Florida: Only LPRs Qualify for Bankrupcty’s Homestead Exemption

Photo by Jernej Furman
Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Karen Jennemann recently held, in the case of In re De Bauer, that only LPRs are entitled to take advantage of Florida’s homestead exemption in bankruptcy proceedings. She writes: “homeowners who lack permanent resident status in the United States cannot claim a homestead exemption under Florida law because they subjectively cannot formulate an intent to live here forever.”

While the court noted that some exceptions to this rule have been made when the debtor’s family members living in the home have been citizens or LPRs, in this case before the court neither the debtor nor any of the family members living with her were lawfully present in the United States.

So, despite the fact that the debtor had lived in the same physical home for 20 years, she could not form an “actual intent to live permanently” in it due to her immigration status. (Emphasis in original opinion.)

-KitJ