Connecticut Exemptions in Bankruptcy

The Connecticut bankruptcy exemptions details the property you can exempt or protect from creditors when you file bankruptcy in Connecticut. You may exempt any property that falls into one of the exemptions categories below, up to the dollar amount listed. You will be able to kept this exempted property after you file bankruptcy.

Special Requirements to File in CT

If you have lived in Connecticut for most of the last six months (at least 91 days), you may file for bankruptcy there. However, in order to use the state’s law for exemptions, you must have lived in Connecticut for the last two years before you filed. If not, your exemptions will fall under the rules of the state you lived in for most of the six months before the two-year period prior to filing.

In Connecticut, you have the choice of using the federal exemption statutes instead of the Connecticut exemptions.

An exemption limit applies to any equity you have in the property. Equity is the difference between the value of the property and what is owed on the property. For example, a house valued at $100,000 with a loan of $90,000 has an equity value of only $10,000.

If the property you see to exempt is secured by a loan, such as a car or home, and you are current on the payments and the equity is covered by your exemptions, you may elect to keep making payments on the loan (see Reaffirmation) and keep this property after concluding the bankruptcy. If all the equity is not covered by your exemptions the trustee may elect to liquidate this asset and distribute the proceeds. Generally, in this case, you would be entitled to the value of your exemption in the asset as a cash payment.

Bankruptcy law allows married couples filing jointly to each claim a full set of exemptions, unless otherwise noted.

To keep non-exempt property, a debtor must generally pay the trustee the value of the non-exempt property.  While not obvious, in some cases, you may wish to retain an item of art or jewelry that is not exempt but has personal emotional value (which exceeds it’s public fair market value).  In this instance, you may make an offer to the trustee exchanging cash for the asset so as to prevent the trustee from selling the asset to the public.