Email this page to a friendArkansas Bankruptcy Exemptions
In general, a debtor may claim exemption of his homestead and certain personal property from attachment and execution of a judgment, or in a bankruptcy proceeding. The standard exemptions are provided under the Constitution of Arkansas. The homestead of any resident of the State of Arkansas, who is married or the head of a family, are exempt from any lien of judgment, decree of any court, or to sale under exectuion or other process thereon, except for obligations that are for the purchase money or specific liens against the homestead, laborer's or mechanic's liens for improvement thereof, or for taxes. If the homestead, which is the residence of the debtor, is located in any city, town or village, it is limited to one acre of land with improvements thereon, and shall not exceed in value the sum of $2,500. If the homestead is located outside any city, town or village, it may not exceed one hundred and sixty acres of land, with the improvements thereon, and shall not exceed in value the sum of $2,500. (Ark. Const. Art. IX, Sec. 3 & 4; 16-66-210.) Personal property exemption permitted under the Arkansas Constitution include the wearing apparels of the debtor and his family. If a debtor is not married, he may select certain personal property, up to the sum of $200, to be exempt from aany process for the collection of a debt founded on a contract. The exemption amount is increased to $500 if the debtor is married or the head of a family. (Ark. Const. Art. IX, Sec. 1 & 2.)
Title 16. Practice, Procedure, and Courts Subtitle 5. Civil Procedure Generally (Chapters 55 to 79) Chapter 66. Execution of Judgments Subchapter 2. Property Subject to Execution--Exemptions§ 16-66-201. General provisions
The following described property shall be liable to be seized and sold under any execution upon any judgment, order, or decree of a court of record: (1) All goods and chattels not exempted in this subchapter; (2) All improvements on the public lands of the United States; (3) The rights and shares in the stock of any bank, insurance company, or other incorporation; (4) Any current gold or silver coin, which shall be returned as so much money collected, without exposing the current gold or silver coin to sale; (5) Any bill or other evidence of debt issued by any moneyed corporation of this state or any other state, belonging to any person against whom an execution shall be issued, at the time the writ is delivered to the officer to be executed, or at any time thereafter; (6) All real estate, whether patented or not, of which the defendant or any person for his or her use, was seized on the day of rendition of the judgment, order, or decree upon which the execution is issued, or at any time thereafter.
§ 16-66-202. Married women
Whenever a judgment has been recovered against a married woman, the judgment may be enforced by execution against her sole and separate estate or property to the same extent and in the same manner as if she were sole.
§ 16-66-203. Liens and encumbrances
(a) Any property, real, personal, or mixed, may be subjected to seizure under execution, garnishment, attachment, or other process, even though the property is subject to mortgage, deed of trust, vendor's lien, conditional sales contract, chattel mortgage, or other lien. Any officer authorized by law to execute process, may seize, levy upon, or otherwise take possession of any property, whether real, personal, or mixed, even though there may be a lien against the property, and he or she may sell the property as provided by law. (b)(1) Any prior lienholder or lienholders of any nature whatsoever shall be made a party or parties to the process, by the plaintiff or his or her attorney serving notice upon the lienholder or lienholders. This notice shall be served by any officer authorized to execute process. In the event the lienholder or lienholders are nonresidents of the State of Arkansas, then the plaintiff or his or her attorney shall give notice of the seizure of the property by registered mail to the lienholder or lienholders at their last known address. The return receipt of the lienholder or lienholders, or the affidavit of the plaintiff or his or her attorney, of the compliance with this subsection, shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the court from which the writ of garnishment, attachment, or other process is issued. (2) Any sale made under the provisions of this section shall be made subject to the lienholder's or lienholders' indebtedness. (c) This section shall not be construed to deprive any person or persons of their homestead or personal exemptions as provided by law.
§ 16-66-204. Leases Every unexpired lease of lands shall be subject to execution and sale as real estate; but this lease shall not be subject to sale under any execution issued by a justice of the peace. § 16-66-205. State ownership No property, whether real, personal, or mixed, or effects, credits, choses in action, assets of any description, securities or moneys belonging to the state, either legally or equitably, or the title of which may be in the state, shall be subject to judgment, decree, execution, or sequestration, or be seized on or sold by virtue of any order, judgment, decree, or process of any court whatever. § 16-66-206. Improvements on public land It is unlawful to levy upon and sell under any execution or decree any improvement, or right of preemption upon the public lands within this state, any law, usage, or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding. However, no other improvement on the public lands, as provided for above, shall be so exempt, except those on which the defendant may reside or cultivate at the time of issuing the execution. § 16-66-207. Burial places (a) The clerk and recorder of deeds of the proper county, when any description of the metes and bounds of a family graveyard or public burial place shall be filed in his or her office, shall make a record of the description in the record of deeds, which shall be sufficient to exempt the land or burial place, not only from taxation, but also from execution. (b) Not more than five (5) acres shall be so exempted under this section.§ 16-66-208. Wages and garnishments
(a)(1) The wages of all laborers and mechanics not exceeding their wages for sixty (60) days shall be exempt from seizure by garnishment, or other legal process if the defendant in any case files with the court from which the process is issued a sworn statement that the sixty (60) days' wages claimed to be exempt is less than the amount exempt to him or her under the Constitution of the state, and that he or she does not own sufficient other personal property which, together with the sixty (60) days' wages, would exceed in amount the limits of the constitutional exemption. (2) The party in whose favor the garnishment has been issued, and who asserts that a claim of exemption is invalid in whole or in part, by giving five (5) days' written notice to the person claiming the exemption, shall be entitled to a hearing before the court or judge issuing the garnishment upon the question of the validity of the claim of exemption. No supersedeas shall be issued for a period of five (5) days after the claim of exemption is made in order to provide time for the party in whose favor the garnishment has been issued to request such hearing. The notice required by this section shall be served by a person authorized to serve a summons under § 16-58-107, and shall be filed in the office of the judge or the clerk issuing the garnishment. (3)(A) If the claim of exemption is not valid, either in whole or in part, then the garnishment proceedings shall be stayed only as to such amount as the court may determine. (B) If the claim of exemption is sustained, the wages of the person claiming such exemption shall not again be seized by garnishment or other legal process, for a period of sixty (60) days. (b)(1) The first twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per week of the net wages of all laborers and mechanics shall be absolutely exempt from garnishment or other legal process without the necessity of the laborer or mechanic filing a schedule of exemptions as provided in subsection (a) of this section. (2) The term “net wages”, as used in this subsection, shall mean gross wages less the deductions actually withheld by the employer for Arkansas income tax, federal income tax, social security, group retirement, and group hospitalization insurance premiums and group life insurance premiums. (c) Any officer violating the provisions of this section shall be subject to the fines and penalty mentioned in § 16-66-214.
§ 16-66-209. Insurance policies
All moneys paid or payable to any resident of this state as the insured or beneficiary designated under any insurance policy or policies providing for the payment of life, sick, accident, or disability benefits shall be exempt from liability or seizure under judicial process of any court and shall not be subjected to the payment of any debt by contract or otherwise by any writ, order, judgment, or decree of any court. However, the validity of any sale, assignment, mortgage, pledge, or hypothecation of any policy of insurance, or, if any avails, proceeds, or benefits thereof, shall in no way be affected by the provisions of this section.
§ 16-66-210. Homestead exemption
(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Homestead Exemption Act of 1981”. (b) The homestead of any resident of this state who is married or the head of a family shall not be subject to the lien of any judgment, or decree of any court, or to sale under execution or other process thereon, except such as may be rendered for the purchase money or for specific liens, laborers' or mechanics' liens for improving the homestead, or for taxes, or against executors, administrators, guardians, receivers, attorneys for moneys collected by them, and other trustees of an express trust for moneys due from them, in their fiduciary capacity. (c)(1) The homestead outside any city, town, or village, owned and occupied as a residence, shall consist of no more than one hundred sixty (160) acres of land, with the improvements thereon, to be selected by the owner. The homestead shall not exceed in value the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), but, in no event shall the homestead be reduced to less than eighty (80) acres, without regard to value. (2) The homestead in any city, town, or village, owned and occupied as a residence, shall consist of not more than one (1) acre of land, with the improvements thereon, to be selected by the owner. The homestead shall not exceed the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) in value, but in no event shall the homestead be reduced to less than one-quarter ( 1/4 ) of an acre of land, without regard to value. (3) Any homestead outside any city, town, or village, owned and occupied as a residence, which is annexed to or made part of an incorporated city or town within the State of Arkansas, shall retain its exemption under subdivision (c)(1) of this section as long as the land on which it is located remains rural in nature and has a significant agricultural use. (d) The homestead provided for in this section shall inure to the benefit of the minor children, under the exemptions provided in this section, after the demise of the parents.
§ 16-66-211. Claims; schedule of property
(a)(1) Whenever any resident of this state, upon the issue against him or her for the collection of any debt by contract of any execution or other process, of any attachment except specific attachment against his or her property, desires to claim any of the exemptions provided for by law, he or she shall prepare a schedule, verified by affidavit, of all his or her property. This schedule shall include moneys, rights, credits, and choses in action held by himself or herself or others for him or her and specifying the particular property which he or she claims as exempt under the provisions of the Arkansas Constitution, Article 9. (2) After giving five (5) days' notice in writing to the opposing party or his or her agent or attorney, the resident claiming the exemption shall file the schedule with the judge or clerk issuing the execution or other process or attachment. (3) A hearing shall be ordered by the court or judge issuing the process if, within five (5) days after receiving the notice required to be given by the person claiming the exemption, the party in whose favor the process issued files a request for a hearing with the judge or clerk of the court. (4) If after the hearing, either in open court or by the judge in vacation, the claim of exemption is determined to be valid, then supersedeas shall issue, staying any sale or further proceeding under the execution, process, or attachment against the property described in the schedule, and claimed as exempted, and by returning the property to the defendant. (5) No alias execution shall be levied on property relieved from process by claim of exemption until one (1) year from the date of the filing of the schedule of exemptions. (b)(1) If the debtor has other property than that claimed in any former schedule, the officer shall levy upon that other property. (2) If the debtor desires to claim further exemptions, he shall include all his property in any schedule therefor. (c) If in any such schedule it appears that the debtor has more property in value than is exempt by law, he or she shall select his or her exemptions. The remainder of the property shall be subject to the levy of the execution, whether the property is included in any former schedule or not. (d) An appeal may be taken to the circuit court from any order of judgment rendered by a justice of the peace upon the filing of the affidavit and upon executing the bond required in other cases of appeal.
§ 16-66-212. Forfeiture of homestead rights
(a) A debtor's right of homestead shall not be lost or forfeited by his or her omission to select and claim it as exempt before the sale thereof on execution, nor by his or her failure to file a description or schedule of the homestead in the recorder's or clerk's office. (b) The debtor may select and claim his or her homestead after or before its sale on execution and may set up his or her right of homestead when suit is brought against him or her for possession. (c) If a spouse neglects or refuses to make such claim, his or her spouse may intervene and set it up. (d) If the debtor does not reside on his or her homestead and is the owner of more land than he or she is entitled to hold as a homestead, the debtor or his or her spouse, as the case may be, shall select the homestead before sale.
§ 16-66-213. Appraisals
(a) Upon application to the justice or clerk by the plaintiff in whose favor such execution, process, or attachment shall have been issued, the justice or clerk, as the case may be, shall forthwith appoint three (3) disinterested appraisers, to be summoned and sworn by the officer levying the attachment, execution, or process. (b)(1) The appraisers shall proceed at once to appraise the property claimed as exempt. (2) The appraisal signed by a majority of the appraisers shall be returned with the writ. (c)(1) If a majority of the appraisers decides that the full amount of the property described and claimed as exempted in the schedule is within the limit of valuation prescribed by the Constitution, then the officer levying the attachment or execution or enforcing other process, shall surrender the property to the defendant. The costs of the proceeding shall be paid by the plaintiff making application for the appraisal. (2) If the decision shall be that the property described exceeds in value the amount exempted by the Constitution, then the justice or the clerk shall revoke the supersedeas so far as concerns such items of the property described as the appraisers may designate as in excess of the amount of exemption provided for by the Constitution, and the costs of the proceeding shall be paid by the defendant in the action. (d) Either party shall have the right to appeal from the decision of the board of appraisers provided for in this section. If the board has been appointed by a justice of the peace, then the appeal shall be made to the circuit court of the county upon presentation of a duly certified transcript of the attachment, execution, or other process issued and of the decision of the appraisers. If the board has been appointed by the clerk of a court, then the appeal shall be made to the court by whose clerk the board was appointed. (e) The appraisers shall each receive as compensation for their services the sum of three dollars ($3.00) per day for each day's service rendered, not to exceed two (2) days. This amount is to be taxed in the costs of the proceeding.
§ 16-66-214. Stays; liability of officers
(a) When the schedule provided for in § 16-66-211 has been filed as prescribed in that section, the provisions of Chapter VI, of Title XV of the Code of Civil Practice shall not be considered as applying to the case of the execution or other final process stayed. (b)(1) No indemnifying bond shall be received by the officer levying the execution or enforcing the final process. (2) If any officer, under the pretext of having received an indemnifying bond, undertakes to sell the property described in the schedule, he or she shall be deemed guilty of gross misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned in the county jail for a term of not less than one (1) month nor to exceed two (2) months and shall be fined in a sum not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500). He or she shall furthermore be liable upon his official bond to the defendant in twice the amount of damages incurred by the defendant.
§ 16-66-215. Evasion of exemption law in collection of debt--Penalty
Whoever, whether principal, agent, or attorney, under the statutes of this state on the subject of the exemption of property from levy and sale on execution, or in attachment or garnishment, with intent to deprive any resident of this state of his or her rights, sends or causes to be sent out of this state any claim for debt to be collected by proceeding in attachment, garnishment, or other mesne process when the creditor, debtor, person, and corporation owing for the earnings intended to be reached by such proceedings is each within the jurisdiction of the courts of this state shall be guilty of a violation and upon conviction shall be fined for each and every claim so sent out of this state in any sum not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00).
§ 16-66-216. Assignment or transfer of debt--Penalty for evasion
Whoever, either directly or indirectly, assigns or transfers any claims for debts against a citizen of this state for the purpose of having the claims for debts collected by proceedings in attachment, garnishment, or other process out of the wages or personal earnings of the debtor in courts outside of this state when the creditor, debtor, person, or corporation owing the money intended to be reached by the proceedings in attachment is each within the jurisdiction of the courts of this state shall be guilty of a violation and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00).
§ 16-66-217. Federal bankruptcy proceedings
Residents of this state having the right to claim exemptions in a bankruptcy proceeding pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 522 shall have the right to elect either: (i) The property exemptions provided by the Constitution and the laws of the State of Arkansas; or (ii) The property exemptions provided by 11 U.S.C. § 522(d).
§ 16-66-218. State bankruptcy proceedings
(a) The following property shall be exempt from execution under bankruptcy proceedings pursuant to Pub. L. No. 95-598: (1) The unmarried debtor's aggregate interest, not exceeding eight hundred dollars ($800) in value, and the married debtor's aggregate interest, not exceeding one thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($1,250) in value, in real or personal property that the debtor or a dependent of the debtor uses as a residence, in a cooperative that owns property that the debtor or a dependent of the debtor uses as a residence, or in a burial plot for the debtor or a dependent of the debtor; (2) The debtor's interest, not to exceed one thousand two hundred dollars ($1,200) in one (1) motor vehicle; (3) The debtor's aggregate interest in the debtor's or the debtor's spouse's wedding bands, including diamonds mounted thereon not exceeding one-half ( 1/2 ) carat in weight; (4) The debtor's aggregate interest, not to exceed seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) in value in any implements, professional books, or tools, of the trade of the debtor or the trade of a dependent of the debtor. (b) The exemptions granted in subsection (a) of this section shall be in addition to the present exemptions granted by Arkansas law as listed below: (1) The personal property of an unmarried person not the head of a family not exceeding a value of two hundred dollars ($200) in addition to such person's wearing apparel--Arkansas Constitution, Article 9, Section 1; (2) The personal property of a married person or head of a family not exceeding a value of five hundred dollars ($500) in addition to such person's wearing apparel--Arkansas Constitution, Article 9, § 2; (3) Rural homesteads not exceeding one hundred sixty (160) acres of land with improvements thereon, up to two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) in value but in no event less than eighty (80) acres without regard to value--Arkansas Constitution, Article 9, § 4; (4) The urban homestead not exceeding one (1) acre of land with improvements thereon, but not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) in value, but in no event to be less than one-quarter ( 1/4 ) of an acre of land without regard to value--Arkansas Constitution, Article 9, § 5; (5) The rural or urban homestead of a widow or surviving dependent children including the rents and profits from such homestead--Arkansas Constitution, Article 9, § 6; (6) Sixty (60) days' wages, not exceeding the limits imposed by the Arkansas Constitution, Article 9, §§ 1 and 2, but in no instance less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per week -- § 16-66-208; (7) Proceeds of life, health, accident, and disability insurance -- § 16-66-209; (8) Department of Arkansas State Police retirement benefits -- §§ 24-6-202, 24-6-205, 24-6-223; (9) Stipulated premium insurance benefits -- § 23-71-112; (10) Mutual assessment insurance benefits -- § 23-72-114; (11) Fraternal benefit society benefits--§ 23-74-119; (12) Assets of delinquent insurer -- § 23-68-120; (13) Rights to unemployment benefits and benefits received but not mingled with other funds except for debts incurred for necessities furnished during the time of unemployment -- §§ 11-10-107 -- 11-10-110; (14) Workers' compensation benefits -- § 11-9-110; (15) Public welfare assistance grants -- § 20-76-430; (16) All contributions made by a debtor to an individual retirement account, as that term is defined for federal income tax purposes and state income tax purposes, for a period exceeding one (1) year prior to the filing of a petition of bankruptcy. However, the maximum amount of individual retirement account contributions that may be claimed under this subdivision shall not exceed twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) for an individual and twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) for a husband and wife combined; and (17) All other benefits exempt by law but not specifically enumerated herein.
§ 16-66-219. Wedding rings
A person's wedding ring shall be exempt from attachment, execution, and seizure for satisfaction of debts.
§ 16-66-220. Pension and profit-sharing plans.
(a)(1) A person's right to the assets held in or to receive payments, whether vested or not, under a pension, profit-sharing, or similar plan or contract, including a retirement plan for self-employed individuals, or under an individual retirement account or an individual retirement annuity, including a simplified employee pension plan, is exempt from attachment, execution, and seizure for the satisfaction of debts unless the plan, contract, or account does not qualify under the applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. (2) A person's right to the assets held in or to receive payments, whether vested or not, under a government or church plan or contract is also exempt unless the plan or contract does not qualify under the definition of a government or church plan under the applicable provisions of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. [FN1] (b)(1) Contributions to an individual retirement account that exceed the amounts deductible under the applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and any accrued earnings on such contributions are not exempt under this section unless otherwise exempt by law. (2) However, the limitations of subdivision (b)(1) of this section do not apply to an individual retirement account established pursuant to and qualifying under § 408(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. [FN1] 29 U.S.C.A. § 1001 et seq.
