Part 7 (1/2)
Household goods and provisions are exempt. The list includes practically every article to be found in the average home. The liberality of the law may be judged from the fact that one hundred gallons of sorghum mola.s.ses and twenty pounds of coffee are listed. The list ends with: twenty bushels of peanuts, three strings of red peppers, two gourds, two punger gourds, a carpet in actual use by the family, not exceeding in value twenty-five dollars, and two hundred bushels of cotton seed.
If the head of the family is engaged in agriculture there is further exempt in his hands the following property: Two plows, two hoes, one grubbing hoe, one cutting knife, one harvest cradle, one set of plow gears, one pitch-fork, one rake, three iron wedges, five head of sheep, and ten head of stock hogs. There is exempt in the hands of each mechanic in the State who is engaged in the pursuit of his trade or occupation one set of mechanic's tools, such as are usual and necessary to the pursuit of his trade; and, if he is the head of a family, two hundred dollars' worth of lumber or material, or products of his labor; also one gun in the hands of every male citizen of the age of eighteen years and upward, and every female who is the head of a family; to the heads of families fifty pounds of picked cotton and twenty-five pounds of wool, and a sufficient quant.i.ty of upper and sole leather to provide winter shoes for the family; also, three hundred pounds of tobacco in the hands of the actual producer; also thirty-five dollars' worth of roughness, to consist of oats, fodder, and hay, or either of them.
A homestead or real estate in the possession of or belonging to each head of a family, and the improvements thereon, to the value in all of one thousand dollars, shall be exempt from sale under legal process during the life of such head of a family, and shall inure to the benefit of his widow and be exempt from sale in any way at the instance of any creditor or creditors during the minority of the children occupying the same and until the youngest child reaches the age of twenty-one years.
TEXAS.
The Const.i.tution of 1875 provides that a homestead of a family not in a town or city consisting of not more than two hundred acres of land, which may be in one or more parcels, with the improvements thereon, or, if in a town or city, lot or lots, not exceeding in value five thousand dollars at the time of designation, without reference to the value of the improvements thereon is exempt, provided the same shall be used for the purpose of a home, or as place to exercise the calling or business of the head of the family.
There is also exempted to every family, free from forced sale for debts; all household and kitchen furniture; any lot or lots for sepulture in a cemetery; all instruments of husbandry; all tools and apparatus belonging to any trade or profession, and all books belonging to private or public libraries, and family portraits and pictures, five milk cows and calves, two yoke of work oxen, two horses and one wagon, one carriage or buggy, one gun, twenty hogs, twenty head of sheep, all provisions and forage on hand for home consumption, all bridles, saddles, and harness necessary for the use of the family; and to every citizen not a head of a family, one horse, bridle, and saddle; all wearing apparel, any lot or lots for sepulture in a cemetery; all tools, apparatus, and books belonging to his trade, profession, or private library. Current wages for personal services are not subject to garnishment.
UTAH.
The following property is exempt from execution, except on a judgment for the purchase price, or on a judgment of a foreclosure of a mortgage, or a mechanic's or laborer's lien thereon, or from sale for taxes, to wit: 1st. Chairs, tables, and desks of the value of two hundred dollars, and the library belonging to the judgment debtor, also musical instruments in actual use in the family. 2d. Necessary household, table, and kitchen furniture of the value of three hundred dollars, one sewing-machine, family hanging pictures, oil paintings and drawings, portraits and their necessary frames, provisions on hand for three months, two cows and their sucking calves, and two hogs and all sucking pigs, all wearing apparel, and beds and bedding, and all carpets in use. 3d. A farmer may hold farming implements to the value of three hundred dollars, two oxen, horses or mules, and their harness; a cart or wagon; seed, grain or vegetable, for planting or sowing within six months, not exceeding in value two hundred dollars and crops and the proceeds thereof not exceeding two hundred dollars. 4th. Necessary tools, tool chest, and implements of a mechanic or artisan, not exceeding in value five hundred dollars; the seal and records of a notary public; the instruments and chests of a surgeon, physician, surveyor, and dentist, with their libraries, and the law libraries and office furniture of attorneys and judges, and libraries of ministers, and typewriters of reporters and copyist, the type, presses, and material of a printer or publisher, not exceeding five hundred dollars.
5th. The cabin of a miner not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, also his tools and appliances, not exceeding in value five hundred dollars. 6th. Two oxen, or horses or mules and harness, and cart or wagon, or dray or truck, by which a cartman, drayman, huckster, teamster, or other laborer habitually earns his living; and one horse, harness, and vehicle of a physician, surgeon, or minister. 7th. One-half of the earnings of the judgment debtor for personal services rendered within thirty days preceding the levy if debtor is married or is head of a family residing in Utah and dependent upon such earnings for support.
If his earnings are two dollars per day or less, a married man or head of a family is ent.i.tled to an absolute exemption of thirty dollars per month. Costs cannot be taxed in any proceeding to obtain levy upon moneys of judgments debtor earned within thirty days next preceding levy. 8th. All moneys, benefits, privileges, or immunities accruing in any manner from a life insurance on a debtor's life, when the annual premiums do not exceed five hundred dollars. 9th. All arms, ammunition, uniforms, and accoutrements required by law to be kept. 10th. To a head of a family homestead, to be selected by the debtor. A homestead consisting of lands and appurtenances (which lands may be in one or more localities), not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars in value for the head of the family and five hundred dollars additional for his wife, and two hundred and fifty dollars for each other member of his family, shall be exempt from judgment lien and from execution or forced sale, for mechanics' or laborers' lien thereon, lawful mortgage thereon, or lien for purchase. The statute provides that the homestead exemption may be claimed by either the husband or the wife, and defines the terms ”head of the family” and ”members of the family.” In case of sale the money received by the judgment debtor for value of his exemption is also exempt, and so, too, is insurance money when fire occurs (to the extent of the exemption).
VERMONT.
The law exempts a homestead from attachment or levy of execution to the amount of five hundred dollars; also (unless turned out to the officer by the debtor, to be taken on the attachment in execution) such suitable apparel, bedding, tools, arms, and articles of household furniture as may be necessary for upholding life, one sewing-machine kept for use, one cow, the best swine, or the meat of one swine, sheep not exceeding in number ten, and one year's product of said sheep in wool yarn, or cloth, forage sufficient for keeping not exceeding ten sheep and one cow through one winter, ten cords of firewood or five tons of coal, twenty bushels of potatoes, all growing crops, ten bushels of grain, one barrel of flour, three swarms of bees and hives, together with their produce in honey, two hundred pounds of sugar, and all lettered gravestones, the Bibles and other books used in a family, one pew or slip in a meeting-house or place of religious wors.h.i.+p, live poultry not exceeding in value the sum of ten dollars, the professional books and instruments of physicians, and the professional books of clergymen and attorneys at law, to the value of two hundred dollars; and also one yoke of oxen or steers, as the debtor may select, two horses kept and used for team-work, and such as the debtor may select in lieu of oxen or steers, but not exceeding in value the sum of two hundred dollars, with sufficient forages for keeping the same through the winter; also the pistols, side arms, and equipments personally used by any soldier in the service of the United States and kept by him or his heirs as mementoes of his service, also one two-horse wagon with whiffle-trees and neck-yoke; or one ox-cart, as the debtor may choose; one sled or one set of traverse sleds, either for horses or oxen, as the debtor may select; two harnesses, two halters, two chains, one plow, and one ox-yoke, which with the oxen or steers or horses which the debtor may select for team work, shall not exceed in value two hundred and fifty dollars; also one tool chest kept for use by a mechanic.
A housekeeper or head of a family has a homestead exemption from attachment or execution in a dwelling-house and lands appurtenant, used or kept as a homestead, to the value of five hundred dollars.
VIRGINIA.
The exemption laws are very liberal. A householder residing in this State may hold exempt from levy or distress the family Bible, family pictures, school-books, and library for the use of the family, not exceeding in all one hundred dollars in value; a seat or pew in any house or place of public wors.h.i.+p; a lot in a burial ground; all necessary wearing apparel of the debtor and his family; all beds, bedsteads and bedding necessary for the use of such family, and all stoves and appendages put up for the necessary use of the family, not exceeding three; one cow and her calf till one year old, one horse, six chairs, one table, six knives, six forks, six plates, one dozen spoons, two dishes, two basins, one pot, one oven, six pieces of wooden or earthen ware, one loom and its appurtenances, one safe or press, one spinning-wheel, one pair of cards, one axe, two hoes, ten barrels of corn, or in lieu thereof twenty-five bushels of rye or buckwheat, five bushels of wheat or one barrel of flour, two hundred pounds of bacon or pork, three hogs, ten dollars in value of forage or hay, one cooking-stove and utensils for cooking therewith, and one sewing-machine; and, in the case of a mechanic, the tools and utensils of his trade, not exceeding one hundred dollars in value; and in case of an oysterman or fisherman, his boat and tackle, not exceeding two hundred dollars in value, the same shall be sold, and out of the proceeds the oysterman or fisherman shall first receive two hundred dollars in lieu of such boat and tackle; and if the householder is at the time actually engaged in the business of agriculture, there shall also be exempt from such levy or distress, while he is so engaged, to be selected by him or his agent, the following articles, or so many there he may have, to wit: one yoke of oxen, or a pair of horses or mules in lieu thereof (unless he selects or has selected a horse or mule under the preceding section, in which case he shall be ent.i.tled to select under this section only one), with the necessary gearings, one wagon or cart, two plows, one drag, one harvest cradle, one pitchfork, one rake, and two iron wedges; wages, owing to a laboring man being a householder, not exceeding fifty dollars per month, shall also be exempt from distress, levy, or garnishment. These embrace what is known as the Poor Debtor's Exemption. (=Code, ch. 178.=)
The Homestead Exemption is as follows: Every householder residing in this State shall, in addition to the property or estate to hold exempt from levy, distress, or garnishment, under ch. 178, be ent.i.tled to exempt from levy, seizure, garnishment, or sale under any execution, order, or process issued on any demand for any debt or liability on contract, his real and personal estate, or either, to be selected by him, including money and debts due him, to the value of not exceeding two thousand dollars.
WEST VIRGINIA.
Any husband or parent residing in this State, or the widow or infant children of deceased parents, may set apart his personal estate, not exceeding two hundred dollars in value, to be exempt from execution or other process. He or they may also hold a homestead of the value of one thousand dollars (provided the homestead is recorded among the public land records of the county wherein it is situate, before the debt against which it is claimed is contracted), as against debts created since. Any resident mechanic, artisan, or laborer, whether a husband or parent or not, may hold the working tools of his trade or occupation to the value of fifty dollars exempt, provided that in no case shall the exemption allowed any one person exceed two hundred dollars.
WAs.h.i.+NGTON.
All real and personal estate belonging to a married woman at the time of her marriage, and all she subsequently acquires or becomes ent.i.tled to in her own right, and all her personal earnings, and rents and profits of such real estate, shall not be liable for her husband's debts so long as she or any minor heir of her body is living, but her separate property is liable for debts owing by her at the time of her marriage.
To a householder, being the head of a family, a homestead of the value of two thousand dollars while occupied by such family, wearing apparel, private libraries (not to exceed five hundred dollars in value), family pictures, and keepsakes. To each householder one bed and bedding and one additional bed and bedding for each additional member of the family, and other household goods of the coin value of five hundred dollars.
Provisions and fuel for family for six months. Two cows with their calves, five swine, two stands of bees, thirty-six domestic fowls and feed for six months. To a farmer one span of horses and harness, or two yokes of oxen, and one wagon, with farming utensils not exceeding five hundred dollars in coin value, one hundred and fifty bushels of wheat, one hundred and fifty bushels of oats or barley, fifty bushels of potatoes, ten bushels of corn, and ten bushels of peas, and ten bushels of corn, ten bushels of peas and ten bushels of onions for seeding purposes. To a mechanic, the tools used to carry on his trade for the support of himself and family, also material of the value of five hundred dollars. To a physician, his library, not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, horse and carriage, instruments and medicines not exceeding two hundred dollars in coin. To attorneys and clergymen, their libraries, not exceeding in value of one thousand dollars, also office furniture, stationery and fuel not exceeding in value two hundred dollars. All firearms kept for use and a canoe, skiff, or small boat, not exceeding in value two hundred and fifty dollars. To a person engaged in lightering, one or more lighters or scows and a small boat, not exceeding the aggregate value of two hundred and fifty dollars. To a drayman, his team. To a person engaged in logging, three yokes of work oxen, and implements of the value of three hundred dollars. Proceeds or avails of all life and accident insurance shall be exempt from all liability for any debt. To any person whose exempt property is insured, and destroyed by fire, the insurance money coming to or belonging to the person thus insured to an amount equal to the exempt property thus destroyed. Burial lot exempt. Pension money exempt, but exemption may be waived.
WISCONSIN.
The following personal property is exempt from seizure or sale on any execution and from attachment or garnishment: 1st. The family Bible. 2d.