Bankruptcy exemptions in Wisconsin: what you can keep

Up to $75,000 per person in your home (house, condo, mobile or manufactured home, house trailer or co-op) and the land reasonably needed for it: at least 0.25 acre if available, up to 40 acres.

Each spouse may claim up to $75,000 in land owned jointly, in common or as marital property. The exemption does not apply against mortgages, laborers' and mechanics' liens, purchase-money liens and taxes. Temporarily moving out with the intent to return does not end it. If you sell the home, up to $75,000 of the proceeds stays exempt for 2 years while you hold it to buy another home.

Law: Wis. Stat. 815.20(1); Wis. Stat. 990.01(14)

$31,575

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

Up to $4,000 total in motor vehicles, per person. You can add any unused part of the $12,000 consumer-goods exemption, so up to $16,000 in vehicles if you use none of the consumer-goods exemption.

Law: Wis. Stat. 815.18(3)(g), (8)

$5,025

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

Up to $12,000 total, per person, in household goods and furnishings, clothing, keepsakes, jewelry, appliances, books, musical instruments, firearms, sporting goods, animals and other personal, family or household property. Also: burial plots and burial items.

Law: Wis. Stat. 815.18(3)(a), (d), (8)

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)

$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)

Up to $15,000 total, per person, in equipment, inventory, farm products and professional books used in your business (or, instead, up to $15,000 in a closely held business that employs you).

Law: Wis. Stat. 815.18(3)(b), (8)

$3,175

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

75% of your net income for each one-week pay period is exempt, to the extent reasonably necessary to support you and your dependents, but never less than 30 times the greater of the state or federal minimum wage. Spouses cannot combine this exemption in the same income. Outside bankruptcy, at least 80% of disposable earnings is protected from an earnings garnishment, and all of it if your household income is below the poverty line or you receive need-based public assistance.

Law: Wis. Stat. 815.18(3)(h), (8); Wis. Stat. 812.34

Retirement plans, pensions, IRAs, Keogh and 401(k) plans and similar plans paying benefits because of age, illness, disability, death or length of service are exempt if the plan complies with the Internal Revenue Code (or meets the other test in the statute). For an 'owner-dominated' plan of a business owner, only what is reasonably necessary for support is exempt. The exemption does not apply to child support, family support or maintenance orders, or divorce judgments.

Law: Wis. Stat. 815.18(3)(j)

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

Workers' compensation, unemployment insurance benefits, public assistance grants, veterans' benefits and federal disability insurance (SSDI) payments are exempt.

Law: Wis. Stat. 102.27(1); Wis. Stat. 108.13(2); Wis. Stat. 49.96; Wis. Stat. 45.03(8)(b); Wis. Stat. 815.18(3)(ds)

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)

• Bank and credit union accounts up to $5,000 total, per person, if for personal (not business) use.
• Child support, family support and maintenance (alimony) payments, to the extent reasonably necessary for your support.
• Personal-injury payments up to $50,000, and wrongful-death, lost-future-earnings and certain life insurance payments to the extent reasonably necessary for support; property traceable to these payments too.
• Unmatured life insurance and annuities you own: the policy itself, plus up to $150,000 in dividends, interest or loan value (only $4,000 for a contract issued or funded less than 24 months before). Also Wisconsin college savings accounts and tuition units.

Law: Wis. Stat. 815.18(3)(k), (8); Wis. Stat. 815.18(3)(c); Wis. Stat. 815.18(3)(i); Wis. Stat. 224.50; 224.48; Wis. Stat. 815.18(3)(f), (o), (p)

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)