BANKRUPTCY EXEMPTIONS

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:

  • Crime victims' compensation awards
  • Fraternal benefit society benefits
  • $2,500 worth of tools of trade/profession
  • Miscellaneous benefits, such as sickness, accident, injury, death, etc.
  • Professional prescribed health aids
  • $500 wo rth of family clothes, furnishings, books, and pets (valued at replacement value, which is the price a store would charge for the property of that kind considering the age and condition of the property)
  • $3,000 worth of property or cash back from attachment
  • $2,500 worth of real property interests
  • Pension and retirement
  • Public assistance
  • Unemployment compensation
  • Wages
  • Workers' compensation
  • Partnership property

In the District of Columbia , you can use the Federal exemptions or the DC exemptions.



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Notice required by 11 USC §527(b)

  • 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

The Federal exemptions allow you to keep:

  • Up to $18,450 in real property or personal property used as a residence or a burial plot
  • Up to $2,950 in value for one motor vehicle
  • Up to $475 in value in any particular item or $9,850 in aggregate value, in household furnishings, household goods, wearing apparel, appliances, books, animals, crops, or musical instruments, that are held primarily for the personal, family, or household use
  • Up to $1,225 in jewelry ;
  • Up to $975 in value for any property, plus up to $9,250 of any unused amount of the exemption provided for the real property exemption
  • Up to $1,850 in implements, professional books, or tools, of the trade
  • Any unmatured life insurance contract owned by the debtor, other than a credit life insurance contract
  • Up to $9,850 less any amount of property of the estate transferred in the manner specified in section 542(d), in any accrued dividend or interest under, or loan value of, any unmatured life insurance contract owned by the debtor under which the insured is the debtor or an individual of whom the debtor is a dependent ; professionally prescribed health aids
  • The debtor's right to receive a social security benefit, unemployment compensation, or a local public assistance benefit; a veterans' benefit; a disability, illness, or unemployment benefit; alimony, support, or separate maintenance, to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any dependent of the debtor; 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, to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any dependent of the debtor, unless—
  • such 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 such plan or contract arose;
    • such payment is on account of age or length of service;
    • such plan or contract does not qualify under section 401(a), 403(a), 403(b), or 408 of the IRC of 1986
    • The debtor's right to receive, or property that is traceable to:
  • The debtor's right to receive, or property that is traceable to:

Statement required by 11 U.S.C. Sec. 528(a )( 4):
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