Florida Bankruptcy Exemptions

Pensions

Your pension payments are exempt if you fall under these categories of workers - teachers, firefighters, police officers, highway patrol officers, county officers and employees, state officers and employees. Tax-exempt retirement accounts, traditional IRA's and Roth IRA's are exempted up to $1,095,000 per person as are your ERISA-qualified benefits.

Wages

If you are the head of your family, your wages are exempted (whether they are paid or unpaid) up to $500 per week. For wages deposited into a bank, you are exempted for up to the same amount for 6 months from the date of the deposit. All federal government employee pension payments that are received up to 3 months prior to the bankruptcy are exempted.

Public Benefits

If you are receiving benefits from the government in the form of public assistance, unemployment compensation, veterans' benefits, worker's compensation or social security, these are exempt. Florida's bankruptcy code also states that crime victim's compensation is exempted except when you are seeking a discharge of your debt for the treatment of a crime related injury.

Alimony and child support

All payments you are receiving in the form of an alimony or child support are exempt.

Tools of Trade

The state of Florida gives no exemptions for this category of asset.

Miscellaneous

If you hold property that is part of a business partnership, such property is exempt. If you are receiving damages to your injuries while working in a hazardous occupation, your damages are exempt as well.

Besides these exemptions, you are also entitled to add any federal non-bankruptcy exemptions.

It must be noted that the law does change from time to time. These exemptions for the state of Florida are the latest given as at December 2009. Consult us at Tampa Bankruptcy (813) 200-4133 for the latest list of exemptions.