A California bankruptcy exemptions chart comes down to a single choice: System 1 under Code of Civil Procedure Section 704, or System 2 under Section 703.140. California has opted out of the federal exemptions, so every filer in the state uses one set or the other. You cannot mix them, both spouses in a joint case must pick the same one, and the choice is final for that case. System 1 is built for homeowners with real equity. System 2 is built for renters and for people whose wealth sits in cash, a tax refund, or investments rather than a house.
Side-by-Side Chart
All figures reflect currently enacted statutory amounts.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 703.1402California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 704 – Article 3
| Asset Category | System 1 (CCP 704) | System 2 (CCP 703.140) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary residence | County median or statutory floor (2026 max approximately $743,681) | $29,275 |
| Wildcard (any property) | None | $1,550 plus any unused residence exemption (up to $30,825) |
| Motor vehicles | $7,500 | $7,500 |
| Household goods | No fixed cap; ordinary and necessary items | $725 per item |
| Jewelry, heirlooms, and art | $8,725 | $1,750 (jewelry) |
| Tools of the trade | $8,725 | $8,725 |
| Personal injury recovery | Amount necessary for support | $29,275 |
| Life insurance cash value | $13,975 per spouse | Not separately listed |
| Health aids | Fully exempt | Not separately listed |
| Social Security, unemployment, veterans’, disability | Protected, with account limits | Fully exempt |
Which System Fits Your Situation
If you own a home with meaningful equity, System 1 almost always wins. Its homestead exemption equals the greater of your county’s median single-family home sale price from the prior calendar year or a statutory floor, with both figures adjusted annually for California’s Consumer Price Index. For 2026, the ceiling reaches approximately $743,681 depending on your county.3California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 704.730 Counties with median prices below the floor still get the floor amount. Nothing in System 2 comes close.
If you rent, or you own a home with little equity, System 2 usually wins. The residence exemption is only $29,275, but any portion you don’t use rolls into a wildcard that can protect nearly anything you own. A renter with no home equity has $30,825 in flexible protection to apply to a bank balance, a tax refund coming in, brokerage holdings, or an asset that has no dedicated category. System 1 has no wildcard at all.
The middle case is the hardest. Someone who owns a home with modest equity and also holds meaningful cash or investments has to run the numbers both ways. Every asset gets measured against a single system’s limits, and there is no partial credit.
What System 1 Protects
Beyond the homestead, System 1 covers the personal property most households need to keep, though its non-home limits are relatively modest:
- Motor vehicles up to $7,500 in combined equity across all vehicles.
- Jewelry, heirlooms, and art up to $8,725 total.
- Tools of the trade up to $8,725, including work equipment, books, uniforms, and one commercial vehicle.
- Ordinary household furniture, appliances, and clothing that are reasonably necessary, with no specific dollar cap.
- Prosthetics, wheelchairs, and other medically prescribed devices, fully exempt.
- Cash or loan value of unmatured life insurance policies up to $13,975 per spouse, combinable for married couples.
These amounts come from CCP Sections 704.010 through 704.200 and are subject to periodic adjustment.2California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 704 – Article 3 The pattern is consistent: System 1 pours its protective power into the home and gives everything else a workable but limited allowance.
What System 2 Protects
System 2 trades the big homestead for flexibility. The wildcard is $1,550 in any property you choose, plus any unused portion of the $29,275 residence exemption. If you own no home at all, the full $30,825 is available to shield cash, a tax refund, stock, or anything else that doesn’t fit a named category.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 703.140
The named categories under System 2 include:
- Motor vehicle equity up to $7,500.
- Household goods up to $725 per item, covering furniture, appliances, clothing, books, and similar personal-use property.
- Jewelry held for personal or family use up to $1,750.
- Tools of the trade up to $8,725.
- Personal injury recoveries up to $29,275 for bodily injury payments to you, your spouse, or a dependent.
The personal injury exemption often surprises filers who don’t realize a settlement counts as a bankruptcy asset. If you’ve received or expect a personal injury payment, System 2 keeps a significant portion out of the trustee’s reach. Social Security, unemployment, veterans’, and disability benefits are also fully exempt under System 2 with no dollar cap.
Retirement Accounts Either Way
Retirement savings receive strong protection regardless of which system you pick. Employer-sponsored plans qualified under federal ERISA rules — 401(k)s, 403(b)s, profit-sharing plans, and traditional pensions — are fully exempt with no dollar limit, because that protection flows from federal law. SEP-IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs funded entirely by employer contributions generally get the same unlimited treatment.
Traditional and Roth IRAs you fund yourself are exempt up to a cap. For cases filed between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2028, the combined IRA limit is $1,711,975 per person. Retirement benefits already being paid out as regular monthly income are a different matter: they lose exempt status to the extent they exceed what the court considers reasonably necessary for your basic support.
Married Couples Cannot Double Up
Because California opted out of the federal system, the federal rule allowing each spouse to claim a separate set of exemptions does not apply here. Both spouses in a joint filing must use the same system, and in most categories they share a single exemption amount rather than each getting a full one.
The homestead is definitively one per household, even if both spouses appear on the deed. The Ninth Circuit has repeatedly upheld this reading. A narrow exception applies to life insurance under CCP 704.100, where each spouse gets a separate $13,975 exemption for cash value and the two can be combined regardless of who owns the policies.2California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 704 – Article 3 Couples with complicated assets should confirm the treatment of each category with a bankruptcy attorney before filing.
Residency: You Have to Qualify First
Federal law controls which state’s exemptions you may use, and the timeline is strict. To claim California’s exemptions at all, you must have lived in California for the full 730 days — two years — immediately before filing.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 522 – Exemptions
If you haven’t been here that long, the court looks at where you lived for the majority of the 180-day period before that two-year window, and you use that state’s exemptions. Someone who moved to California 18 months ago from Oregon, and who lived in Oregon for most of the 180 days before that move, would file in California but claim Oregon’s exemptions.
If applying the domicile rules would leave you eligible for no state’s exemptions at all — for instance, because your prior state bars non-residents from using its list — you can elect the federal exemptions under 11 U.S.C. § 522(d). That safety valve exists so recent movers are not left with nothing.
What Happens to Anything Over the Limits
Any equity above your exemption limits is available to the Chapter 7 trustee, who can sell the asset, pay you the exempt portion, and distribute the rest to creditors.5United States Courts. Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy Basics Exemptions also matter in Chapter 13: your repayment plan must pay unsecured creditors at least what they would have received in a Chapter 7 liquidation, so non-exempt equity raises your minimum plan payment. Picking the system that maximizes your exemptions reduces that number directly.