What Creditors Cannot Take in Florida

Florida law protects a person’s home, wages, retirement accounts, annuities, life insurance, and several other asset categories from judgment creditors. The protection comes from three sources: the Florida Constitution, Chapter 222 of the Florida Statutes, and federal law. Each source sets its own qualification rules and its own procedure for claiming the exemption.

Exemptions are not automatic. A creditor with a judgment can garnish an account or levy on property before any court rules on whether it is exempt. The person who owes the debt must then assert the protection. In a garnishment, the debtor must file a claim of exemption within 20 days of receiving notice; missing that deadline can cost the protection even when the asset qualifies.

Your Home

Florida’s homestead exemption is the strongest debtor protection in the state. The Florida Constitution shields a primary residence from forced sale by judgment creditors, with no cap on equity. A person can own a home worth $5 million and protect every dollar of that equity from a civil judgment.

The exemption covers up to half an acre inside a municipality or 160 acres outside one. The property must be the owner’s primary residence. Vacation homes, rental properties, and investment real estate do not qualify. The exemption does not block mortgages, property tax liens, mechanics’ liens, or HOA assessments.

Because the homestead exemption is constitutional rather than statutory, the legislature cannot repeal or reduce it. Only a statewide constitutional amendment approved by voters could change its scope. The Chapter 222 exemptions, by contrast, change whenever the legislature acts; the vehicle exemption rose from $1,000 to $5,000 in 2024.

Homestead sale proceeds retain protection temporarily if the owner intends to reinvest in a new homestead within a reasonable time. Courts evaluate both the stated intent and the debtor’s actual conduct when deciding whether proceeds remain exempt.

Wages and Earnings

The head of household exemption protects all wages from garnishment when a person provides more than half the financial support for a child or other dependent. The governing statute is § 222.11. If the person’s net disposable earnings are $750 or less per week, the protection is absolute. Above that threshold, wages remain exempt unless the person signed a written waiver in a separate document, apart from the loan or contract itself.

Deposited wages keep their exempt status for six months when the debtor can trace them to head of household earnings. Mixing exempt wages with other funds does not, on its own, defeat the exemption. The debtor still has to trace the wages, and a mixed account makes that harder to prove. A separate wage account is the most reliable way to preserve the protection after deposit.

For people who do not qualify as head of household, federal law limits garnishment to 25% of disposable earnings or the amount exceeding 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is less.

Retirement Accounts

Florida provides unlimited creditor protection for retirement accounts. The exemption under § 222.21 covers tax-qualified plans and accounts whether or not ERISA governs them: 401(k)s, pensions and profit-sharing plans, traditional and Roth IRAs, SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and inherited IRAs. There is no dollar cap under Florida law. The statute itself names two claimants the exemption does not stop: a surviving spouse enforcing an elective share, and anyone collecting under a qualified domestic relations order.

Self-directed IRAs also qualify, provided the account structure complies with IRS requirements. Employee stock ownership plans are exempt under § 222.21 as tax-qualified plans, and 529 college savings plans receive separate statutory protection under § 222.22.

The exemption protects funds while they stay inside the retirement account. What happens once money is withdrawn or distributed is unsettled. No state appellate court has decided the question, and bankruptcy courts applying Florida law have gone both ways. A required distribution deposited into its own segregated account generally keeps the protection; money the account holder chooses to take out generally does not.

Annuities

The annuity exemption protects annuity proceeds when the contract was issued to a Florida resident. The statute, § 222.14, imposes no dollar limit and applies to both fixed and variable annuities. Its single statutory exception is a contract effected for the benefit of the creditor.

A private annuity created between individuals rather than purchased from an insurance company can also qualify. The statute protects annuity proceeds “upon whatever form,” and courts read that language broadly. Private annuities draw closer scrutiny than commercial products, and an informal payment plan merely labeled an annuity does not count.

Buying an annuity while creditors close in raises a different issue. Under § 222.30, converting non-exempt assets into an exempt annuity is a fraudulent asset conversion when the buyer meant to hinder, delay, or defraud a particular creditor. That creditor can still reach the proceeds.

Life Insurance

The life insurance exemption protects both the cash surrender value and the death benefit of policies issued on the lives of Florida residents. The protection comes from two statutes: § 222.14 covers the cash surrender value, and § 222.13 covers death benefits paid to a designated beneficiary. Whole life and universal life policies accumulate cash value that creditors cannot reach. Term policies have no cash value component but their death benefit remains protected.

The death benefit must pass outside of probate to retain full protection. If the policy proceeds flow through the insured’s estate, they become available to creditors of the estate. Naming a specific beneficiary rather than the estate preserves the exemption.

Tenants by the Entireties Property

Tenants by the entireties is a form of joint ownership available only to married couples. A creditor with a judgment against one spouse cannot lien, garnish, or force the sale of entireties property. Two limits apply: a judgment against both spouses reaches the property, and a federal tax lien for one spouse’s unpaid taxes attaches to the interest of that spouse (United States v. Craft, 535 U.S. 274 (2002)). Because Craft turns on the IRS’s special collection authority, an ordinary judgment creditor of one spouse cannot use it.

Entireties protection applies to bank accounts, investment accounts, real property, and personal property. Both spouses must hold the property together as a married couple. A bank account must be set up as an entireties account when it is first opened. Later adding a spouse’s name or an entireties label to an existing account does not create the protection; the couple has to open a fresh account that carries the entireties designation from the start and move the funds into it.

Social Security and Federal Benefits

Social Security benefits are exempt from private creditor garnishment under federal law. The governing statute, 42 U.S.C. § 407, applies regardless of the amount. Banks must automatically protect up to two months of directly deposited benefits under federal regulation, even if the account holder files nothing.

Supplemental Security Income, veterans’ benefits, workers’ compensation, disability income, and unemployment compensation are each exempt under their own federal or state statutes. Florida’s disability income exemption, § 222.18, does not apply to a policy taken out for the creditor’s benefit. The Social Security exemption has two exceptions of its own. Retirement and disability benefits can be garnished for child support and alimony under 42 U.S.C. § 659, and the IRS can levy them for unpaid federal taxes.

Personal Property and Vehicles

Florida’s personal property exemption shields up to $1,000 in personal property from creditor seizure. The exemption is constitutional, found in Article X, § 4. A person who does not claim a homestead exemption can claim an additional $4,000 in personal property under § 222.25(4), raising the total to $5,000.

The motor vehicle exemption under § 222.25(1) protects up to $5,000 of equity in a single motor vehicle. A person who does not claim homestead can combine the $4,000 wildcard and the $1,000 constitutional exemption with the $5,000 vehicle exemption, protecting up to $10,000 in vehicle equity.

Jewelry, electronics, collectibles, and other personal property above these thresholds are reachable by creditors.

Other Statutory Protections

Florida exempts several additional categories of property.

• Prescribed health aids for the person or their dependents are fully exempt under § 222.25(2).
• Health savings accounts and Coverdell education savings accounts are protected under § 222.22.
• Earned income tax credits are exempt under § 222.25(3).
• Crime victims’ compensation is protected under § 960.14, except for expenses arising from the injury or death that gave rise to the claim.
• Fraternal benefit society payments are exempt under § 632.619.
• Public employee pensions, including the Florida Retirement System and the municipal firefighter and police plans, receive their own statutory protections under §§ 121.131, 175.241, and 185.25, separate from the general § 222.21 exemption.

What Creditors Can Reach

Florida’s exemption system leaves several categories of wealth exposed. Non-homestead real estate, including rental properties, vacation homes, and undeveloped land, can be liened and sold to satisfy a judgment. Taxable brokerage and investment accounts held outside a retirement vehicle or annuity are fully exposed. Bank account balances that exceed traceable exempt deposits are subject to garnishment.

Restricted stock, unvested equity compensation, accounts receivable, intellectual property, and cash reserves in non-exempt forms are all available to creditors. A vehicle is exposed to the extent its equity exceeds the $5,000 cap.

Several exemptions also give way to particular creditors. Florida’s exemptions do not bind the IRS. A federal tax lien reaches the homestead and one spouse’s entireties interest alike, and a federal court can order the property sold, compensating a non-debtor spouse from the proceeds. Support creditors get similar treatment. Both the wildcard and the earned income credit exemption exclude support debts by their own terms. A qualified domestic relations order reaches a 401(k) or a pension, and federal law lets a support order garnish Social Security benefits.

A single-member LLC provides limited protection. In bankruptcy, a trustee takes over the sole member’s rights and can sell off the company’s assets. Outside bankruptcy, a judgment creditor who shows that charging order payments would take unreasonably long to clear the judgment can foreclose on the interest under § 605.0503(4). The fix is a second member, typically an irrevocable trust, which brings the LLC under § 605.0503(3), where the charging order is the only remedy a judgment creditor gets. Multi-member LLCs with charging order protection still depend on a properly maintained operating agreement.

For wealth that Florida’s exemptions leave exposed, an offshore asset protection trust holds liquid assets through a foreign trustee that a Florida court cannot compel, so a creditor must pursue them under the trust jurisdiction’s own law. That advantage does not extend to U.S. real estate, which a domestic court controls directly.