One of the biggest worries that people have when they are considering filing for bankruptcy has to do with the property that they may have to give up. Whether you are filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, there are certain exemptions that you can claim to help you hold on to your personal property or to keep the amount that you have to pay back to a minimal amount. Bankruptcy exemptions change from state to state, but generally speaking the protect certain types of property. When you can exempt something like your personal vehicle or a piece of jewelry, it means that you can hold on to it, even though your creditors may want your appointed trustee to sell it.  In the state of Pennsylvania, you are able to choose whether you want to use the federal bankruptcy exemptions or the ones that have been established by the state. If you need information about bankruptcy exemptions in Philadelphia for either Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the experienced lawyers at Erik B. Jensen Attorneys at Law can help.

There are a number of bankruptcy exemptions in Philadelphia that residents of the city commonly use when they are filing. Some of these include:

• Personal property such as clothing, school books, uniforms, sewing machines and bibles
• You can keep up to 75% of your wages
• If you are an employee of the city of Philadelphia you can keep your pension
• If you are an employee of the state of Pennsylvania you can keep your pension
• If you are an employee of Philadelphia county you can keep your pension
• If you are a public school employee you can keep your pension
• If you are a police officer you can keep your pension
• If you are a municipal employee you can keep your pension
• If you receive workers’ compensation, unemployment, veterans’ benefits, crime victim benefits or Korean conflict veterans’ benefits, you are able to keep them
• If you are the beneficiary of any insurance or annuity payments up to $100 per month, you can keep those
• If you are the beneficiary of any life insurance policy that prohibits proceeds from being used to pay creditors you can keep those
• If you own any business partnership property, you can keep it
• There is a wildcard bankruptcy exemption in Philadelphia that allows you to keep $300 of any property you name

Though these are among the most frequently applied bankruptcy exemptions in Philadelphia, there are many others that you may be able to use: this is particularly true if you are a married couple, as there is an opportunity for filing joint bankruptcy and doubling your exemption. For more information on protecting the things that are most important to you, contact the law firm of Erik B. Jensen Attorneys at Law today.