Federal bankruptcy exemptions are the list of property protections in 11 U.S.C. § 522(d) that let you keep essential assets when you file. For cases filed between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2028, the main amounts are $31,575 in home equity, $5,025 in vehicle equity, $16,850 in household goods (capped at $800 per item), $3,175 in tools of the trade, and a wildcard worth up to $17,475.1Federal Register. Adjustment of Certain Dollar Amounts Applicable to Bankruptcy Cases Retirement accounts and most government benefits are protected without a dollar cap. Whether you can actually use this list depends on your state.
Whether Your State Lets You Use the Federal List
Section 522(b)(2) lets you choose the federal exemptions only if your state has not opted out. About half the states allow the choice between the federal list and the state list; the rest require you to use state exemptions only.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 522 – Exemptions If your state does allow the choice, you must pick one list and stay with it. You cannot combine individual exemptions from both. In a joint case where spouses disagree about which list to use, the court defaults to the federal list where it is available.
Which state’s law governs your case is a separate question from where you file. Under § 522(b)(3)(A), the exemptions available to you are those of the state where you lived for the 730 days (two years) immediately before filing.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 522 – Exemptions If you moved during that window, the court looks at where you lived for the greater part of the 180 days before that two-year period began. The rule exists to stop people from relocating just before filing to pick up more generous protections. If the residency calculation leaves you with no state’s exemptions available — which can happen after a move from abroad — you fall back to the federal list regardless of your current state’s opt-out.
What the Federal Exemptions Protect
Every dollar figure below reflects the April 2025 adjustment and applies to cases filed through March 31, 2028. Joint filers can each claim the full amount under § 522(m), effectively doubling every number here.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 522 – Exemptions
Homestead: Up to $31,575 in Home Equity
Section 522(d)(1) protects up to $31,575 of equity in a primary residence.1Federal Register. Adjustment of Certain Dollar Amounts Applicable to Bankruptcy Cases Equity means current market value minus mortgage balance and other liens. The exemption covers houses, condominiums, mobile homes, and co-ops you or a dependent actually use as a residence. A married couple filing jointly can shield up to $63,150.
Motor Vehicle: Up to $5,025 in Equity
Under § 522(d)(2), you can protect up to $5,025 of equity in one vehicle. If your car is worth $12,000 and you owe $8,000 on the loan, your $4,000 of equity falls under the cap and the car stays with you.
Household Goods: $16,850 Total, $800 Per Item
Section 522(d)(3) covers furniture, clothing, appliances, books, animals, and musical instruments used for personal or family purposes, up to $800 per individual item and $16,850 across all items combined.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 522 – Exemptions A $600 couch and a $600 television each fit under the per-item cap, but their combined value still counts toward the $16,850 ceiling.
Jewelry, Tools, and Health Aids
Jewelry used personally or by family members is protected up to $2,125 under § 522(d)(4). Tools, professional books, and instruments you use to earn a living are protected up to $3,175 under § 522(d)(6). Professionally prescribed health aids such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, and prosthetics are fully exempt under § 522(d)(9) with no dollar cap.
Government Benefits and Support Payments
Social Security, veterans’ benefits, unemployment compensation, and public assistance are fully exempt under § 522(d)(10) with no cap.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 522 – Exemptions Alimony and child support you receive are protected to the extent reasonably necessary for you and your dependents.
Retirement Accounts
Section 522(d)(12) exempts funds held in tax-exempt retirement accounts, including 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, pensions, and IRAs. Employer plans have no dollar limit. Traditional and Roth IRAs are subject to a cap under § 522(n) that started at $1,000,000 and is adjusted upward over time, and a court can raise the cap further if the interests of justice require it. Rollovers from an employer plan into an IRA do not count against the cap.
Personal Injury Recoveries
Under § 522(d)(11)(D), compensation for personal bodily injury is exempt up to $31,575, not counting pain-and-suffering damages or reimbursements for economic loss.1Federal Register. Adjustment of Certain Dollar Amounts Applicable to Bankruptcy Cases Wrongful death benefits and crime victim restitution under other provisions of § 522(d)(11) have no cap.
The Wildcard: Up to $17,475 for Anything
Section 522(d)(5) gives you a base wildcard of $1,675 that can be applied to any asset, plus up to $15,800 of any unused homestead exemption. If you do not own a home, the entire homestead is unused and your wildcard can reach $17,475.1Federal Register. Adjustment of Certain Dollar Amounts Applicable to Bankruptcy Cases You can split the wildcard across several assets: cash in a bank account, a tax refund you are owed, stock, or extra car equity that exceeds the vehicle exemption. In a joint filing, each spouse has a wildcard, so up to $34,950 of otherwise unprotected property can be covered.
How to Claim the Exemptions
You claim property as exempt on Schedule C (Official Form 106C) in your petition. For each item you list the current market value, the amount you are claiming as exempt, and the specific statute that authorizes it, such as 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(1) for the homestead or § 522(d)(5) for the wildcard.5United States Courts. Schedule C – The Property You Claim as Exempt You also mark whether you are using the federal list or your state’s list. Property you fail to list is not protected: the trustee has no duty to shield an asset you did not claim.
After filing, the trustee and creditors have 30 days from the conclusion of your meeting of creditors (the 341 meeting) to object to any exemption. A party can ask the court to extend the deadline before it expires. If no timely objection is filed, your exemptions are final. The one open-ended exception is fraud: a trustee can object up to a year after the case closes if the exemption was fraudulently claimed.6Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure – Rule 4003 – Exemptions
Removing Liens That Eat Into Your Exemption
An exemption protects a dollar amount of value, but a lien attached to the property can swallow that value before you see it. Section 522(f) lets you ask the court to avoid certain liens that impair an exemption you would otherwise be entitled to.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 522 – Exemptions Two kinds of liens qualify. Judicial liens from a court judgment can be avoided, with a narrow carve-out for domestic support obligations. Nonpurchase-money security interests in household goods, tools of the trade, or health aids — meaning the lender took the security interest without actually financing the item — can also be avoided.
Voluntary purchase-money liens, such as a mortgage or auto loan, cannot be removed this way. Tax liens and mechanic’s liens also survive. A lien that is not avoided stays on the property after discharge, so the creditor can still enforce it against the asset even though you no longer owe the underlying debt personally.
Pre-Filing Transfers That Can Be Reversed
Moving assets out of your name before filing does not take them out of reach. Under § 548, the trustee can reverse any transfer made within two years before filing if it was made with intent to put assets beyond creditors, or if you received substantially less than the property was worth while insolvent.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 548 – Fraudulent Transfers and Obligations Selling a $15,000 car to a relative for $1 the month before filing is the textbook example.
Section 547 covers preferences: payments to a creditor within 90 days before filing can be clawed back if the creditor received more than it would have in a Chapter 7 liquidation.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 547 – Preferences For payments to insiders — relatives, business partners, corporate officers — the lookback runs a full year. Routine monthly bills paid in the ordinary course are generally outside this rule.
How Exemptions Work in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13
In Chapter 7, a trustee can sell any property that is not exempt and distribute the proceeds to creditors. If an asset’s value exceeds the exemption cap, the trustee can liquidate it, pay you the exempt portion in cash, and keep the rest for creditors. The exemption amounts function as hard ceilings.
In Chapter 13, you keep everything and repay creditors through a three-to-five-year plan. Exemptions still matter because of the best-interest-of-creditors test: your plan must pay unsecured creditors at least what they would have received in a Chapter 7. The value of your non-exempt property sets that floor. Larger exemptions mean a lower floor, which can translate to a smaller monthly plan payment.
Debts the Exemptions Cannot Help With
Exemptions decide what property you keep. They do not decide which debts go away. Section 523(a) carves out several categories that survive discharge no matter how carefully you plan your exemptions.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 523 – Exceptions to Discharge Child support and alimony survive. Recent income tax debts and taxes tied to unfiled or fraudulent returns survive. Government-backed and qualifying private student loans survive unless you win a separate undue-hardship proceeding. Debts obtained through fraud survive, and luxury purchases over $500 made within 90 days of filing and cash advances over $750 taken within 70 days are presumed fraudulent. Judgments for death or injury caused by driving under the influence survive. Debts you failed to list in your schedules survive if the creditor did not learn about the case in time to file a claim. Everything on this list remains your responsibility after the case closes.