Iowa Bankruptcy Exemptions
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The term "Iowa bankruptcy exemptions" refers to assets that you get to keep when you file bankruptcy. As a practical matter, most people keep all their assets when they file bankruptcy given a reasonable amount of legal bankruptcy planning.
 Homestead (however if you have recently purchased your home and have significant equity you should discuss this with your attorney before filing bankruptcy) - Up to $7,000 in equity in each of one car per filing debtor (2 cars for married couples filing together) Note: Due to large loan balances or low value, extra cars are usually not a problem.
- Clothing
- Wedding & Engagement Rings
- Musical Instruments
- Shotgun and Rifle or Musket
- Household Furnishings
- Life Insurance
- Health Equipment
- Employer Sponsored Retirement Accounts (401k, IPERS etc., includes IRA rollovers from employer sponsored retirement.)
- First $1,000 of tax return (usually only applied late in the calendar year) per person plus an amount equal to any Earned Income Tax Credit
- Business equipment up to $10,000 (in equity)
- $1,000 in cash per person
- Rental deposits
Note: Some of these items have limited exemptions amounts, but they are rarely reached, so most clients keep all of this property. If you have particularly valuable property, it should be discussed with your attorney before filing bankruptcy.
Common Non-Exempt Assets
 Note: As with any other asset, if you have little or no equity in an item below due to a loan on the item, you can normally keep it anyway, since the trustee would have to pay off the loan if he wanted to take it from you. If you own any of these items you should discuss it with your attorney prior to filing bankruptcy to find out what options you have.
- Boats, Motors, Trailers
- Campers
- Expensive Collections. Caution: Most clients vastly over-value collections. Be sure to make a sober evaluation of how much cash you could get for collections. It is often much less than you would think. The trustee is not interested in most collections.
- Very large tax refunds
- Pending lawsuits against others (except workers compensation which is normally exempt)
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