruptcy exemptions by state lookup covers all 50 states and DC: the federal choice and the homestead, vehicle and wildcard figures in force, each with its statute and read date, or “not confirmed” with a link to the state’s code where we could not read the official text. The state homestead figures we read run from $5,000 in Kentucky to no dollar limit at all in a handful of states, which limit the land area instead. Pennsylvania and New Jersey have no general homestead exemption. Where a state raises its amounts for inflation by a separate notice, the lookup gives the amount in force, not the older figure printed in the statute.
The house
Whether a home stays with its owner turns on the equity against the homestead exemption, whether the mortgage is current, and the chapter. In Chapter 7, a trustee can sell a home whose equity is more than the exemption covers, and the lender can still foreclose if payments stop: the discharge ends personal liability for the debt, but a lien that hasn’t been removed stays on the home. Chapter 13 lets a filer pay missed mortgage payments over the plan while keeping up the regular ones (1322(b)(5)); a default on the home can be cured until it is sold at a foreclosure sale held under state law (1322(c)(1)).
Federal limits sit on top of even the largest state homestead amounts. A filer using state exemptions can’t protect more than $214,000 of home interest acquired in the 1,215 days, about three years and four months, before filing (522(p), cases filed on or after 1 April 2025), with exceptions for family farmers and for equity rolled over from an earlier home in the same state.
Can you keep your house in bankruptcy? works through the equity sum, gives every state’s homestead amount, and sets out what each chapter can do for a home that is behind. If a sale date is already set, our page on whether bankruptcy can stop a foreclosure covers the timing.
The car
Filing does not by itself take a car. The same equity sum applies: a car worth $9,000 with $6,000 owed on it has $3,000 of equity (made-up numbers), measured against the vehicle exemption and any wildcard. In Chapter 7, a filer with a car loan must file a statement of intention, Official Form 108, within 30 days after filing or by the meeting of creditors if that is earlier, saying whether they will surrender the car, reaffirm the loan or redeem the car (521(a)(2)). In Chapter 13 the plan usually pays for the car, and some loans can be cut to the car’s value, unless the 910-day rule at the end of 1325(a) blocks it.
What happens to your car in bankruptcy covers each choice, the deadlines and leases, with every state’s vehicle amount. Whether to reaffirm is a decision for the filer and their lawyer; see reaffirmation agreements.
State guides
Each state guide gives that state’s list as read in its statute, with the amounts in force and their dates. More states follow.
- Texas bankruptcy exemptions: filers choose the Texas or the federal list. The Texas homestead has an acreage limit, not a dollar limit.
- Florida bankruptcy exemptions: Florida filers use Florida’s list, apart from the federal benefits row. A homestead limited by acreage, not dollars, and $5,000 in one vehicle.
- Ohio bankruptcy exemptions: Ohio’s list only. $182,625 in a home and $5,025 in one vehicle for cases filed 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028 (the code prints $125,000 and $3,225).
- New York bankruptcy exemptions by county: filers choose the state or federal list. The homestead is $204,825, $170,700 or $102,400 depending on the county, until the next adjustment on 1 April 2027.
- Illinois bankruptcy exemptions after the 2026 change: Illinois’s list only. $50,000 in a home and $3,600 in one vehicle for cases filed on or after 1 January 2026, up from $15,000 and $2,400.
What an exemption figure doesn’t tell you
A figure in these tables is the most the law protects, not a statement about anyone’s case. Exempt property stays liable for some debts, including domestic support such as child support and the kinds of taxes that aren’t discharged (522(c)). The trustee or a creditor can dispute values and exemption claims, and the court decides. Our page on what a bankruptcy trustee does explains the trustee’s side.
Many lists online are out of date. You may see a federal homestead of $27,900 and vehicle of $4,450 on other sites: those applied to cases filed from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025. And “you’ll lose everything in Chapter 7” is false as a general statement: exemptions decide, by state.
Your next step
- Gather: a list of what you own with a rough value, the latest mortgage statement and car loan payoff, recent bank statements, and where you have lived for the past two and a half years.
- Read: your state’s row in the exemptions lookup and the statute it links to, and Official Form 106C, the schedule where property is claimed as exempt, on uscourts.gov. A new version takes effect on 1 December 2026.
- Ask: the bankruptcy court clerk or the court’s self-help pages about procedure (they can’t give legal advice), or legal aid, a law school clinic or a bankruptcy lawyer about which state’s law and which list apply to you.
- What can’t wait: a foreclosure sale date, a repossession, a garnishment, and in Chapter 7 the 30-day deadline for the statement of intention on a car or home loan.
Sources checked on 7 November 2026: 11 U.S.C. 522, 541, 704, 1322 and 1325 at uscode.house.gov; the Judicial Conference notice at 90 FR 8941; Official Form 106C on uscourts.gov; and the state statutes and notices read for the pages linked above, each on the date given there.
