Bankruptcy

Mobile Home Residents Should Qualify For Florida's $4,000 Wildcard Property Exemption

By Jonathan Alper

Many Chapter 7 bankruptcy debtors live in mobile homes. In Florida, these mobile homes are exempt in bankruptcy whether or not the debtor owns the land on which the mobile home is situated. Mobile homes are not exempted under the Florida Constitution?s homestead exempt because the homes are not "real property" (land), but instead they are exempt from creditors under a Florida statute (222.05). This distinction is important in bankruptcy because it affects the size of the debtor?s personal property exemption.

Debtors who neither claim or benefit from the Constitutional homestead exemption may claim an additional $4,000 personal property exemption under Florida law (referred to as the "wildcard exemption"). A debtor who resides in a mobile home may exempt the mobile home under Florida Statute 222.05 and is also eligible for the $4,000 wildcard personal property exemption. People who reside in regular houses eligible for homestead benefits cannot claim the wildcard exemption; these people can protect only $1,000 of personal property in bankruptcy.

If live in a mobile home and are considering Chapter 7 bankruptcy make sure your attorney exempts your mobile home under the applicable statute rather than the Constitution?s homestead clause and that you get the benefit of the $4,000 wildcard exemption for personal property. See 395 B.R. 737

posted by Jonathan Alper, bankruptcy and asset protection attorney, Orlando, Florida

Full post as published by Florida Bankruptcy Law on August 04, 2009 (boomark / email).