Exempt Property in Florida: Home, Wages, and Retirement

Exempt property in Florida is the range of assets a creditor cannot seize to satisfy a judgment or a bankruptcy claim, and the list is unusually generous. Your primary home has no dollar cap. Retirement accounts, life insurance proceeds, annuities, disability benefits, workers’ compensation, Social Security, and 529 college savings are all protected. Wages are largely shielded if you support a family, and a set amount of personal property and vehicle equity is safe for everyone. A handful of debts, including federal taxes and child support, can still cut through these protections.

Your Home

Florida’s homestead exemption is written into the state constitution, which makes it far harder to erode than an ordinary statute. If you own and occupy a home as your primary residence, no court judgment can force its sale to pay most debts. Single-family houses, condominiums, and mobile homes all qualify, and there is no cap on value. A $5 million home is protected the same as a $150,000 one.¹

Size does matter. Inside a municipality, the protected lot cannot exceed half an acre. Outside city limits, up to 160 contiguous acres are covered.¹

Three types of debt can still take your home: unpaid property taxes, any mortgage or loan used to buy or improve the property, and debts for work performed on the home itself, such as a contractor’s lien for an unpaid renovation. Fall behind on any of these and foreclosure is possible.¹

What about pouring cash into a house specifically to keep it away from creditors? The Florida Supreme Court in Havoco of America, Ltd. v. Hill held that a homestead bought with that intent is still protected. The constitution lists three exceptions to the exemption, and fraudulent intent is not one of them.²

Bankruptcy adds one federal limit the state cannot override. Any homestead equity acquired during the 1,215 days before you file is capped at $214,000 for cases filed on or after April 1, 2025. Equity built before that window is not affected.³

Your Paycheck and Bank Account

Wage protection turns on whether you are a “head of family,” which the statute defines as anyone providing more than half the financial support for a child or other dependent.⁴

If you qualify, all disposable earnings up to $750 per week are completely off-limits. Anything above $750 can only be taken if you agree in writing, and that waiver must be in the same language as the contract that created the debt.⁴

Once wages hit a bank account, they stay exempt for six months as long as you can trace the funds back to earnings. Mixing wages with other money doesn’t automatically destroy the exemption, but you’ll have to prove which dollars came from your paycheck. A dedicated account for direct deposits makes that far easier if a creditor tries to freeze your funds.⁴

If you are not a head of family, your wages can be garnished under the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act. Creditors can take whichever is less: 25% of disposable earnings for the week, or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage. Below that floor, nothing can be garnished.⁵

Your Car and Everyday Belongings

The Florida Constitution exempts up to $1,000 in personal property from forced sale for every individual, regardless of whether you also claim a homestead. Furniture, electronics, clothing, and the like fall under this.¹

Florida Statutes 222.25 adds four more categories:

Up to $5,000 of equity in a single motor vehicle. The cap rose from $1,000 on July 1, 2024.
Professionally prescribed health aids for you or a dependent, with no dollar limit.
Any earned income tax credit refund under Section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code, including traceable deposits of that refund.
An additional $4,000 wildcard in personal property of any kind, available only if you do not claim or receive a homestead exemption.

The EITC exemption and the $4,000 wildcard both fail against child support and spousal support debts.⁶

Your Retirement Savings

Florida shields retirement money broadly. Funds in a 401(k), 403(b), IRA, Roth IRA, SEP, SIMPLE, pension, or deferred compensation plan that qualifies for tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code are fully exempt from creditor claims, with no state-law dollar limit.⁷

Inherited IRAs get explicit protection too. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that inherited IRAs are not “retirement funds” under the Bankruptcy Code, stripping them of federal protection. Florida’s statute closes that gap: retirement funds transferred after the owner’s death, including rollovers into an inherited IRA, stay exempt from creditors, and the legislature made the provision retroactive.⁷

Benefits under the Florida Retirement System, which covers state and local government employees, are separately protected, along with the accumulated contributions and investments in the trust fund.⁸

One federal wrinkle applies in bankruptcy. Traditional and Roth IRAs are capped at $1,711,975 combined for cases filed between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2028. Employer-sponsored plans such as 401(k)s and pensions have no federal dollar limit.³

None of these protections stop a qualified domestic relations order dividing retirement assets in a divorce, or a surviving spouse’s elective share claim in probate.⁷

Life Insurance, Annuities, and Disability Benefits

When a Florida resident dies with a life insurance policy, the proceeds go to the named beneficiary and are exempt from the deceased person’s creditors, unless the policy or a valid assignment says otherwise.⁹

The cash surrender value of a life insurance policy and the proceeds of any annuity issued to a Florida citizen or resident are also protected. The living value of a whole life policy or an annuity is shielded, not just the death benefit. The exception: a policy or annuity taken out specifically for the benefit of the creditor pursuing the claim.¹⁰

Disability income benefits under any life, health, or accident insurance policy are fully exempt, subject to the same creditor-beneficiary exception.¹¹

Workers’ Compensation and Social Security

Workers’ compensation benefits cannot be levied, garnished, or attached by any creditor, and the protection cannot be waived. It does not, however, shield the benefits from child support or alimony claims.¹²

Social Security benefits are protected under federal law. The right to Social Security payments cannot be transferred, assigned, or reached by any creditor through garnishment, levy, or other process, in any state and in bankruptcy.¹³

Education and Medical Savings

Money in a qualified tuition program under Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code is fully exempt from creditors, including Florida Prepaid College Trust Fund contracts. The protection covers contributions, distributions, plan assets, and income the plan generates. Neither the account owner’s creditors nor the beneficiary’s creditors can reach the funds. The same statute protects medical savings accounts, Coverdell education savings accounts, and hurricane savings accounts.¹⁴

Debts That Can Still Reach Exempt Property

The IRS is the biggest exception. A federal tax lien can attach to virtually any property you own, including assets Florida law would otherwise protect. State exemption laws do not limit federal tax liens, so your homestead, retirement accounts, and other exempt property can all be pulled into IRS collection for unpaid federal taxes. The only property carved out is restricted land held in trust by the United States for a noncompetent individual Indian.¹⁵

Child support and alimony are the other major gap. The $4,000 non-homestead wildcard, the earned income tax credit exemption, and workers’ compensation benefits can all be reached to satisfy support obligations, and Florida courts have imposed liens on homestead property in some cases where a former spouse used the exemption to dodge support.

What to Know Before Filing Bankruptcy in Florida

Florida has opted out of the federal bankruptcy exemption system. If you file for bankruptcy here, you use Florida’s exemptions, not the federal list.¹⁶

If you recently moved to Florida, you may not qualify yet. Federal bankruptcy law requires you to have been domiciled in a state for at least 730 days (roughly two years) before filing to claim that state’s exemptions. If you fall short, you generally use the exemptions of the state where you lived during the 180 days before that 730-day period. This trips up people who move to Florida specifically for the protections.³

Exempt property is also not automatic in bankruptcy. You must list each asset you want to protect on Schedule C of the petition. Missing an asset can mean losing property that would otherwise have been exempt. Creditors and the trustee can object, and the court decides based on the statute and the value of the property.

1
FindLaw. Florida Constitution Art. X, Section 4
2
FindLaw. Havoco of America Ltd v. Hill (2001)
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 522 – Exemptions
4
Florida Senate. Florida Code 222.11 – Exemption of Wages From Garnishment
5
Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 222.11 – Exemption of Wages From Garnishment
6
Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 222.25 – Other Individual Property of Natural Persons Exempt From Legal Process
7
Florida Senate. Florida Code 222.21 – Exemption of Pension Money and Certain Tax-Exempt Funds or Accounts From Legal Processes
8
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 121.131 – Benefits Exempt From Taxes and Execution
9
Florida Senate. Florida Code 222.13 – Life Insurance Policies; Disposition of Proceeds
10
Florida Senate. Florida Code 222.14 – Exemption of Cash Surrender Value of Life Insurance Policies and Annuity Contracts From Legal Process
11
Florida Senate. Florida Code 222.18 – Exempting Disability Income Benefits From Legal Processes
12
Florida Senate. Florida Code 440.22 – Assignment and Exemption From Claims of Creditors
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 407 – Assignment of Benefits
14
Florida Senate. Florida Code 222.22 – Exemption of Assets in Qualified Tuition Programs, Medical Savings Accounts, Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, and Hurricane Savings Accounts From Legal Process
15
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Internal Revenue Manual 5.17.2 – Federal Tax Liens
16
Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 222.20 – Nonavailability of Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions