Creditors can't take a worker's tools, for instance. They can't snare a sailor's wages, either. A debtor's Bible, books and burial plot are also generally beyond a creditor's reach, state law says. Only recently has the General Assembly broadened these protections to cover a debtor's home, too. Under a law that was approved in 1998 and took effect in 1999, you can now protect your principal residence from many types of claims by creditors.
Most people simply call it the homestead exemption.
Many other states offer similar protection. The idea is that a creditor shouldn't be able to take everything you own to settle a debt you owe, said Bruce I. Kogan, professor of law at the Roger Williams University's Ralph R. Papitto School of Law in Bristol. It's not in society's best interest to so impoverish people so that they're without the means to address their basic human necessities. Until recently, a Rhode Islander had to seek U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection to try to shield at least some of the equity in his or her house from creditors. Now, state law generally offers such protection outside of the bankruptcy process, he said.