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If you're filing bankruptcy in South Carolina, one of the first questions is:
“Will I lose my home, car, or other property?”
That’s where bankruptcy exemptions come in.
South Carolina exemptions determine:
This guide breaks down how exemptions work in South Carolina and what you can realistically expect.
There is a list of exemptions for South Carolina, which can be found at S.C. Code Ann. § 15-41-30, but it can be difficult to parse through, and the amounts of the exemptions change yearly. If you prefer to answer a simple set of questions, feel free to use the South Carolina bankruptcy exemptions calculator below to estimate which belongings are at risk.
Bankruptcy exemptions protect your property when filing for bankruptcy.
These apply to:
In South Carolina, there are two key rules to know:
Below are the most common bankruptcy exemptions in South Carolina based on the latest inflation-adjusted amounts. These are the numbers typically used in real bankruptcy cases.
Please note: South Carolina law lists lower base amounts in the statute, but those numbers are periodically adjusted for inflation. The values below reflect the most current estimates used in practice.
The homestead exemption protects equity in your primary residence.
The homestead exemption is currently $76,125. If you own a home jointly with a spouse (both you and your spouse are on the deed to the home), and you file bankruptcy jointly with your spouse, both you and your spouse get to claim a homestead exemption in the property. Therefore, for someone who is married with both spouses being on the deed to the property and both spouses file bankruptcy, each party gets a homestead exemption of $76125 for a total of $152,250.00.
The automobile exemption in South Carolina is currently 7,600. This exemption can be used on only one vehicle, even if that vehicle has less than $7,600 in equity. For example, if you own two vehicles and both have equity in them, you cannot split the motor vehicle exemption to protect the equity in each vehicle.
This exemption applies to one vehicle. If you own multiple vehicles, you cannot split this exemption across them.
The jewelry bankruptcy exemption in South Carolina is $1,525.
The tools of the trade bankruptcy exemption in South Carolina is $2,275.
The wildcard bankruptcy exemption in South Carolina is up to 7,600. In order to use the wildcard exemptions, there has to be some exemption available to you that you did not use all of. For example, if you own jewelry and you claimed a jewelry exemption, but you only used $1,000 of the jewelry exemption, you could use the remaining unused $525 jewelry exemption as a wildcard exemption.
The cash bankruptcy exemption in South Carolina is 7,600. It is important to note that you can only use the cash exemption if you are not using the homestead exemption. So if you have a home, you cannot use the dedicated cash exemption to protect cash on hand or money you have in the bank.
Here are other common exemptions. There may be limits to the amount of the bankruptcy exemption, so please be sure to check each one individually.
Not covered here include less common exemptions such as illness benefits, firefighter pensions, and retirement involving stock. However, we encourage you to research the official South Carolina legal text for more information.
You may have too much equity in a belonging, which makes you consider other options. For example, let’s say you own a boat outright that is valued at $100,000. With the wildcard exemption in South Carolina, you may be at risk of losing that vehicle.
There’s an opportunity to still do the Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but the trustee may liquidate the boat to pay off some of the creditors. You have a couple more prominent options:
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in South Carolina is best described as a reorganization. Instead of making payments to each creditor individually, you will make one payment per month to the chapter 13 trustee. The Chapter 13 trustee then disburses the payments they collect to your creditors. Chapter 13 is a 3 to 5-year payment plan. Chapter 13 allows you to keep assets that you cannot protect with your exemptions by paying back an amount to your unsecured creditors equal to the equity in your assets that cannot be protected with the exemptions.
Debt Settlement is where you or a company negotiates a lower amount with the creditors directly. For example, a debt settlement company would try to negotiate a $10,000 credit bill down to $5,000. This option would still negatively affect your credit, and there are fees associated with this option, but it is a valid option for many and can be quicker than a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, depending on how aggressive you are with negotiating and paying off the debt.
Debt Management is where a company negotiates a lower interest rate with your creditors because of financial hardship. For example, a debt management company would try to negotiate a credit card’s interest rate from 22% to 8%. This option is often the most expensive of the debt relief options and can work best for credit cards, but debt management is a valid option for many folks.
Understand what items you may lose when filing bankruptcy to help you make a more informed decision. The bankruptcy exemptions in bankruptcy exemptions calculator or reach out to us directly at support@tryascend.com if you have any questions.
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