Bankruptcy exemptions in Washington: what you can keep

The greater of $125,000 or the county median sale price of a single-family home in the previous calendar year, in the net value (market value minus senior liens) of the home you live in or intend to live in, including a mobile home, with no acreage limit.

To find the figure for your county, use the 'Annual Median Price' table that the Western District bankruptcy court links to from its home page (Washington Center for Real Estate Research): https://wcrer.be.uw.edu/housing-market-data-toolkit/annual-median-price/. Courts must use that data. For a case filed in 2026, the figure is the county median for calendar year 2025. Protection is automatic once you occupy the home as your principal residence; a recorded declaration is needed only for land not yet lived on. A sale in bankruptcy counts as a 'forced sale' under the homestead law.

Law: RCW 6.13.030(2); RCW 6.13.010, 6.13.030, 6.13.040

$31,575

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(1)

One motor vehicle up to $15,000 in value, per person (each spouse gets their own).

Law: RCW 6.15.010(1)(d)(iv), (3)

$5,025

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(2)

All clothing, but furs, jewelry and personal ornaments only up to $3,500 per person; private libraries and electronic media up to $3,500, plus all family pictures and keepsakes; a cell phone, personal computer and printer; household goods, appliances, furniture and home and yard equipment up to $6,500 per person (includes food and fuel); professionally prescribed health aids.

Law: RCW 6.15.010(1)(a)-(d)(i), (d)(vi)

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)

In a bankruptcy case: any other personal property up to $10,000 per person (not wages), valued on the date you file.

Law: RCW 6.15.010(1)(d)(ii)

$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, instruments, materials and supplies used in your trade, up to $15,000 per person.

Law: RCW 6.15.010(1)(e)

$3,175

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(6)

In bankruptcy, wages are exempt to the same extent as under Washington garnishment law: the greater of 75% of weekly disposable earnings or 35 times the federal minimum wage; for consumer debt, the greater of 80% or 35 times the state minimum wage; for private student loans, the greater of 85% or 50 times the highest minimum wage in the state.

Law: RCW 6.15.050(1); RCW 6.27.150

Pensions and employee benefit plans, 401(a), 403(a), 403(b), traditional and Roth IRAs, Keogh plans and also health savings accounts and medical savings accounts are exempt. Federal government pensions received by Washington residents are exempt too. Exceptions: child support collection, certain state tax collection, and qualified domestic relations orders.

Law: RCW 6.15.020

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

Unemployment benefits, workers' compensation (industrial insurance) payments and public assistance grants are exempt; public assistance is also kept out of bankruptcy.

Law: RCW 50.40.020; RCW 51.32.040; RCW 74.08.210

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)

• Child support, alimony and spousal support paid or owed to you (past, current or future) are exempt if they can be traced.
• In a bankruptcy case, personal-injury and lost-future-earnings payments are exempt, except for liens or subrogation claims tied to that injury.
• Washington GET tuition units and 529 plan or Coverdell education account contributions made more than 2 years before filing are exempt.

Law: RCW 6.15.010(1)(d)(v); RCW 6.15.010(1)(d)(viii); RCW 6.15.010(1)(f)

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)