11 U.S.C. § 522 : US Code - Section 522: Exemptions

Search 11 U.S.C. § 522 : US Code - Section 522: Exemptions

(a) In this section -
(1) "dependent" includes spouse, whether or not actually
dependent; and
(2) "value" means fair market value as of the date of the
filing of the petition or, with respect to property that becomes
property of the estate after such date, as of the date such
property becomes property of the estate.
(b)(1) Notwithstanding section 541 of this title, an individual
debtor may exempt from property of the estate the property listed
in either paragraph (2) or, in the alternative, paragraph (3) of
this subsection. In joint cases filed under section 302 of this
title and individual cases filed under section 301 or 303 of this
title by or against debtors who are husband and wife, and whose
estates are ordered to be jointly administered under Rule 1015(b)
of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, one debtor may not
elect to exempt property listed in paragraph (2) and the other
debtor elect to exempt property listed in paragraph (3) of this
subsection. If the parties cannot agree on the alternative to be
elected, they shall be deemed to elect paragraph (2), where such
election is permitted under the law of the jurisdiction where the
case is filed.
(2) Property listed in this paragraph is property that is
specified under subsection (d), unless the State law that is
applicable to the debtor under paragraph (3)(A) specifically does
not so authorize.
(3) Property listed in this paragraph is -
(A) subject to subsections (o) and (p), any property that is
exempt under Federal law, other than subsection (d) of this
section, or State or local law that is applicable on the date of
the filing of the petition at the place in which the debtor's
domicile has been located for the 730 days immediately preceding
the date of the filing of the petition or if the debtor's
domicile has not been located at a single State for such 730-day
period, the place in which the debtor's domicile was located for
180 days immediately preceding the 730-day period or for a longer
portion of such 180-day period than in any other place;
(B) any interest in property in which the debtor had,
immediately before the commencement of the case, an interest as a
tenant by the entirety or joint tenant to the extent that such
interest as a tenant by the entirety or joint tenant is exempt
from process under applicable nonbankruptcy law; and
(C) retirement funds to the extent that those funds are in a
fund or account that is exempt from taxation under section 401,
403, 408, 408A, 414, 457, or 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986.
If the effect of the domiciliary requirement under subparagraph (A)
is to render the debtor ineligible for any exemption, the debtor
may elect to exempt property that is specified under subsection
(d).
(4) For purposes of paragraph (3)(C) and subsection (d)(12), the
following shall apply:
(A) If the retirement funds are in a retirement fund that has
received a favorable determination under section 7805 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and that determination is in
effect as of the date of the filing of the petition in a case
under this title, those funds shall be presumed to be exempt from
the estate.
(B) If the retirement funds are in a retirement fund that has
not received a favorable determination under such section 7805,
those funds are exempt from the estate if the debtor demonstrates
that -
(i) no prior determination to the contrary has been made by a
court or the Internal Revenue Service; and
(ii)(I) the retirement fund is in substantial compliance with
the applicable requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986; or
(II) the retirement fund fails to be in substantial
compliance with the applicable requirements of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 and the debtor is not materially
responsible for that failure.
(C) A direct transfer of retirement funds from 1 fund or
account that is exempt from taxation under section 401, 403, 408,
408A, 414, 457, or 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
under section 401(a)(31) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or
otherwise, shall not cease to qualify for exemption under
paragraph (3)(C) or subsection (d)(12) by reason of such direct
transfer.
(D)(i) Any distribution that qualifies as an eligible rollover
distribution within the meaning of section 402(c) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 or that is described in clause (ii) shall
not cease to qualify for exemption under paragraph (3)(C) or
subsection (d)(12) by reason of such distribution.
(ii) A distribution described in this clause is an amount that -

(I) has been distributed from a fund or account that is
exempt from taxation under section 401, 403, 408, 408A, 414,
457, or 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
(II) to the extent allowed by law, is deposited in such a
fund or account not later than 60 days after the distribution
of such amount.
(c) Unless the case is dismissed, property exempted under this
section is not liable during or after the case for any debt of the
debtor that arose, or that is determined under section 502 of this
title as if such debt had arisen, before the commencement of the
case, except -
(1) a debt of a kind specified in paragraph (1) or (5) of
section 523(a) (in which case, notwithstanding any provision of
applicable nonbankruptcy law to the contrary, such property shall
be liable for a debt of a kind specified in section 523(a)(5));
(2) a debt secured by a lien that is -
(A)(i) not avoided under subsection (f) or (g) of this
section or under section 544, 545, 547, 548, 549, or 724(a) of
this title; and
(ii) not void under section 506(d) of this title; or
(B) a tax lien, notice of which is properly filed;
(3) a debt of a kind specified in section 523(a)(4) or
523(a)(6) of this title owed by an institution-affiliated party
of an insured depository institution to a Federal depository
institutions regulatory agency acting in its capacity as
conservator, receiver, or liquidating agent for such institution;
or
(4) a debt in connection with fraud in the obtaining or
providing of any scholarship, grant, loan, tuition, discount,
award, or other financial assistance for purposes of financing an
education at an institution of higher education (as that term is
defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1001)).
(d) The following property may be exempted under subsection
(b)(2) of this section:
(1) The debtor's aggregate interest, not to exceed $15,000 in
value, in real property or personal property that the debtor or a
dependent of the debtor uses as a residence, in a cooperative
that owns property that the debtor or a dependent of the debtor
uses as a residence, or in a burial plot for the debtor or a
dependent of the debtor.
(2) The debtor's interest, not to exceed $2,400 in value, in
one motor vehicle.
(3) The debtor's interest, not to exceed $400 in value in any
particular item or $8,000 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 of the debtor or a
dependent of the debtor.
(4) The debtor's aggregate interest, not to exceed $1,000 in
value, in jewelry held primarily for the personal, family, or
household use of the debtor or a dependent of the debtor.
(5) The debtor's aggregate interest in any property, not to
exceed in value $800 plus up to $7,500 of any unused amount of
the exemption provided under paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(6) The debtor's aggregate interest, not to exceed $1,500 in
value, in any implements, professional books, or tools, of the
trade of the debtor or the trade of a dependent of the debtor.
(7) Any unmatured life insurance contract owned by the debtor,
other than a credit life insurance contract.
(8) The debtor's aggregate interest, not to exceed in value
$8,000 less any amount of property of the estate transferred in
the manner specified in section 542(d) of this title, 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.
(9) Professionally prescribed health aids for the debtor or a
dependent of the debtor.
(10) The debtor's right to receive -
(A) a social security benefit, unemployment compensation, or
a local public assistance benefit;
(B) a veterans' benefit;
(C) a disability, illness, or unemployment benefit;
(D) alimony, support, or separate maintenance, to the extent
reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any
dependent of the debtor;
(E) a payment under a stock bonus, pension, profitsharing,
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 -
(i) 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;
(ii) such payment is on account of age or length of
service; and
(iii) such plan or contract does not qualify under section
401(a), 403(a), 403(b), or 408 of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986.
(11) The debtor's right to receive, or property that is
traceable to -
(A) an award under a crime victim's reparation law;
(B) a payment on account of the wrongful death of an
individual of whom the debtor was a dependent, to the extent
reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any
dependent of the debtor;
(C) 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 such individual's death, to the extent reasonably
necessary for the support of the debtor and any dependent of
the debtor;
(D) a payment, not to exceed $15,000, on account of personal
bodily injury, not including pain and suffering or compensation
for actual pecuniary loss, of the debtor or an individual of
whom the debtor is a dependent; or
(E) 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.
(12) Retirement funds to the extent that those funds are in a
fund or account that is exempt from taxation under section 401,
403, 408, 408A, 414, 457, or 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986.
(e) A waiver of an exemption executed in favor of a creditor that
holds an unsecured claim against the debtor is unenforceable in a
case under this title with respect to such claim against property
that the debtor may exempt under subsection (b) of this section. A
waiver by the debtor of a power under subsection (f) or (h) of this
section to avoid a transfer, under subsection (g) or (i) of this
section to exempt property, or under subsection (i) of this section
to recover property or to preserve a transfer, is unenforceable in
a case under this title.
(f)(1) Notwithstanding any waiver of exemptions but subject to
paragraph (3), the debtor may avoid the fixing of a lien on an
interest of the debtor in property to the extent that such lien
impairs an exemption to which the debtor would have been entitled
under subsection (b) of this section, if such lien is -
(A) a judicial lien, other than a judicial lien that secures a
debt of a kind that is specified in section 523(a)(5); or
(B) a nonpossessory, nonpurchase-money security interest in any
-
(i) household furnishings, household goods, wearing apparel,
appliances, books, animals, crops, musical instruments, or
jewelry that are held primarily for the personal, family, or
household use of the debtor or a dependent of the debtor;
(ii) implements, professional books, or tools, of the trade
of the debtor or the trade of a dependent of the debtor; or
(iii) professionally prescribed health aids for the debtor or
a dependent of the debtor.
(2)(A) For the purposes of this subsection, a lien shall be
considered to impair an exemption to the extent that the sum of -
(i) the lien;
(ii) all other liens on the property; and
(iii) the amount of the exemption that the debtor could claim
if there were no liens on the property;
exceeds the value that the debtor's interest in the property would
have in the absence of any liens.
(B) In the case of a property subject to more than 1 lien, a lien
that has been avoided shall not be considered in making the
calculation under subparagraph (A) with respect to other liens.
(C) This paragraph shall not apply with respect to a judgment
arising out of a mortgage foreclosure.
(3) In a case in which State law that is applicable to the debtor
-
(A) permits a person to voluntarily waive a right to claim
exemptions under subsection (d) or prohibits a debtor from
claiming exemptions under subsection (d); and
(B) either permits the debtor to claim exemptions under State
law without limitation in amount, except to the extent that the
debtor has permitted the fixing of a consensual lien on any
property or prohibits avoidance of a consensual lien on property
otherwise eligible to be claimed as exempt property;
the debtor may not avoid the fixing of a lien on an interest of the
debtor or a dependent of the debtor in property if the lien is a
nonpossessory, nonpurchase-money security interest in implements,
professional books, or tools of the trade of the debtor or a
dependent of the debtor or farm animals or crops of the debtor or a
dependent of the debtor to the extent the value of such implements,
professional books, tools of the trade, animals, and crops exceeds
$5,000.
(4)(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), for purposes of paragraph
(1)(B), the term "household goods" means -
(i) clothing;
(ii) furniture;
(iii) appliances;
(iv) 1 radio;
(v) 1 television;
(vi) 1 VCR;
(vii) linens;
(viii) china;
(ix) crockery;
(x) kitchenware;
(xi) educational materials and educational equipment primarily
for the use of minor dependent children of the debtor;
(xii) medical equipment and supplies;
(xiii) furniture exclusively for the use of minor children, or
elderly or disabled dependents of the debtor;
(xiv) personal effects (including the toys and hobby equipment
of minor dependent children and wedding rings) of the debtor and
the dependents of the debtor; and
(xv) 1 personal computer and related equipment.
(B) The term "household goods" does not include -
(i) works of art (unless by or of the debtor, or any relative
of the debtor);
(ii) electronic entertainment equipment with a fair market
value of more than $500 in the aggregate (except 1 television, 1
radio, and 1 VCR);
(iii) items acquired as antiques with a fair market value of
more than $500 in the aggregate;
(iv) jewelry with a fair market value of more than $500 in the
aggregate (except wedding rings); and
(v) a computer (except as otherwise provided for in this
section), motor vehicle (including a tractor or lawn tractor),
boat, or a motorized recreational device, conveyance, vehicle,
watercraft, or aircraft.
(g) Notwithstanding sections 550 and 551 of this title, the
debtor may exempt under subsection (b) of this section property
that the trustee recovers under section 510(c)(2), 542, 543, 550,
551, or 553 of this title, to the extent that the debtor could have
exempted such property under subsection (b) of this section if such
property had not been transferred, if -
(1)(A) such transfer was not a voluntary transfer of such
property by the debtor; and
(B) the debtor did not conceal such property; or
(2) the debtor could have avoided such transfer under
subsection (f)(1)(B) of this section.
(h) The debtor may avoid a transfer of property of the debtor or
recover a setoff to the extent that the debtor could have exempted
such property under subsection (g)(1) of this section if the
trustee had avoided such transfer, if -
(1) such transfer is avoidable by the trustee under section
544, 545, 547, 548, 549, or 724(a) of this title or recoverable
by the trustee under section 553 of this title; and
(2) the trustee does not attempt to avoid such transfer.
(i)(1) If the debtor avoids a transfer or recovers a setoff under
subsection (f) or (h) of this section, the debtor may recover in
the manner prescribed by, and subject to the limitations of,
section 550 of this title, the same as if the trustee had avoided
such transfer, and may exempt any property so recovered under
subsection (b) of this section.
(2) Notwithstanding section 551 of this title, a transfer avoided
under section 544, 545, 547, 548, 549, or 724(a) of this title,
under subsection (f) or (h) of this section, or property recovered
under section 553 of this title, may be preserved for the benefit
of the debtor to the extent that the debtor may exempt such
property under subsection (g) of this section or paragraph (1) of
this subsection.
(j) Notwithstanding subsections (g) and (i) of this section, the
debtor may exempt a particular kind of property under subsections
(g) and (i) of this section only to the extent that the debtor has
exempted less property in value of such kind than that to which the
debtor is entitled under subsection (b) of this section.
(k) Property that the debtor exempts under this section is not
liable for payment of any administrative expense except -
(1) the aliquot share of the costs and expenses of avoiding a
transfer of property that the debtor exempts under subsection (g)
of this section, or of recovery of such property, that is
attributable to the value of the portion of such property
exempted in relation to the value of the property recovered; and
(2) any costs and expenses of avoiding a transfer under
subsection (f) or (h) of this section, or of recovery of property
under subsection (i)(1) of this section, that the debtor has not
paid.
(l) The debtor shall file a list of property that the debtor
claims as exempt under subsection (b) of this section. If the
debtor does not file such a list, a dependent of the debtor may
file such a list, or may claim property as exempt from property of
the estate on behalf of the debtor. Unless a party in interest
objects, the property claimed as exempt on such list is exempt.
(m) Subject to the limitation in subsection (b), this section
shall apply separately with respect to each debtor in a joint case.
(n) For assets in individual retirement accounts described in
section 408 or 408A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, other
than a simplified employee pension under section 408(k) of such
Code or a simple retirement account under section 408(p) of such
Code, the aggregate value of such assets exempted under this
section, without regard to amounts attributable to rollover
contributions under section 402(c), 402(e)(6), 403(a)(4),
403(a)(5), and 403(b)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and
earnings thereon, shall not exceed $1,000,000 in a case filed by a
debtor who is an individual, except that such amount may be
increased if the interests of justice so require.
(o) For purposes of subsection (b)(3)(A), and notwithstanding
subsection (a), the value of an interest in -
(1) real or personal property that the debtor or a dependent of
the debtor uses as a residence;
(2) a cooperative that owns property that the debtor or a
dependent of the debtor uses as a residence;
(3) a burial plot for the debtor or a dependent of the debtor;
or
(4) real or personal property that the debtor or a dependent of
the debtor claims as a homestead;
shall be reduced to the extent that such value is attributable to
any portion of any property that the debtor disposed of in the 10-
year period ending on the date of the filing of the petition with
the intent to hinder, delay, or defraud a creditor and that the
debtor could not exempt, or that portion that the debtor could not
exempt, under subsection (b), if on such date the debtor had held
the property so disposed of.
(p)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection and
sections 544 and 548, as a result of electing under subsection
(b)(3)(A) to exempt property under State or local law, a debtor may
not exempt any amount of interest that was acquired by the debtor
during the 1215-day period preceding the date of the filing of the
petition that exceeds in the aggregate $125,000 in value in -
(A) real or personal property that the debtor or a dependent of
the debtor uses as a residence;
(B) a cooperative that owns property that the debtor or a
dependent of the debtor uses as a residence;
(C) a burial plot for the debtor or a dependent of the debtor;
or
(D) real or personal property that the debtor or dependent of
the debtor claims as a homestead.
(2)(A) The limitation under paragraph (1) shall not apply to an
exemption claimed under subsection (b)(3)(A) by a family farmer for
the principal residence of such farmer.
(B) For purposes of paragraph (1), any amount of such interest
does not include any interest transferred from a debtor's previous
principal residence (which was acquired prior to the beginning of
such 1215-day period) into the debtor's current principal
residence, if the debtor's previous and current residences are
located in the same State.
(q)(1) As a result of electing under subsection (b)(3)(A) to
exempt property under State or local law, a debtor may not exempt
any amount of an interest in property described in subparagraphs
(A), (B), (C), and (D) of subsection (p)(1) which exceeds in the
aggregate $125,000 if -
(A) the court determines, after notice and a hearing, that the
debtor has been convicted of a felony (as defined in section 3156
of title 18), which under the circumstances, demonstrates that
the filing of the case was an abuse of the provisions of this
title; or
(B) the debtor owes a debt arising from -
(i) any violation of the Federal securities laws (as defined
in section 3(a)(47) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934),
any State securities laws, or any regulation or order issued
under Federal securities laws or State securities laws;
(ii) fraud, deceit, or manipulation in a fiduciary capacity
or in connection with the purchase or sale of any security
registered under section 12 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 or under section 6 of the Securities Act of 1933;
(iii) any civil remedy under section 1964 of title 18; or
(iv) any criminal act, intentional tort, or willful or
reckless misconduct that caused serious physical injury or
death to another individual in the preceding 5 years.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the extent the amount of an
interest in property described in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and
(D) of subsection (p)(1) is reasonably necessary for the support of
the debtor and any dependent of the debtor.