Though the Federal Law has the highest authority and power for passing laws related to bankruptcy, it also gives each state the independent authority for deciding the type of properties a debtor can keep at the time of filing for bankruptcy. Such laws that give such type of protection to the debtors are called exemptions. Those properties that are owned by the debtors at these times are called bankruptcy estate. Yes! The properties that seems included in the bankruptcy estate can be taken back to be sold so that the money can be paid to creditors.

Nowadays few states have also introduced their own exemptions eliminating the necessity to involve the federal laws here. Since residents of the state have the choice to choose between the either state exemptions or federal exemptions. One should remember that the federal exemptions are different from the state exemptions and the state exemptions differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, For example if the exemption for a car in Texas is $30000 then it may be $1000 for a place like Florida. So, depending on the location where one stays, the amount of bankruptcy that has to be files is known.

We have heard of the term wild cards mostly in Games, but did you know that we have wild card concept in Exemptions too. By Using a Wild card that may be introduced in certain states, one can get exemption that can be applied to any property, Here also the value of the wild cards will differ from place to place.

On the other hand, apart from these state and federal laws one need to give attention on the residency requirements too. To be eligible for the state exemptions, one should be a resident of that state for at least two years. In case you have not been in one place for more than two years then it requires trying for federal exemptions. Any exemption will work best depending on the property that is being protected either its home or vehicle.

The Exemptions for any automobile is $3225 whereas the exemptions for the household goods are $10775 and for furnishings it is $525. The Retirement funds like stock bonus plans, annuities, pension plans also come under exemption.