2019 Fed­eral Bank­ruptcy Exemp­tion Amounts, Means Test Lim­its, and Chap­ter 13 Debt Lim­its

The U.S. gov­ern­ment has updated the Fed­eral Reg­is­ter with new fed­eral bank­ruptcy exemp­tion amounts effec­tive April 1, 2019.

This affects not only fed­eral bank­ruptcy exemp­tions under 11 U.S.C. § 522 but also the exemp­tion amounts for a few states that tie their exemp­tion amounts to the fed­eral amounts, includ­ing Mary­land and Ohio, and Cal­i­for­nia.

As of April 1, 2019, the new fed­eral bank­ruptcy exemp­tion amounts and rules are as listed below.

2019 Fed­eral Bank­ruptcy Exemp­tion Changes By Sub­ject Mat­ter

The fol­low­ing list groups the 2019 changes by sub­ject. For more infor­ma­tion on each of these top­ics, see our 50 State Bank­ruptcy Exemp­tions sec­tion.

Fil­ing Lim­its

The debt limit for fil­ing for Chap­ter 13 increases from 394,725 to $419,275.

Means Test Form

The max­i­mum monthly edu­ca­tion expense for each depen­dent stu­dent (line 29) changes to $170.83.

Pen­sions /​ IRA

The IRA exemp­tion increases from 1,283,025 to $1,362,800.

Fed­eral Bank­ruptcy Exemp­tions as of April 1, 2019

Exemp­tion §522(d)	Cur­rent	New
Home­stead (1)	$23,675	$25,150
Motor Vehi­cle (2)	$3,775	$4,000
House­hold (3)	$600 (per item) $12,625 (total)	$625 $13,400
Jew­elry (4)	$1,600	$1,700
Wild­card (5)	$1,250 $11,850 (home­stead car­ry­over)	$1,325 $12,575
Trade (6)	$2,375	$2,525
Life Insur­ance (8)	$12,625	$13,400
Per­sonal Injury (11)(D)	$23,675	$25,150

2019 Bank­ruptcy Changes by Form

The fol­low­ing list shows 2019 changes to offi­cial bank­ruptcy forms and instruc­tions.

• Offi­cial Form 106C, The Prop­erty You Claim as Exempt, Line 3
• Offi­cial Form 107, Your State­ment of Finan­cial Affairs for Indi­vid­u­als Fil­ing for Bank­ruptcy, Line 6
• Offi­cial Form 122A‑2, Chap­ter 7 Means Test Cal­cu­la­tion, Lines 29 and 40
• Offi­cial Form 122C‑2, Chap­ter 13 Cal­cu­la­tion of Your Dis­pos­able Income, Line 29
• Offi­cial Form 201, Vol­un­tary Peti­tion for Non-​Individuals, Line 8
• Offi­cial Form 207, State­ment of Your Finan­cial Affairs, Lines 3 and 4
• Offi­cial Form 410, Proof of Claim, Line 12
• Director’s Form 2000, Required Lists, Sched­ules, State­ments, and Fees, Pages 2, 3, and 4
• Director’s Form 2830, Chap­ter 13 Debtor’s Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions Regard­ing Domes­tic Sup­port Oblig­a­tions and Sec­tion 522(q), Part III
• Instruc­tions for Indi­vid­ual Debtors, Pages 9 and 24
• Instruc­tions for Non-​Individual Debtors, Page 12
• Director’s Form 2500E, Instruc­tions, Page 1

2019 Bank­ruptcy Changes by Fed­eral Code Sec­tion

Affected sec­tions	Amount to be adjusted	New (adjusted) dol­lar amount 1
28 U.S.C.
Sec­tion 1409(b)—a trustee may com­mence a pro­ceed­ing aris­ing in or related to a case to recover
(1)—money judg­ment of or prop­erty worth less than	$1,300	$1,375
(2)—a con­sumer debt less than	19,250	20,450
(3)—a non con­sumer debt against a non insider less than	12,850	13,650
11 U.S.C.
Sec­tion 101(3)—definition of assisted per­son	192,450	204,425
Sec­tion 101(18)—definition of fam­ily farmer	(*) 4,153,150	(*) 4,411,400
Sec­tion 101(19A)—definition of fam­ily fish­er­man	(*) 1,924,550	(*) 2,044,225
Sec­tion 101(51D)—definition of small busi­ness debtor	(*) 2,566,050	(*) 2,725,625
Sec­tion 109(e)—debt lim­its for indi­vid­ual fil­ing bank­ruptcy under chap­ter 13	(*) 394,725 (*) 1,184,200	(*) 419,275 1,257,850
Sec­tion 303(b)—minimum aggre­gate claims needed for the com­mence­ment of an invol­un­tary chap­ter 7 or 11 peti­tion
(1)—in para­graph (1)	15,775	16,750
(2)—in para­graph (2)	15,775	16,750
Sec­tion 507(a)—priority expenses and claims
(1)—in para­graph (4)	12,850	13,650
(2)—in para­graph (5)(B)(i)	12,850	13,650
(3)—in para­graph (6)(B)	6,325	6,725
(4)—in para­graph (7)	2,850	3,025
Sec­tion 522(d)—value of prop­erty exemp­tions allowed to the debtor
(1)—in para­graph (1) (home­stead)	23,675	25,150
(2)—in para­graph (2) (motor vehi­cle)	3,775	4,000
(3)—in para­graph (3) (house­hold prop­erty per item /​aggregate)	600 12,625	625 13,400
(4)—in para­graph (4) (jew­elry)	1,600	1,700
(5)—in para­graph (5) (wild­card) (unused home­stead, up to)	1,250 11,850	1,325 12,575
(6)—in para­graph (6) (tools of trade)	2,375	2,525
(7)—in para­graph (8) (life insur­ance)	12,625	13,400
(8)—in para­graph (11)(D) (per­sonal injury)	23,675	25,150
Sec­tion 522(f)(3)—exception to lien avoid­ance under cer­tain state laws	6,425	6,825
Sec­tion 522(f)(4)—items excluded from def­i­n­i­tion of house­hold goods for lien avoid­ance pur­poses	(*) 675	(*) 725
Sec­tion 522(n)—maximum aggre­gate value of assets in indi­vid­ual retire­ment accounts exempted	1,283,025	1,362,800
Sec­tion 522℗—qualified home­stead exemp­tion	160,375	170,350
Sec­tion 522(q)—state home­stead exemp­tion	160,375	170,350
Sec­tion 523(a)(2)©—exceptions to dis­charge
(1)—in para­graph (i)(I)—consumer debts for lux­ury goods or ser­vices incurred < 90 days before fil­ing owed to a sin­gle cred­i­tor in the aggre­gate	675	725
(2)—in para­graph (i)(II)—cash advances incurred < 70 days before fil­ing in the aggre­gate	950	1,000
Sec­tion 541(b)—property of the estate exclu­sions
(1)—in para­graph (5)©—education IRA funds in the aggre­gate	6,425	6,825
(2)—in para­graph (6)©—pre-purchased tuition cred­its in the aggre­gate	6,425	6,825
(3)—in para­graph (10)©—qualified ABLE pro­gram funds in the aggre­gate	6,425	6,825
Sec­tion 547©(9)—preferences, trustee may not avoid a trans­fer if, in a case filed by a debtor whose debts are not pri­mar­ily con­sumer debts, the aggre­gate value of prop­erty is less than	6,425	6,825
Sec­tion 707(b)—dismissal of a chap­ter 7 case or con­ver­sion to chap­ter 11 or 13 (means test)
(1)—in para­graph (2)(A)(i)(I)	7,700	8,175
(2)—in para­graph (2)(A)(i)(II)	12,850	13,650
(3)—in para­graph (2)(A)(ii)(IV)	1,925	2,050
(4)—in para­graph (2)(B)(iv)(I)	7,700	8,175
(5)—in para­graph (2)(B)(iv)(II)	12,850	13,650
(6)—in para­graph (5)(B)	1,300	1,375
(7)—in para­graph (6)©	700	750
(8)—in para­graph (7)(A)(iii)	700	750
Sec­tion 1322(d)—contents of chap­ter 13 plan, monthly income	(*) 700	(*) 750
Sec­tion 1325(b)—chapter 13 con­fir­ma­tion of plan, dis­pos­able income	(*) 700	(*) 750
Sec­tion 1326(b)(3)—payments to for­mer chap­ter 7 trustee	25	25
1 The New (Adjusted) Dol­lar Amounts reflect a 6.218 per­cent increase, rounded to the near­est $25.
* Each time it appears.

[FR Doc. 2019–01903 Filed 2–11-19; 8:45 am]

More Infor­ma­tion

For more help with your bank­ruptcy case, see our bank­ruptcy learn­ing cen­ter.