Sources checked . This is a source-check date, not an attorney-review date. See scope and limits.
What can you keep in a Connecticut bankruptcy?
When Connecticut exemption law applies, you can generally choose Connecticut exemptions or the federal bankruptcy exemptions. Connecticut ordinarily protects up to $250,000 of qualifying home equity, $7,000 of equity shared across up to two vehicles, and a $1,000 wildcard for other property. These are limits for an eligible individual, not a promise that every asset is protected. See § 52-352b(10), (18), and (21).
The best choice depends on everything you own. State protection may be more useful for a home with substantial equity; the federal wildcard may be more useful for cash, a tax refund, or other assets. You cannot combine the Connecticut homestead with the federal wildcard. The Connecticut bankruptcy court explains the two alternatives in In re Brainard, pp. 7–8.
Check your residence history and ownership first
Filing in Connecticut does not by itself make its exemption law available. Under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(A), the usual test is where you were domiciled, meaning your legal home, throughout the 730 days before filing. If no single state meets that test, look at the 180 days immediately before that period and the state where you were domiciled for the longer portion than anywhere else. A federal-exemption fallback applies if that rule leaves you ineligible for any exemption. The exemption law finder can help organize your move dates for review.
Choosing state exemptions also permits applicable federal protections outside the § 522(d) list, including qualifying retirement funds under § 522(b)(3)(C). Spouses filing jointly, or in separate cases ordered jointly administered, cannot choose conflicting systems. See § 522(b).
Equity is the part you own after liens. Start with current fair market value, subtract mortgages or vehicle loans and other applicable liens, then identify your ownership share. An exemption protects that interest, not the lender's interest. The definitions are in § 52-352a; bankruptcy generally uses petition-date value under § 522(a)(2).
Compare the protections for your largest assets
These are category limits for one eligible debtor. Federal dollar amounts apply to cases filed on or after April 1, 2025. Compare complete systems, not individual rows from different columns.
| Property | Connecticut system | Federal § 522(d) system |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Ordinarily $250,000 of qualifying primary-residence equity. § 52-352b(21). Exceptions below. | $31,575 in a qualifying residence interest. § 522(d)(1). |
| Vehicles | $7,000 combined equity in up to two vehicles, not $7,000 per vehicle. § 52-352b(10). | $5,025 in one motor vehicle, plus any available wildcard. § 522(d)(2). |
| Cash or other property | One $1,000 wildcard shared among the assets you select. § 52-352b(18). | $1,675 plus up to $15,800 of unused federal residence protection: as much as $17,475 total. § 522(d)(5). |
Amounts: Connecticut's Public Act 21-161, effective October 1, 2021, and the Judicial Conference's 2025 federal adjustment notice. The next regular federal adjustment is April 1, 2028 under 11 U.S.C. § 104.
The homestead protects equity in your primary home
Connecticut's definition covers owner-occupied real property, a co-op, or a mobile manufactured home used as a primary residence. A rental or vacation property does not qualify simply because you own it. See § 52-352a(5).
The ordinary $250,000 allowance took effect October 1, 2021. In re Cole holds that the expanded exemption applies to bankruptcy and postjudgment proceedings started on or after that date, even when the debts arose earlier. This does not reopen cases filed before the change. Under § 52-352b(21), the old $75,000 figure remains a special limit for money judgments arising from sexual abuse or exploitation of a minor, sexual assault, or other willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct.
In a joint bankruptcy, each spouse must own a qualifying interest to claim a homestead exemption. Two eligible owners may have combined protection, but marriage alone does not turn a sole-owned home into a $500,000 exemption. Ownership shares and federal limits still matter. See § 52-352b(21) and § 522(m).
Two vehicles share one limit; cash needs its own protection
Hypothetical: two cars with $7,500 combined equity
Assume one filer owns both cars and can use Connecticut exemptions. One is worth $12,000 with a $7,500 loan, leaving $4,500 equity. The other is worth $3,000 with no loan. The $7,000 vehicle allowance leaves $500 to cover with another available exemption, such as unused wildcard protection.
Using $500 of the $1,000 wildcard here leaves $500 for other property. The uncovered amount does not automatically mean a trustee will sell a car; sale costs, liens, and the benefit to creditors also matter.
Ordinary bank balances and tax refunds do not become exempt just because you need them for living expenses. Under the state system, they may compete for the same wildcard used above. Funds from an exempt source require a separate analysis. Keep statements showing where deposits came from, especially when benefits and wages share an account; do not assume every dollar in a mixed account is protected.
Connecticut property and benefit reference
The table below describes state protections. A category without a stated dollar ceiling still has qualifying conditions. Bankruptcy exceptions for certain taxes, support debts, and valid liens can matter under § 522(c).
| Property or payment | Protection and important limits |
|---|---|
| Clothing and household goods | Necessary clothing, bedding, food, furniture, and appliances have no separate listed dollar ceiling. Necessary means reasonably required for you and your dependents, including special health needs; it does not automatically include every luxury or extra item. § 52-352b(1); § 52-352a(2). |
| Work tools and farm property | Tools, books, instruments, farm animals, and livestock feed necessary for your occupation, profession, or farming operation. § 52-352b(2). |
| Rings, health aids, and burial plots | Wedding and engagement rings; health aids needed to work or sustain health; and a burial plot for you and your immediate family. These provisions do not extend ring protection to all jewelry. § 52-352b(3), (6), and (11). |
| Residential deposits | Utility deposits for one residence and one residential security deposit. § 52-352b(12). |
| Wages | For ordinary wage execution, the maximum taken is the lesser of 25% of weekly disposable earnings or the amount exceeding 40 times the higher applicable federal or Connecticut minimum hourly wage. A court may order less. Disposable earnings use statutory deductions, not gross pay. Support withholding has separate rules; this formula does not automatically protect all wages accumulated in a bank account. § 52-361a(f); § 52-350a(4). |
| Child support and alimony | Court-approved child-support payments are protected. Alimony and other support are protected only to the extent wages are exempt under the wage-execution rule. § 52-352b(8) and (14). |
| Public assistance | Public-assistance payments and wages earned by a recipient through an incentive-earnings or similar program. § 52-352b(4). |
| Social Security, veterans, unemployment, and workers' compensation | These benefits are listed in § 52-352b(7). Separate federal protections may also apply, including Social Security Act § 207. Do not read these rules as immunity from every support obligation or federal recovery. The separate unemployment statute addresses rights before receipt and expressly excepts specified child-support garnishment. § 31-272(c). |
| Health and disability payments | Health and disability insurance payments are protected. A Connecticut association's benefits qualify when they support a member unable through sickness or infirmity to attend to their usual business. § 52-352b(5) and (16). |
| Crime-victim awards | Crime-reparation awards are listed in § 52-352b(15). § 54-213 excepts collection of expenses resulting from the injury underlying the claim. |
| Insurance on exempt property | Money due from an insurer under a policy on exempt property is protected to the same extent as the property. This does not itself protect all sale proceeds or every damages award. § 52-352b(17). |
| Military equipment | Arms, military equipment, uniforms, and musical instruments owned by a member of the militia or U.S. armed forces. § 52-352b(9). |
Retirement protection is broader than payments already received
§ 52-352b(13) covers assets, interests, and payments in plans described by § 52-321a. It is not limited to pension checks or the wage percentage. Covered arrangements include qualifying employer plans, IRAs and Roth IRAs, and specified education and medical-savings accounts. The exact tax-code category, permitted contributions, and rollover history matter; an ordinary savings account earmarked for retirement does not qualify on that basis.
Section 52-321a preserves qualified domestic relations orders and specified recovery rights involving incarceration costs and crime damages. It also contains rules for certain recent contributions by owners or controlling participants and for fraudulent contributions. A retirement label alone does not resolve those exceptions.
Some ERISA plan interests are excluded from the bankruptcy estate under § 541(c)(2), a different question from claiming an exemption. Federal retirement exemptions under § 522(b)(3)(C) or § 522(d)(12) may apply in either system. The federal aggregate limit for certain traditional and Roth IRA funds is $1,711,975 for cases filed on or after April 1, 2025; specified rollovers are excluded from that cap, and a court may increase it in the interests of justice. See § 522(n) and the adjustment notice. Inherited accounts and distributions need separate review.
Public-employee pensions
Plan-specific statutes protect benefits for municipal employees (§ 7-446), probate judges and employees (§ 45a-48), and state employees under § 5-171 and § 5-192w. Teachers' retirement protection (§ 10-183q) expressly permits a court-approved domestic relations order for an alternate payee. That exception took effect July 1, 2022. Confirm which plan and exceptions apply to your benefit.
Life insurance: distinguish cash value from death proceeds
| Type of value | Rule to check |
|---|---|
| Cash surrender value | § 52-352b(20), added in 2021, protects cash surrender value of a policy on a Connecticut citizen or resident without a listed dollar cap. It excludes policies assigned to or obtained for a creditor's benefit and purchases, sales, or transfers intended to defraud a creditor. Hotchkiss applies this provision in bankruptcy. |
| Loan value, dividends, and interest | A separate $4,000 allowance applies to accrued dividends or interest, or loan value, in an unmatured policy you own. The insured must be you or someone on whom you depend. Do not mistake this separate rule for a $4,000 cap on all cash surrender value. § 52-352b(19). |
| Death proceeds and retained proceeds | § 38a-453 protects a beneficiary other than the insured against the insured's representatives and creditors, subject to fraud and premium rules. It is not a general exemption from the beneficiary's own creditors. § 38a-454 allows written agreements protecting insurer-held proceeds from creditors of beneficiaries other than the policyholder, or annuity payees other than the purchaser, to the extent agreed in writing. |
| Fraternal benefits | § 38a-637 protects a fraternal benefit society's money or benefits, before and after payment, from the member's or beneficiary's creditors. |
Have the policy, ownership, insured person, beneficiary, assignments, and transaction history reviewed together. Surrendering a policy or moving its proceeds can change the legal question.
Partnership property is different from your business interest
A partner does not co-own specific partnership property under § 34-346. The partner's economic interest is a separate asset, with transfer and charging-order rules in §§ 34-347–34-349. Do not describe a business interest as categorically exempt.
For a partnership primarily engaged in farming, with at least half its partners from the same family, § 52-352d protects reasonably required farm animals and feed, plus insurance money on that property to the same extent. This is a rule about the partnership's property, not blanket protection of each partner's ownership interest.
What an exemption review should resolve
In chapter 7, a trustee may sell property with nonexempt value. In chapter 13, nonexempt value affects the minimum unsecured creditors must receive under the liquidation-value test, along with other plan requirements. Neither exemption choice erases a mortgage or car lien or brings missed payments current. See § 704(a)(1), § 1325(a)(4), and § 522(c). The chapter 7 versus chapter 13 guide explains the broader choice.
- List everything you own, including shared accounts, business interests, tax refunds, pending claims, and property you believe is exempt.
- Document values, ownership shares, loan payoffs, benefit sources, retirement contributions, and insurance rights. Identify recent moves, gifts, sales, and transfers.
- Compare both exemption systems across that full list, then claim the applicable exemptions on Schedule C. Property should not be omitted merely because you believe it is protected.
Before retitling property, paying down a loan, or withdrawing retirement funds to pay debt, ask how that transaction would affect your options.
Sources, effective dates, and limits
Source check: October 9, 2026. Links beside the rules identify Connecticut statutes, court opinions, and federal law. Public Act 21-161 raised the home and vehicle allowances and added life-insurance cash-surrender protection effective October 1, 2021. It also replaced the old lettered § 52-352b citations with numbered subdivisions.
Older tables may cite the former probate-retirement § 45-29o, now § 45a-48, or repealed provisions for partnership property (§ 34-63) and Vietnam veterans' death benefits (§§ 27-140a–27-140m). Those repealed provisions are not presented here as current exemptions.
The check included the current compilation, the 2026 chapter 906 supplement, and the acts on the Legislature's October 7, 2026 act list. No later change to the exemption amounts above was identified. This is not an exhaustive check of later case treatment or every exemption. Joint ownership, mixed deposits, retirement accounts, and policy rights still need review against your facts. The source-check date does not represent attorney review or approval. Educational information only, not legal advice for your case.