Email this page to a friendOklahoma Exemptions
In general, a debtor may claim exemption of his homestead and certain personal property from attachment or execution or forced sale for the payment of debts.
A debtor's homestead within any city or town, owned and occupied as a residence only, or used for both residential and business purposes, may consist of not exceeding one (1) acre of land, to be selected by the debtor. To qualify for this exemption, at least 75% of the total square foot area of the improvements for which a homestead exemption is claimed must be used as the debtor's principal residence. If more than 25% of the total square foot area of the improvements for which a homestead exemption is claimed is used for business purposes, the homestead exemption amount shall not exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00). (31-2C.) The homestead of a debtor which is not within any city or town, annexed by a city or town on or after November 1, 1997, owned and occupied and used for both residential and commercial agricultural purposes, may consist of not more than one hundred sixty (160) acres of land, which may be in one or more parcels, to be selected by the debtor. (31-2B.)
Personal property which may be exempt, with or without value limitation, from attachment or execution, by the debtor or his dependent, may include all household and kitchen furniture held primarily for the personal, family or household use; any lot or lots in a cemetery held for the purpose of sepulcher; implements of husbandry necessary to farm the homestead; tools, apparatus and books used in any trade or profession; all books, portraits and pictures that are held primarily for the personal, family or household use; wearing apparel not to exceed $4,000 in aggregate value; professionally prescribed health aids; 5 milk cows and their calves under 6 months old; 100 chickens; 2 horses and 2 bridles and 2 saddles; one motor vehicle not to exceed $3,000 in value; one gun; 10 hogs, 20 head of sheep; all provisions and forage on hand, or growing for home consumption, and for the use of exempt stock for one (1) year; 75% of all current wages or earnings for personal or professional services earned during the last ninety (90) days, except as provided in Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes in garnishment proceedings for collection of child support; right to receive alimony, support, separate maintenance or child support payment to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of debtor and his dependent; qualified retirement plans; interest in a claim for personal bodily injury, and death or workers' compensation, for a net amount not to exceed $50,000, but not including any claim for exemplary or punitive damages. (31-1A)
Under the Oklahoma Statutes, no natural person residing in the state may exempt from the property of the estate in any bankruptcy proceeding the property specified in subsection (d) of Section 522 of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, Public Law 95-598, 11 U.S.C.A. 101 et seq. (31-1B)
Oklahoma Statutes Annotated
Title 31. Homestead and Exemptions§ 1. Property exempt from attachment, execution or other forced sale--Bankruptcy proceedings
A. Except as otherwise provided in this title and notwithstanding subsection B of this section, the following property shall be reserved to every person residing in the state, exempt from attachment or execution and every other species of forced sale for the payment of debts, except as herein provided:
1. The home of such person, provided that such home is the principal residence of such person;
2. A manufactured home, provided that such manufactured home is the principal residence of such person;
3. All household and kitchen furniture held primarily for the personal, family, educational or household use of such person or a dependent of such person, including a personal computer and related equipment;
4. Any lot or lots in a cemetery held for the purpose of sepulcher;
5. Implements of husbandry necessary to farm the homestead and tools, apparatus and books used in any trade or profession of such person or a dependent of such person, not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) in aggregate value;
6. All books, portraits and pictures that are held primarily for the personal, family or household use of such person or a dependent of such person;
7. The person's interest, not to exceed Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00) in aggregate value, in wearing apparel that is held primarily for the personal, family or household use of such person or a dependent of such person;
8. The person's interest, not to exceed Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00) in aggregate value, in wedding and anniversary rings;
9. All professionally prescribed health aids for such person or a dependent of such person;
10. Five milk cows and their calves under six (6) months old, that are held primarily for the personal, family or household use of such person or a dependent of such person;
11. One hundred chickens, that are held primarily for the personal, family or household use of such person or a dependent of such person;
12. Two horses and two bridles and two saddles, that are held primarily for the personal, family or household use of such person or a dependent of such person;
13. Such person's interest, not to exceed Seven Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($7,500.00) in value, in one motor vehicle;
14. Guns, not to exceed Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00) in aggregate value, that are held primarily for the personal, family or household use of such person or a dependent of such person, provided that nothing in this subsection shall be construed to allow a person to exempt guns which are used mainly as an investment or nonpersonal, family or household use;
15. Ten hogs, that are held primarily for the personal, family or household use of such person or a dependent of such person;
16. Twenty head of sheep, that are held primarily for the personal, family or household use of such person or a dependent of such person;
17. All provisions and forage on hand, or growing for home consumption, and for the use of exempt stock for one (1) year;
18. Seventy-five percent (75%) of all current wages or earnings for personal or professional services earned during the last ninety (90) days, except as provided in Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes in garnishment proceedings for collection of child support;
19. Such person's right to receive alimony, support, separate maintenance or child support payments to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of such person and any dependent of such person;
20. Subject to the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, Section 112 et seq. of Title 24 of the Oklahoma Statutes, any interest in a retirement plan or arrangement qualified for tax exemption or deferment purposes under present or future Acts of Congress; provided, any transfer or rollover contribution between retirement plans or arrangements which avoids current federal income taxation shall not be deemed a transfer which is fraudulent as to a creditor under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.
“Retirement plan or arrangement qualified for tax exemption purposes” shall include without limitation, trusts, custodial accounts, insurance, annuity contracts and other properties and rights constituting a part thereof. By way of example and not by limitation, retirement plans or arrangements qualified for tax exemption or deferment purposes permitted under present Acts of Congress include defined contribution plans and defined benefit plans as defined under the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”), individual retirement accounts, individual retirement annuities, simplified employee pension plans, Keogh plans, IRC Section 403(a) annuity plans, IRC Section 403(b) annuities, Roth individual retirement accounts created pursuant to IRC Section 408A, educational individual retirement accounts created pursuant to IRC Section 530 and eligible state deferred compensation plans governed under IRC Section 457.
This provision shall be in addition to and not a limitation of any other provision of the Oklahoma Statutes which grants an exemption from attachment or execution and every other species of forced sale for the payment of debts. This provision shall be effective for retirement plans and arrangements in existence on, or created after April 16, 1987;
21. Such person's interest in a claim for personal bodily injury, death or workers' compensation claim, for a net amount not in excess of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00), but not including any claim for exemplary or punitive damages;
22. Funds in an individual development account established pursuant to the provisions of Section 251 et seq. of Title 56 of the Oklahoma Statutes;
23. Any amount received pursuant to the federal earned income tax credit; and
24. Any interest in an Oklahoma College Savings Plan account established pursuant to the provisions of Section 3970.1 et seq. of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes.
B. No natural person residing in this state may exempt from the property of the estate in any bankruptcy proceeding the property specified in subsection (d) of Section 522 of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, Public Law 95-598, 11 U.S.C.A. 101 et seq., except as may otherwise be expressly permitted under this title or other statutes of this state.
§ 1.1. Earnings from personal services--Exemption from process--Order
A. Following the issuance of an execution, attachment, or garnishment, except process to collect a judgment or order for child support or maintenance of children or in cases in which the court has limited or reduced the application of this section pursuant to Section 142.18 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes, the debtor may file with the court an application requesting a hearing to exempt from such process by reason of undue hardship that portion of any earnings from personal services necessary for the maintenance of a family or other dependents supported wholly or partially by the labor of the debtor. A debtor with no family or other dependents may not claim an exemption under this section. A hearing on the application shall be set and conducted in the manner provided by Section 1172.2 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes and subsection C of Section 1174 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes.
B. In determining the existence of an undue hardship, the court should consider the income and expenses of the family and other dependents, and the standard of living created by the income and expenses. The court should also consider the standard of living in relationship to the minimal subsistence needs of the debtor's family and other dependents, with comparison to the minimal subsistence standards in the community, in regard to basic shelter, food, clothing, personal necessities and transportation. The court should then determine if the lack of the funds sought to be exempt would be an undue hardship by creating less than a minimal level of subsistence. If deprivation of these earnings would create an undue hardship on the debtor and the family or other dependents the debtor supports, the court may:
1. Order all or a portion of the personal earnings exempt; or
2. In the case of a continuing earnings garnishment pursuant to Section 1173.4 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes, exempt all or a portion of the personal earnings withheld within the thirty (30) days preceding the filing of the claim for exemption or modify or stay the garnishment for a period of time not to exceed the remainder of the term of the garnishment.
§ 1.3. Certain income not exempt from process
The determination and order issued by the court pursuant to a hearing requested under Section 1.1 of this title shall not take into consideration any total gross family income which exceeds one hundred twenty times the federal minimum hourly wage prescribed by Section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, U.S.C. Title 29, Section 206(a)(1) as amended and in effect at the time the earnings are payable or the equivalent for pay periods other than one (1) week. The excess amounts shall not be subject to exemption due to undue hardship.
§ 2. Homestead--Area and value--Indian allottees--Temporary renting
A. The homestead of any person in this state, not within any city or town, shall consist of not more than one hundred sixty (160) acres of land, which may be in one or more parcels, to be selected by the owner.
B. Effective November 1, 1997, the homestead of any person in this state, not within any city or town, annexed by a city or town on or after November 1, 1997, owned and occupied and used for both residential and commercial agricultural purposes shall consist of not more than one hundred sixty (160) acres of land, which may be in one or more parcels, to be selected by the owner.
C. The homestead of any person within any city or town, owned and occupied as a residence only, or used for both residential and business purposes, shall consist of not exceeding one (1) acre of land, to be selected by the owner.
For purposes of this subsection, at least seventy-five percent (75%) of the total square foot area of the improvements for which a homestead exemption is claimed must be used as the principal residence in order to qualify for the exemption. If more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the total square foot area of the improvements for which a homestead exemption is claimed is used for business purposes, the homestead exemption amount shall not exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00).
D. Nothing in the laws of the United States, or any treaties with the Indian tribes in the state, shall deprive any Indian or other allottee of the benefit of the homestead and exemption laws of the state.
E. Any temporary renting of the homestead shall not change the character of the same, when no other homestead has been acquired.
§ 3. Persons not protected
The exemption herein provided for must not be construed to apply to the following persons, namely:
1. To a nonresident.
2. To a debtor who is in the act of removing his family from the state; or,
3. Who has absconded, taking with him his family.
§ 5. Homestead exemptions shall not apply, when
The exemption of the homestead provided for in this chapter [FN1] shall not apply where the debt is due:
1. For the purchase money of such homestead or a part of such purchase money.
2. For taxes or other legal assessments due thereon.
3. For work and material used in constructing improvements thereon.
§ 6. Exempt personalty subject to attachment or execution for wages
None of the personal property mentioned in this chapter, [FN1] shall be exempt from attachment or execution for wages of any clerk, mechanic, laborer or servant.
§ 7. Pension money exempt
There shall also be exempt from levy and sale upon execution or attachment to every resident of this state who became disabled in the service of the United States as a soldier, sailor, or marine, all pension money hereafter received belonging to such soldier, sailor or marine.
