|
Will I be able to keep my property (e.g., car, house, etc.) if I file bankruptcy?
Yes and no. There are certain types and amounts of property that you are allowed to keep in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy depending on the state in which you file.
In Maryland , you are allowed to keep $12,000 worth of personal property (of the types specified below), plus some other types of property. Specifically, the Maryland exemptions are:
MD exemptions
In the District of Columbia , you can use the Federal exemptions or the DC exemptions. The DC exemptions allow you to keep:
- Motor vehicle valued up to $2,575
- Any item valued up to $425 or $8,625 worth of household furnishings, household goods, wearing apparel, appliances, books, animals, crops, or musical instruments
- Property valued up to $850 in value, plus up to $8,075 of any unused amount of the exemption provided for real estate
- $1,625 worth of implements, professional books, or tools of the trade
- Any unmatured life insurance contract, other than a credit life insurance contract
- Professionally prescribed health aids
- The debtor's right to receive: a social security, veteran's, disability, illness, or unemployment benefit; alimony, support, or separate maintenance; and a payment under a stock bonus, pension, profit-sharing, annuity, or similar plan or contract on account of illness, disability, death, age, or length of service, unless: the plan or contract was established by or under the auspices of an insider that employed the debtor at the time the debtor's rights under the plan or contract arose; the payment is on account of age or length of service; and the plan or contract does not qualify under sections 401(a) or 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
- $400 worth of family pictures and family library
- Money or other assets payable to a participant or beneficiary from a retirement plan qualified under section 401(a), 403(a), 403(b), 408, 408A, 414(d), or 414(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
- The interest of an alternate payee in a plan described in the prior item
- Property traceable to: an award under a crime victim's reparation law; a payment on account of the wrongful death of an individual of whom the debtor was a dependent; a payment under a life insurance contract that insured the life of an individual of whom the debtor was a dependent on the date of the individual's death, to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any dependent of the debtor; a payment, including pain and suffering or compensation for actual pecuniary loss, of the debtor or an individual of whom the debtor is a dependent; or a payment in compensation of loss of future earnings of the debtor or an individual of whom the debtor is or was a dependent, to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any dependent of the debtor
- Provisions for 3 months support ;
- $300 worth of the library, office furniture, and implements of a professional person or arti st
- The debtor's aggregate interest in real property used as the residence of the debtor or in a burial plot for the debtor or dependent of the debtor
- Unmatured life insurance;
- $300 worth of non-head of household clothes
- Public assistance; unemployment compensation; 75% of wages or 30 times minimum wage; notary's official seal and documents; DC judges' retirement; earnings not otherwise exempt; teacher's retirement and disability benefits; group life policies or proceeds; worker's compensation; partnership property; condominium escrow funds; cemetery lots held by cemetery association; $50 worth of holdings of a member of a coop association; $200 worth of non-head of household mechanics' tools; non-head of household earnings; uninsured motorist compensation benefits; Taxicab Sinking Fund
Federal exemptions
|
