Stop Bill Collectors!

Florida is known for the best home protection in the country: no one (well, almost no one) can take your primary home, no matter what it is worth. Creditors can take you to court, sue you, and win a judgment, but they can’t take your home, even if it’s worth ten million dollars. There are a couple of exceptions, including your mortgage holder, but that’s just reasonable and expected: if that wasn’t the case, you could just not pay your mortgage, but keep your home. The home protection law is why OJ Simpson moved here, and after reading this, you’ll probably want to move here too. Warning: while the exemptions are all-encompassing for judgments, they change if you file for bankruptcy.
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If you are reading my blog, you are probably here because you’ve got creditors knocking at your door. Maybe you are looking at losing your home, your car, or even your furniture. While there are solutions to your problems, many are dramatic (like bankruptcy) or expensive (like moving to Florida and purchasing a homestead). To avoid worrying about creditors stealing your hard earned money and selling your assets out from under you, you should stash your cash somewhere safe. And the safest place to stash your cash? Not surprisingly, Switzerland. In these internet days, all you need to set up a Swiss Annuity is an internet connection.
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Texas has very favorable exemptions for the consumer. You can think of exemptions as those items you are allowed to keep if you are sued by a creditor who obtains a judgment against you. A creditor can’t force you to sell your home in Texas, and in true Texas spirit, they can’t force you to sell your guns either. There is one major exception to the liberal rules for judgment exemptions: a homestead isn’t protected if you are sued by the federal government, so make sure you pay your income taxes!
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Alabama is pretty strict about not giving non-residents exemptions during bankruptcy proceedings or for paying creditors judgments owed. For bankruptcy and judgment enforcement, Alabama counts you as a non resident if you haven’t lived there for full two years, putting you in a legal limbo if you’ve not lived in Alabama that long: you may have to end up taking federal exemptions (which are not as generous). This is a general guide to what you can claim as exemptions to protect you from creditors: there are many exceptions, depending on how long you’ve lived in the state, your criminal background, and whether your exemptions are vital for support.
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Think of exemptions as the things you can keep if a judgment is filed against you, or if you file bankruptcy. In South Carolina, you are lucky in that these exemptions are automatic: you do not need to file a form claiming any kind of exemption. That is great news for the consumer, because you don’t have to worry about navigating complex legal forms in order to get these exemptions. New laws (effective Jul 1, 2008) gave some form of homestead exemption to South Carolina residents.
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Bankruptcy and judgment laws are complex. However, you can navigate them with a little legwork and knowledge. Exemptions are when you are entitled to keep certain property (like your home, wages, and furniture). The law says that no matter what, a creditor cannot force you to sell certain pieces of personal property. An important distinction between North Carolina and some other states is that you do not automatically have the right to these exemptions: you must fill in a claim form. If you do not fill in a claim form, creditors can sell your stuff from under you, plain and simple. You can obtain a copy of the “Notice of Right to Claim Exemptions” from the court (don’t trust the web: you may get outdated forms that will be invalid).
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This post should probably be (more accurately) called How to Stop Bill Collectors From Seizing Your Car, Your House, and your Personal Belongings. If they win a judgment against you, they will take your stuff. They will get a nice police office to come to your house and empty it of your belongings, and there won’t be a thing you can do about it.
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