Here is what I recall for the Homestead Exemption.
Basically there are two ways to protect your home equity against liens and the homestead exemption is one of them. Again, it doesn’t protect your home from a sale or foreclosure, it is designed to protect your equity.
The conditions apply as follows:
The home has to be your primary residence. You have to have occupied the home on the date of the judgement of the lien and you have to have resided in the home thereafter until the court determination that the home is a homestead.
The amount of the exemption varies depending on your status and I think the exemption is greater if you are over 65…
Example…
Say some guy sues you for 300k. You don’t have the money so he slaps a lien on your home basically forcing the sale of the home to collect your money. Say you have 100k equity in the home. So the home gets sold, the lender gets paid, then lets say there is 100k left after the sale. Well instead of that full 100k going to the guy suing you, you actually get to keep a designated amount under the homestead exemption. I think if you are the homeowner and under 65 it is 50k.
