Title 6

(a) The homestead of every resident of this state, including improvements and appurtenances, which does not exceed 160 acres in size and is valued at no more than: (i) fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000); or (ii) fifty-six thousand four hundred dollars ($56,400) if the resident is…

Any resident of this state entitled to, and desiring to, claim a homestead or other exemption from levy and sale under execution or other process may, at any time, make and file in the office of the probate judge of the county in which the property is situated, if a homestead, or…

Such declarations of claims of exemptions shall be recorded in a separate book, kept for that purpose, and the probate judge, on request, shall give a receipt therefor and shall furnish a certified copy thereof, when requested, on payment of lawful fees therefor. (Code 1876, §282…

The fees for filing, recording, copying, and certifying such declarations shall be the same as are allowed by law for filing, recording, copying, and certifying deeds. (Code 1876, §2829; Code 1886, §2518; Code 1896, §2044; Code 1907, §4171; Code 1923, §7893; Code 1940, T. 7, §636…

After the filing of such declaration, the claim of exemption therein asserted shall be taken and considered as prima facie correct, and the filing thereof shall operate as notice of its contents. (Code 1876, §§2828, 2831; Code 1886, §2517; Code 1896, §2043; Code 1907, §4170; Code…

After such declaration of claim has been filed for record, the property therein embraced shall not be subject to levy unless there is endorsed on the process the fact that there has been a waiver of exemption as to the kind of property on which the levy is sought to be made or th…

A plaintiff, in person or by his or her agent or attorney, may contest a claim of exemption after a declaration thereof has been filed by making and filing with the officer holding the process an affidavit that, in his belief, either the claim is invalid entirely or it is invalid…

The right of homestead or other exemption shall not be waived or lost by a failure, before the levy of process, to file for record a declaration claiming the same; but the defendant, in person or by his or her agent or attorney, may, at any time after the levy and prior to a sale…

(a) When any contest of a claim of exemption to personal property has been instituted, the defendant claiming the exemption may, within five days after service of notice of the contest, deliver to the officer making the levy a bond in double the amount of the value of the propert…

In case of such contest, the officer making the levy must, within 15 days after the institution of the contest, return the process and other papers to the court to which the process is returnable, accompanied with a full statement of the facts. (Code 1876, §2836; Code 1886, §2524…

On any contest of a claim of exemption to personal property, on the plaintiff’s written demand, made at any time, the defendant claiming the exemption shall, within 10 days, file a full and complete inventory, duly verified by oath, of all his or her personal property, except the…

No mortgage, deed or other conveyance of the homestead by a married person shall be valid without the voluntary signature and assent of the husband or wife, which must be shown by his or her examination before an officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments of deeds, and the…

The contest of any claim of exemptions shall be a preferred case, and after the return of the process, if both parties appear, an issue or issues shall be formed under the direction of the court as to whether the property in contest, or any and what part of it, is exempt as claim…

When a contest of a claim of exemption is triable in the probate court, either party shall be entitled to a trial by jury on demand therefor, made by the contestant at the time of filing the contest and by the contestee within 10 days after notice of the contest is filed by the c…

If the plaintiff fails to appear in support of his contest or if on the trial all the property in contest is found exempt, judgment must be entered against the plaintiff for the costs of the levy and contest and releasing the property from the levy, but if the defendant fails to …

When, on a contest of a claim of exemption to personal property, the issue is whether or not the claim is excessive and such issue is found in favor of the plaintiff, it must also be ascertained by the finding of the court or the verdict of the jury, as the case may be, how much …

When, on a contest of a claim of exemption to personal property, an inventory filed by the defendant on the plaintiff’s demand discloses other personal property owned by the defendant and subject to sale under process not embraced in the claim of exemption, the defendant, at the …

When, on a contest of a claim of exemption to personal property, an inventory has been filed by the defendant, an issue may be tendered by the plaintiff that the defendant has other personal property subject to levy and sale under the process not embraced in the inventory or that…

When bond has been executed by the plaintiff or defendant for the forthcoming of the property in contest, the value of the property, and the damages resulting from its detention must be assessed by the court or jury trying the contest. If the unsuccessful party fails for 20 days …

When money, choses in action or personal property are garnished and the defendant claims the same, or any part thereof, as exempt, he shall file his claim thereto in writing, verified by oath, in the court in which such proceedings are pending, accompanied by a statement setting …

(a)(1) If, on the trial of a contest of a claim of homestead exemption, it is found that the homestead as claimed exceeds the value and size limits set forth in this article, the court shall immediately issue an order to the sheriff, returnable no later than 30 days from issuance…

If a husband, wife or parent, entitled to a homestead or other exemption, absconds or abandons his or her family, leaves the state, is insane, is confined under a charge or conviction for felony or misdemeanor, or is under any other disability or inability, the spouse or, if ther…

The provisions of this article shall not, however, be so construed as to prevent any lien attaching to the homestead in favor of any laborer, merchant, or materialman for work and labor done or for materials furnished, or in favor of any vendor for unpaid purchase money or so as …

When the homestead, after being reduced to the lowest practical area, exceeds the exemption amount allowed under this article and the husband or wife has transferred the property by deed, mortgage, or other conveyance without the spouse’s voluntary signature and legal acknowledgm…

When a declaration of claim to a homestead exemption has been filed in the office of the judge of probate, leaving the homestead temporarily or a leasing of the same shall not operate an abandonment thereof or render it subject to levy and sale, but the right thereto shall remain…

If no declaration of claim of exemption has been filed in the office of the judge of probate or if so filed and the same is contested, no action shall lie against the officer levying the process on the ground that the property levied on is exempt. (Code 1876, §2833; Code 1886, §2…

When a contest of a claim of exemption has been instituted, the property in contest shall not be sold by the officer until the contest is decided, but the lien thereon under the process or levy shall not be destroyed or impaired by the pendency of the contest. (Code 1876, §2835; …

In favor of any resident of this state, there shall also be exempt from levy and sale, under execution or other process, any lot or lots in cemeteries or elsewhere, set apart or used as a burial place for himself or herself or family and any pew or seat in any church or other pla…

The personal property of such resident, except for wages, salaries, or other compensation, to the extent of the resident’s interest therein, to the amount of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500) in value, to be selected by him or her, and, in addition thereto, all necessa…

(a) Wages, salaries, or other compensation of a resident are not personal property for the purposes of exemption from garnishment, levy, sale under execution, or other process for the collection of debt. (b) It is the intent of this section to exclude from the meaning of personal…

(a) The wages, salaries, or other compensation of laborers or employees, residents of this state, for personal services, shall be exempt from levy under writs of garnishment or other process for the collection of debts contracted or judgments entered in tort in an amount equal to…

If a policy of insurance, whether heretofore or hereafter issued, is effected by any person on his or her own life or on another life in favor of a person other than himself or herself or, except in cases of transfer with intent to defraud creditors, if a policy of life insurance…

No property, real or personal, held or owned by partners as partnership property or purchased with partnership funds for partnership purposes shall be the subject of homestead or other exemption as against copartners or partnership creditors. (Code 1876, §2820; Code 1886, §2513; …

(a) When the property, real or personal, owned by a decedent at the time of his death does not exceed in amount and value the exemption allowed in favor of his or her surviving spouse and minor child or children, or either, and no administration is granted on his estate within 60…

If no exceptions are filed and sustained to such report of the commissioners setting apart the homestead exemption, the title to the real property so set aside shall vest in the surviving spouse and minors, share and share alike, but only during the life of the surviving spouse a…

When homestead exemption has been allotted to the surviving spouse and minor child or children, or either, under any of the provisions of this division, they shall not be held to have abandoned or forfeited the same by a removal therefrom. (Code 1896, §2101; Code 1907, §4228; Cod…

Commissioners appointed to allot or set apart homestead or other exemptions under this division must be disinterested householders or freeholders of the county and, before executing their commission, must be sworn by some officer authorized to administer oaths, or by one of thems…

Commissioners appointed under the provisions of this division shall be entitled to compensation for their services at the rate of $2 per day during the time they are actually engaged. (Code 1886, §2566; Code 1896, §2103; Code 1907, §4230; Code 1923, §7954; Code 1940, T. 7, §700.)

All judgments or decrees allotting homestead exemptions to surviving spouses and minors may be recorded in the probate office as other deeds and conveyances are recorded and in the books of record for recording deeds, so as to show the chain of title to the lands so allotted; and…

(a) When the real and personal property owned by an absent husband, wife, or parent who has not been heard from and whose residence has been unknown for seven years and whose residence cannot be ascertained by diligent inquiry does not exceed in amount and value the exemptions al…

If no exceptions are filed and sustained to such report of the commissioners setting apart exemptions and it is determined that the property set apart was all the property owned by the absentee spouse at the time he or she left and that he or she left less property than was exemp…

Before grant of administration and before the exempt property is set apart, the right of the surviving spouse and minor child or children, or either, to the use and benefit of such property shall be the same as if it had been set apart as exempt; and actions respecting the same m…

When a decedent, who was at the time of his or her death a resident of this state, leaves surviving him a spouse and minor child or children, or either, who are bona fide residents of this state, the probate court, at the time of appointing appraisers of the estate, shall issue a…

The appraisers, as early as practicable, shall set apart the exempt personal property, having regard, as far as consistent with their duties, to the selection made by the surviving spouse or the guardian of the minor child or children, if such selection is made; estimating it at …

The appraisers shall also appraise the homestead of the decedent occupied by the decedent at the time of death or to which the decedent was then entitled, and they shall report the appraisement thereof when the inventory and appraisement of the personal property are returned, wit…

When it appears from the report of the appraisers that the homestead exceeds in value $6,000, the probate court shall forthwith appoint three commissioners, who shall, as soon as practicable not exceeding 30 days after their appointment, set off and allot the homestead exempt, ha…