Bankruptcy exemptions in the District of Columbia: what you can keep

The the District of Columbia exemption list, the homestead rule, which state's law applies and how to claim exemptions.

Checked against official sources: October 25, 2026.

Short answer

In the District of Columbia you choose state or federal exemptions (exemptions are the property the law lets you keep). Your home (homestead): unlimited: your whole interest in real property you use as your residence, or in a cooperative that owns property you or a dependent use as a residence.

Exemption system: State or federal, your choice
Car or other vehicle: $2,575 of your interest in one motor vehicle.
Wildcard (any property): $850 in any property, plus up to $8,075 of any unused amount of the homestead exemption.
Amounts: Dollar amounts set by D.C. Law 13-292 (effective April 27, 2001); they are written into the statute and are not indexed.

Exemptions in the District of Columbia, item by item

Exemptions are the property the law lets you keep. You pick one whole set: the the District of Columbia list or the federal list. You can't mix them.

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(1)-(2); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)

What	The District of Columbia exemption	Federal exemption
Home (homestead)	Unlimited: your whole interest in real property you use as your residence, or in a cooperative that owns property you or a dependent use as a residence (also a burial plot) No dollar cap. The exemption does not cancel a mortgage, deed of trust, mechanic's lien or tax lien on the home. D.C. law gives its exemptions to a 'head of a family or householder' who lives in D.C., or who earns most of their living in D.C. The head of a family is the person who is the main provider for the family. The law does not define 'householder.' Law: D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(14), (a) (opening clause), (c)	$31,575 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(1)
Car or other vehicle	$2,575 of your interest in one motor vehicle Law: D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(1)	$5,025 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(2)
Household goods and clothing	Household furnishings, household goods, clothing, appliances, books, animals, crops or musical instruments for personal or family use: up to $425 per item and $8,625 in total. Family pictures and the family library up to $400. Food and provisions for 3 months. Prescribed health aids (no limit). Law: D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(2), (6), (8), (12)	Household goods: $800 per item, $16,850 total Jewelry for personal or family use: $2,125 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(3); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(4)
Wildcard (any property)	$850 in any property, plus up to $8,075 of any unused amount of the homestead exemption Law: D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(3)	$1,675 plus up to $15,800 of any unused part of the (d)(1) homestead amount Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(5)
Tools of your trade	$1,625 in implements, professional books or tools of your trade (or a dependent's trade); also applies to merchants. Separately, a professional's or artist's library, office furniture and implements up to $300. Law: D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(4), (13)	$3,175 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(6)
Wages	A wage garnishment can take only 25% of the amount by which your weekly disposable wages exceed 40 times the D.C. minimum hourly wage; the rest is protected. Other earnings, insurance, annuity or pension payments of a person who supports a family are exempt up to $200 a month for 2 months ($60 a month for someone who does not support a family). Law: D.C. Code §§ 16-572(1), 15-503(a)-(b)	—
Retirement accounts	Money in or payable from retirement plans qualified under IRC 401(a), 403(a), 403(b), 408 (IRA), 408A (Roth IRA), 414(d) or 414(e) is exempt, except against a QDRO alternate payee or debts owed to the District of Columbia, and except contributions above the tax-deductible or Roth limit. Pension and similar payments are also exempt to the extent reasonably necessary for support. Law: D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(7)(E), (9), (10)	No dollar limit (IRAs are capped under 522(n)) Money in traditional and Roth IRAs is protected up to $1,711,975 in total. Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(12); 11 U.S.C. 522(n); 90 FR 8941
Public benefits	Your right to receive Social Security, veterans' benefits, and disability, illness or unemployment benefits is exempt. D.C. unemployment benefits are exempt except for debts for necessaries bought while unemployed. Workers' compensation is exempt from all creditors. D.C. public assistance cannot be taken and is protected in bankruptcy. Law: D.C. Code §§ 15-501(a)(7)(A)-(C), 51-118(b)(1), 32-1517, 4-215.01	Your right to receive Social Security, unemployment, public assistance, veterans' and disability benefits; alimony and support you reasonably need; and certain pension or annuity payments you reasonably need: No dollar limit (some only as much as you reasonably need) Your right to certain payments: crime victim awards, wrongful-death and life-insurance payments for someone you depended on, personal bodily injury payments (not pain and suffering or actual money losses), and payments for lost future earnings: Crime-victim awards: no limit. Personal injury payment: up to $31,575. Others: as much as you reasonably need Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(10); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(11)
Other exemptions	Alimony and child support you receive, to the extent reasonably necessary to support you and your dependents. Any unmatured life insurance policy you own (other than credit life insurance). Crime-victim awards, wrongful-death payments, life insurance payouts on someone you depended on, personal-injury payments and lost-future-earnings payments (some only to the extent reasonably necessary for support). Law: D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(7)(D); D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(5); D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(11)	An unmatured life insurance policy you own (not credit life insurance): No dollar limit Cash value of life insurance: $16,850 Health aids prescribed by a professional for you or a dependent: No dollar limit Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(7); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(8); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(9)

Federal limit on a newly bought home

If you use your state's exemptions, you can protect no more than $214,000 of home equity that you acquired in the 1,215 days (about 3 years and 4 months) before you filed. Equity moved from an earlier home in the same state, bought before that period, does not count. The cap does not apply to a family farmer's main home.

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(p); 90 FR 8941

Amounts: Dollar amounts set by D.C. Law 13-292 (effective April 27, 2001); they are written into the statute and are not indexed. The section was last amended by D.C. Law 22-189 (2018), which did not change the amounts. Current text read October 2026 on the D.C. Council's official code site.

Federal amounts: Amounts in effect for cases filed on or after April 1, 2025 (next automatic adjustment due April 1, 2028)

Law: 11 U.S.C. 104; 90 FR 8941-8942

These amounts are per person. If a married couple files one joint case, each spouse can claim the federal exemptions separately.

The the District of Columbia homestead exemption

Unlimited: your whole interest in real property you use as your residence, or in a cooperative that owns property you or a dependent use as a residence (also a burial plot)

No dollar cap. The exemption does not cancel a mortgage, deed of trust, mechanic's lien or tax lien on the home. D.C. law gives its exemptions to a 'head of a family or householder' who lives in D.C., or who earns most of their living in D.C. The head of a family is the person who is the main provider for the family. The law does not define 'householder.'

Law: D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(14), (a) (opening clause), (c)

Federal limit on a newly bought home

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(p); 90 FR 8941

IRAs, 401(k)s and pensions

Money in or payable from retirement plans qualified under IRC 401(a), 403(a), 403(b), 408 (IRA), 408A (Roth IRA), 414(d) or 414(e) is exempt, except against a QDRO alternate payee or debts owed to the District of Columbia, and except contributions above the tax-deductible or Roth limit. Pension and similar payments are also exempt to the extent reasonably necessary for support.

Law: D.C. Code § 15-501(a)(7)(E), (9), (10)

Retirement money in tax-exempt accounts is protected whichever set of exemptions you use (IRAs subject to the 522(n) cap).

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(3)(C), 522(d)(12), 522(n)

If you moved in the last 2 years

You use the exemption law of the state where you lived (your domicile) for the full 730 days (2 years) before you filed. If you moved between states during those 2 years, you use the law of the state where you lived for the 180 days before that 2-year period, or where you lived the longest part of those 180 days.

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(3)(A)

If this rule leaves you with no exemptions at all (for example, the state's exemptions apply only to its residents and you no longer live there), you can use the federal exemptions instead.

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(3), flush language

State or federal list in the District of Columbia

In some states you can choose either the state exemptions or the federal exemptions. You must pick one whole set; you cannot mix them. Other states allow only the state exemptions. A married couple filing together must both pick the same set.

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(1)-(2); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)

In nearby states

Maryland: State exemptions only. Home (homestead): your equity in the owner-occupied home you live in, up to the same dollar amount as the federal homestead exemption in 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(1), as adjusted.
Delaware: State exemptions only. Home (homestead): $200,000 of equity in your principal residence (a house, other real property, or a manufactured home you live in).
Virginia: State exemptions only. Home (homestead): up to $50,000 in real or personal property used as the principal residence of you or your dependents.
Pennsylvania: State or federal, your choice. Home (homestead): none — Pennsylvania law has no homestead exemption.

What to do now in the District of Columbia

Make a property list
Write down your home, car, bank accounts, household goods and other property, with a value for each. The form for this is Official Form 106A/B.
Match each item to an exemption
For each item, find the the District of Columbia exemption that covers it and its limit.
Fill in Schedule C
You claim exemptions on Official Form 106C.
Talk to legal aid
Ask for free help: Bankruptcy Assistance Center (free walk-in clinic at the courthouse, 1st and 3rd Fridays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., Room 1131A) and D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center – Bankruptcy Clinic (free Chapter 7 representation for D.C. residents of limited means).

Where to get free help in the District of Columbia

Questions about exemptions in the District of Columbia

State or federal exemptions in the District of Columbia?

You can. The District of Columbia lets you choose the state exemptions or the federal exemptions in 11 U.S.C. 522(d). You must pick one whole set.

How much home equity can I keep in the District of Columbia?

Unlimited: your whole interest in real property you use as your residence, or in a cooperative that owns property you or a dependent use as a residence (also a burial plot)

What is the vehicle exemption in the District of Columbia?

$2,575 of your interest in one motor vehicle

Does the District of Columbia have a wildcard exemption?

$850 in any property, plus up to $8,075 of any unused amount of the homestead exemption

Are furniture and clothes exempt in the District of Columbia?

Household furnishings, household goods, clothing, appliances, books, animals, crops or musical instruments for personal or family use: up to $425 per item and $8,625 in total. Family pictures and the family library up to $400. Food and provisions for 3 months. Prescribed health aids (no limit).

What happens to retirement money in the District of Columbia?

How much of my pay is exempt in the District of Columbia?

A wage garnishment can take only 25% of the amount by which your weekly disposable wages exceed 40 times the D.C. minimum hourly wage; the rest is protected. Other earnings, insurance, annuity or pension payments of a person who supports a family are exempt up to $200 a month for 2 months ($60 a month for someone who does not support a family).