Bankruptcy exemptions in New York: what you can keep
Every New York exemption with its amount and law, plus the federal rules that limit them.
Checked against official sources: October 25, 2026.
Short answer
In New York you choose state or federal exemptions (exemptions are the property the law lets you keep). Your home (homestead): depends on the county where the home is: from $102,400 to $204,825.
- Exemption system
- State or federal, your choice
- Car or other vehicle
- $5,500 in equity in one motor vehicle; $13,625 if the vehicle is equipped for use by a disabled debtor.
- Wildcard (any property)
- Only if you do not claim the homestead: $1,325 in any personal property, bank account or cash.
- Amounts
- Amounts effective April 1, 2024 (cases filed on or after that date), as published by the New York State Department of Financial Services; next adjustment scheduled for April 1, 2027.
What New York lets you keep
Exemptions are the property the law lets you keep. You pick one whole set: the New York list or the federal list. You can't mix them.
Law: N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law 285; 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(1)-(2); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)
| What | New York exemption | Federal exemption |
|---|---|---|
Home (homestead) | Depends on the county where the home is: $204,825 in Kings, Queens, New York, Bronx, Richmond, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties; $170,700 in Dutchess, Albany, Columbia, Orange, Saratoga and Ulster counties; $102,400 in all other counties. This is equity (value above mortgages and liens) in a house, co-op shares, a condo unit or a mobile home that you own and live in as your main home. The amount applies per debtor. When a married couple who both own the home files a joint case, each spouse can claim the exemption. If you claim the homestead, you cannot use the $1,325 cash/personal property exemption or the extra cash exemption described under wildcard. No filing or declaration is needed to claim it. Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(m); CPLR 5206(a) | $31,575 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(1) |
Car or other vehicle | $5,500 in equity in one motor vehicle; $13,625 if the vehicle is equipped for use by a disabled debtor. Per debtor. Law: N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law 282(1); CPLR 5205(a)(8) | $5,025 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(2) |
Household goods and clothing | Clothing, household furniture, one refrigerator, one radio, one TV, one computer, one cellphone, dishes and cooking utensils, stoves and heating equipment, and prescribed health aids have no item-by-item dollar limit. Separate limits: a wedding ring plus a watch, jewelry and art up to $1,325; other books up to $675; pets/domestic animals and their food up to $1,325. In bankruptcy, the total you can protect under these CPLR 5205(a) categories is capped at $13,625 per debtor. Law: CPLR 5205(a)(1)-(6); N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law 283(1) | 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) | Only if you do not claim the homestead: $1,325 in any personal property, bank account or cash. Also only without the homestead: extra cash (money, bank deposits, savings bonds, tax refunds) up to $6,825, or the amount by which your personal property exemptions fall short of the $13,625 cap, whichever is less (Debt. & Cred. Law 283(2)). Law: CPLR 5205(a)(9); N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law 283(2) | $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 | $4,075 in tools, implements, professional instruments, furniture and library needed for your trade or profession Law: CPLR 5205(a)(7) | $3,175 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(6) |
Wages | 90% of your earnings for personal services earned within 60 days before (and after) a wage garnishment or motion is made, unless a court finds part of it unnecessary for you and your dependents. Law: CPLR 5205(d)(2) | — |
Retirement accounts | IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k) and other qualified plans, Keoghs and 457 plans are fully exempt and treated as spendthrift trusts, including in bankruptcy. Payments out of these plans are 100% exempt. Contributions made within 90 days before a creditor's claim was made are not protected. Law: CPLR 5205(c)(2)-(5), 5205(d)(1); N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law 282(2)(f) | 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, unemployment benefits, local public assistance, veterans' benefits, and disability or illness benefits is exempt. Alimony and support are exempt to the extent reasonably necessary to support you and your dependents. COVID-era federal relief payments are exempt. Law: N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law 282(2)(a)-(d); CPLR 5205(p) | 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 |
Law: CPLR 5205(j); CPLR 5205(g) | 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) |
Amounts: Amounts effective April 1, 2024 (cases filed on or after that date), as published by the New York State Department of Financial Services; next adjustment scheduled for April 1, 2027. The statute text on the legislature website still shows the original 2010 base amounts.
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.
Your home in New York
Depends on the county where the home is: $204,825 in Kings, Queens, New York, Bronx, Richmond, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties; $170,700 in Dutchess, Albany, Columbia, Orange, Saratoga and Ulster counties; $102,400 in all other counties. This is equity (value above mortgages and liens) in a house, co-op shares, a condo unit or a mobile home that you own and live in as your main home.
The amount applies per debtor. When a married couple who both own the home files a joint case, each spouse can claim the exemption. If you claim the homestead, you cannot use the $1,325 cash/personal property exemption or the extra cash exemption described under wildcard. No filing or declaration is needed to claim it.
Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(m)
Law: CPLR 5206(a)
What changed in 2024–2026 in New York
On April 1, 2024 New York raised its amounts for inflation: homestead to $204,825 / $170,700 / $102,400 (from $179,975 / $149,975 / $89,975), vehicle to $5,500 (from $4,825), tools of trade to $4,075 (from $3,575), the wildcard to $1,325 (from $1,175), the extra cash exemption to $6,825 (from $6,000) the personal property cap to $13,625 (from $11,975), the personal injury exemption to $10,250 (from $9,000) and the library books limit to $675 (from $600). No change since; the next adjustment is scheduled for April 1, 2027.
Retirement money
IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k) and other qualified plans, Keoghs and 457 plans are fully exempt and treated as spendthrift trusts, including in bankruptcy. Payments out of these plans are 100% exempt. Contributions made within 90 days before a creditor's claim was made are not protected.
Law: CPLR 5205(c)(2)-(5), 5205(d)(1); N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law 282(2)(f)
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
How the choice works in New York
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); N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law 285; 11 U.S.C. 522(d)
In nearby states
- Vermont: State or federal, your choice. Home (homestead): up to $125,000 in value: your home, outbuildings and the land used with it, that you own and use or keep as your homestead.
- Connecticut: State or federal, your choice. Home (homestead): $250,000 of equity in your homestead (owner-occupied home, co-op or mobile manufactured home used as your primary residence), per person claiming it.
- Pennsylvania: State or federal, your choice. Home (homestead): none — Pennsylvania law has no homestead exemption.
- Massachusetts: State or federal, your choice. Home (homestead): automatic homestead: $125,000 with no paperwork.
Steps to protect what you can in New York
Write down your property
Every item of property goes on Official Form 106A/B.
Compare with the list
The table above shows the New York amount for each kind of property.
List the exemptions you claim
The exemptions you choose go on Official Form 106C.
Talk to legal aid
Legal aid can help for free: New York Southern District Bankruptcy Free Legal Clinic (free 30-minute phone consultation with a volunteer bankruptcy lawyer; for Bronx, Dutchess, New York, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Westchester, Columbia, Ulster and Greene counties) and City Bar Justice Center — Homeowner and Consumer Debt Advocacy Project (helps eligible New Yorkers prepare a Chapter 7 case; runs the Bankruptcy Pro Bono Panel).
Free help in New York
- New York Southern District Bankruptcy Free Legal Clinic (free 30-minute phone consultation with a volunteer bankruptcy lawyer; for Bronx, Dutchess, New York, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Westchester, Columbia, Ulster and Greene counties) · (212) 284-4040
- City Bar Justice Center — Homeowner and Consumer Debt Advocacy Project (helps eligible New Yorkers prepare a Chapter 7 case; runs the Bankruptcy Pro Bono Panel) · 212-382-6707
- The Legal Project — Bankruptcy and Credit Program (Albany area; free consultations, representation if you qualify by income; listed by the Northern District court) · (518) 435-1770
- LawHelpNY — statewide directory of free legal aid
- Find free legal aid at LawHelp.org
- Eastern District – Court's self-help page
- Northern District – Court's self-help page
- Southern District – Court's self-help page
- Western District – Court's self-help page
Questions about exemptions in New York
Can I use the federal bankruptcy exemptions in New York?
You can. New York lets you choose the state exemptions or the federal exemptions in 11 U.S.C. 522(d). You must pick one whole set.
What is the homestead exemption in New York?
Depends on the county where the home is: $204,825 in Kings, Queens, New York, Bronx, Richmond, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties; $170,700 in Dutchess, Albany, Columbia, Orange, Saratoga and Ulster counties; $102,400 in all other counties. This is equity (value above mortgages and liens) in a house, co-op shares, a condo unit or a mobile home that you own and live in as your main home.
What is the vehicle exemption in New York?
$5,500 in equity in one motor vehicle; $13,625 if the vehicle is equipped for use by a disabled debtor. Per debtor.
Does New York have a wildcard exemption?
Only if you do not claim the homestead: $1,325 in any personal property, bank account or cash. Also only without the homestead: extra cash (money, bank deposits, savings bonds, tax refunds) up to $6,825, or the amount by which your personal property exemptions fall short of the $13,625 cap, whichever is less (Debt. & Cred. Law 283(2)).
What household goods can I keep in New York?
Clothing, household furniture, one refrigerator, one radio, one TV, one computer, one cellphone, dishes and cooking utensils, stoves and heating equipment, and prescribed health aids have no item-by-item dollar limit. Separate limits: a wedding ring plus a watch, jewelry and art up to $1,325; other books up to $675; pets/domestic animals and their food up to $1,325. In bankruptcy, the total you can protect under these CPLR 5205(a) categories is capped at $13,625 per debtor.
What happens to retirement money in New York?
IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k) and other qualified plans, Keoghs and 457 plans are fully exempt and treated as spendthrift trusts, including in bankruptcy. Payments out of these plans are 100% exempt. Contributions made within 90 days before a creditor's claim was made are not protected.
How much of my pay is exempt in New York?
90% of your earnings for personal services earned within 60 days before (and after) a wage garnishment or motion is made, unless a court finds part of it unnecessary for you and your dependents.