Oregon bankruptcy debtors now have two options when they file bankruptcy: they can elect to use Oregon Exemptions or Federal Exemptions when protecting property. (Exemptions are laws that protect property when a person files bankruptcy).
Federal exemptions, most importantly, provide very liberal “Wild Card” exemptions, or exemptions that can be applied to any property.
The Wild Card exemption amounts to $1,225.00 plus up to $11,500.00 of any unused Homestead exemption applied to any property. These Wild Card exemptions can be stacked, or added, to other existing exemptions to increase the amount of personal property that can be protected when filing bankruptcy.
Simply stated, with the new Federal exemptions in place, more personal property will be protected when filing bankruptcy.
This is very good news when filing bankruptcy.