What Are Florida’s Bankruptcy Exemptions?
Florida’s bankruptcy exemptions are the state laws that let you keep property when you file. They protect an unlimited-value homestead (up to ½ acre in a city or 160 acres elsewhere), $5,000 of equity in one car, $1,000 of personal property — or a $4,000 wildcard if you don’t claim the homestead — plus wages, retirement accounts, and life insurance.
Florida Uses Its Own Exemption List — Not the Federal One
Most people who file bankruptcy keep everything they own. Exemptions are the reason. They are the categories of property the law puts out of a trustee’s reach, and Florida’s are among the most generous in the country for homeowners.
Florida has “opted out” of the federal bankruptcy exemption list under Fla. Stat. § 222.20, so Florida filers use Florida’s exemptions, found in the Florida Constitution (Art. X, § 4) and Chapter 222 of the Florida Statutes. You cannot mix and match — you use the Florida set.
One threshold rule catches people who moved recently: under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A), you must have been domiciled in Florida for the 730 days (two years) before filing in order to use Florida’s exemptions. If you moved here more recently, you generally use the exemptions of the state where you lived for most of the 180 days before that two-year period.
The Homestead Exemption
Florida’s homestead exemption protects unlimited equity in your primary residence, subject to acreage limits: up to one-half acre if the property sits inside a municipality, and up to 160 acres if it does not. There is no dollar cap. A Miami homeowner with $600,000 of equity can protect all of it, so long as the property qualifies and the equity was not recently acquired.
Two timing rules matter. Under 11 U.S.C. § 522(p), equity you acquired in the homestead during the 1,215 days (about 40 months) before filing is capped at $214,000 for cases filed between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2028; equity built up before that window is not capped, and if you have owned and lived in the home longer than 1,215 days the cap generally does not apply at all. The 730-day domicile rule above then decides whether you get to use Florida’s homestead in the first place.
The homestead exemption does not defeat a mortgage, a property tax lien, or a lien for work performed on the home. It protects you from unsecured creditors — credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, and deficiency judgments.
Your Car
Fla. Stat. § 222.25(1) exempts up to $5,000 of equity in one motor vehicle. That figure was raised from $1,000 by SB 158, which applies to cases filed on or after July 1, 2022 — older articles still quoting $1,000 are out of date. Married couples filing jointly can each claim the exemption against the same vehicle, protecting up to $10,000 of equity.
The exemption applies to equity, not value. If your car is worth $18,000 and you owe $15,000 on it, your equity is $3,000 — fully protected, as long as you keep making the payments.
Personal Property and the $4,000 Wildcard
The Florida Constitution exempts $1,000 of personal property of any kind — furniture, electronics, clothing, jewelry, cash, bank balances. Married couples filing jointly can protect $2,000.
If you do not claim or receive the benefit of the homestead exemption — usually because you rent, or because you are surrendering the house — Fla. Stat. § 222.25(4) gives you an additional $4,000 wildcard in personal property, or $8,000 for a couple filing jointly. The wildcard is flexible: it can cover a bank account, extra car equity, or anything else that would otherwise be unprotected. For a renter, it is often the most valuable exemption available.
Wages, Retirement Accounts, and Insurance
Under Fla. Stat. § 222.11, if you qualify as a “head of family” — you provide more than half the support of a child or other dependent — disposable earnings of $750 a week or less are entirely exempt, and earnings above $750 are also protected unless you agreed in writing to allow garnishment. Wages already deposited in a bank account stay protected for six months if they remain traceable.
Fla. Stat. § 222.21 exempts qualified retirement plans, IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, pensions, and public employee retirement benefits, generally without a dollar limit. The cash surrender value of a life insurance policy (§ 222.14) and the proceeds of an annuity contract are exempt, as are life insurance proceeds payable to a beneficiary (§ 222.13). Also protected: prepaid college and Florida 529 accounts (§ 222.22), health and medical savings accounts, disability income benefits (§ 222.18), unemployment and workers’ compensation benefits, Social Security, and veterans’ benefits.
Tenancy by the Entireties
Property a married couple owns as tenants by the entireties — a home, a bank account, a vehicle — is generally protected from the creditors of only one spouse. If one spouse files and the debt belongs to that spouse alone, entireties property often falls outside the bankruptcy estate. If both spouses owe the same creditor, that protection disappears. This is one of the most misunderstood areas of Florida exemption law, and one of the best reasons to have an attorney review your asset list before you file.
What Happens If Something Isn’t Exempt
Non-exempt property is not automatically lost. In a Chapter 7, the trustee can sell it — but only if the value justifies the effort, and trustees routinely abandon small items. In a Chapter 13, you keep everything and instead pay unsecured creditors at least the value of your non-exempt property over the life of your plan. If you have real non-exempt equity, Chapter 13 is frequently the better fit.
Florida Exemptions in Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade cases are filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, at the C. Clyde Atkins United States Courthouse on North Miami Avenue. Exemptions are claimed on Schedule C of your petition, and the trustee or a creditor has 30 days after the conclusion of the § 341 meeting of creditors to object — which is why the accuracy of your first filing matters so much.
Two issues come up constantly here. First, Miami-Dade home values mean the homestead exemption is often the single largest asset a filer protects, so the 1,215-day and 730-day timing rules deserve careful review before filing — people who recently relocated to Florida are frequently surprised. Second, condominium ownership raises its own questions about association liens and how much of your equity is truly protected.
Arturo R. Alfonso P.A. has represented Miami-Dade families in bankruptcy for over 35 years, in English and Spanish, from Brickell and Coral Gables to Kendall, Hialeah, and Cutler Bay. If you have been looking for a bankruptcy attorney near me who will go through your property line by line before filing, we offer consultations to review exactly which exemptions apply to your situation.
Related Questions
Contact Us
Request a Free Consultation
Fill out the form below and Attorney Alfonso will get back to you within one business day.