Opinion ID: 2542857
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Statutory Personal Property Exemption and the Constitutional Homestead Exemption

Text: Section 222.25, Florida Statutes, provides in pertinent part as follows: 222.25. Other individual property of natural persons exempt from legal process.The following property is exempt from attachment, garnishment, or other legal process: . . . . (4) A debtor's interest in personal property, not to exceed $4,000, if the debtor does not claim or receive the benefits of a homestead exemption under s. 4, Art. X of the State Constitution. This exemption does not apply to a debt owed for child support or spousal support. (Footnote omitted.) Section (4) was added to the statute in 2007. Ch.2007-185, § 1, Laws of Fla. (effective July 1, 2007). This exemption, sometimes referred to as the wild card exemption, permits an individual to exempt $4000 in personal property from the reach of creditors as long as the individual does not claim or receive the benefits of the article X homestead exemption. This statutory personal property exemption is distinct from the personal property exemption provided in our constitution. Art. X, § (4)(a)(2), Fla. Const. (exempting from forced sale or levy personal property to the value of one thousand dollars). Only the statutory exemption is at issue here. Section 4, article X of the Florida Constitution provides in pertinent part as follows: SECTION 4. Homestead; exemptions. (a) There shall be exempt from forced sale under process of any court, and no judgment, decree or execution shall be a lien thereon, except for the payment of taxes and assessments thereon, obligations contracted for the purchase, improvement or repair thereof, or obligations contracted for house, field or other labor performed on the realty, the following property owned by a natural person: (1) a homestead. . . . With regard to the homestead exemption, this Court has long been guided by a policy favoring the liberal construction of the exemption. . . . A concomitant in harmony with this rule of liberal construction is the rule of strict construction as applied to the exceptions. Havoco of America, Ltd. v. Hill, 790 So.2d 1018, 1021 (Fla. 2001) (citing Milton v. Milton, 63 Fla. 533, 58 So. 718, 719 (1912)). We apply the same rule of liberal construction in favor of the statutory exemption to determine when a debtor receive[s] the benefits of the homestead exemption and thus becomes ineligible to claim the section 222.25(4) personal property exemption.