HOUSE BILL No. 4127

 

February 1, 2005, Introduced by Rep. Mortimer and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

     A bill to amend 1961 PA 236, entitled

 

"Revised judicature act of 1961,"

 

by amending sections 6023 and 6027 (MCL 600.6023 and 600.6027),

 

section 6023 as amended by 1998 PA 61.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 6023. (1) The following property of the debtor and the

 

debtor's dependents  shall be  is exempt from levy and sale under

 

any execution:

 

     (a) All family pictures, all arms and accouterments required

 

by law to be kept by any person, all wearing apparel of every

 

person or family, and provisions and fuel for comfortable

 

subsistence of each householder and his or her family for 6 months.

 

     (b) All household goods, furniture, utensils, books, and


 

appliances, not exceeding in value $1,000.00.

 

     (c) A seat, pew, or slip occupied by the judgment debtor or

 

the judgment debtor's family in any house or place of public

 

worship, and all cemeteries, tombs, and rights of burial while in

 

use as repositories of the dead of the judgment debtor's family or

 

kept for burial of the judgment debtor.

 

     (d) To each householder, 10 sheep, 2 cows, 5 swine, 100 hens,

 

5 roosters, and a sufficient quantity of hay and grain, growing or

 

otherwise, for properly keeping the animals and poultry for 6

 

months.

 

     (e) The tools, implements, materials, stock, apparatus, team,

 

vehicle, motor vehicle, horses, harness, or other things to enable

 

a person to carry on the profession, trade, occupation, or business

 

in which the person is principally engaged, not exceeding in value

 

$1,000.00.

 

     (f) Any money or other benefits paid, provided, or allowed to

 

be paid  ,  or provided  , or allowed,  by any stock or mutual

 

life,  or  health, or casualty insurance company, on account of the

 

disability due to injury or sickness of any insured person, whether

 

the debt or liability of  such  the insured person or beneficiary

 

was incurred before or after the accrual of benefits under the

 

insurance policy or contract.  , except that the  However, this

 

exemption does not apply to actions to recover for necessities

 

contracted for after the accrual of the benefits.

 

     (g) The shares held by any member, being a householder, of any

 

association incorporated under the provisions of the savings and

 

loan act of 1980, 1980 PA 307, MCL 491.102 to 491.1202, to the


 

amount of $1,000.00 in  such  the shares, at par value, except that

 

this exemption does not apply to any person who has a homestead

 

exempted under the general laws of this state.

 

      (h) A homestead of not exceeding 40 acres of land and the

 

dwelling house and appurtenances on that homestead, and not

 

included in any recorded plat, city, or village, or, instead, and

 

at the option of the owner, a quantity of land not exceeding in

 

amount 1 lot, being within a recorded town plat, city, or village,

 

and the dwelling house and appurtenances on that land, owned and

 

occupied by any resident of this state, not exceeding in value

 

$3,500.00. This exemption extends to any person owning and

 

occupying any house on land not his or her own and which the person

 

claims as a homestead. However, this exemption does not apply to

 

any mortgage on the homestead, lawfully obtained, except that the

 

mortgage is not valid without the signature of a married judgment

 

debtor's spouse unless either of the following occurs:

 

     (i) The mortgage is given to secure the payment of the purchase

 

money or a portion of the purchase money.

 

     (ii) The mortgage is recorded in the office of the register of

 

deeds of the county in which the property is located, for a period

 

of 25 years, and no notice of a claim of invalidity is filed in

 

that office during the 25 years following the recording of the

 

mortgage.

 

     (h) Subject to subsection (4), a homestead, limited to the

 

following:

 

     (i) If the debtor or the debtor's spouse is 65 years of age or

 

older, 100% of the homestead's value that is $150,000.00 or less


 

and 75% of the homestead's value that exceeds $150,000.00.

 

     (ii) If subparagraph (i) does not apply, the homestead's value

 

that does not exceed $3,500.00.

 

     (i) An equity of redemption as described in section 6060.

 

     (j) The homestead of a family, after the death of the owner of

 

the homestead, from the payment of his or her debts in all cases

 

during the minority of his or her children.

 

     (k) An individual retirement account or individual retirement

 

annuity as defined in section 408 or described in section 408a of

 

the internal revenue code,  of 1986  26 USC 408 and 408a, and the

 

payments or distributions from such an account or annuity. This

 

exemption applies to the operation of the  federal  bankruptcy code

 

as permitted by section 522(b)(2) of  title 11 of the United States

 

Code, 11 U.S.C. 522  the bankruptcy code, 11 USC 522. This

 

exemption does not apply to  any amounts  the amount contributed to

 

an individual retirement account or individual retirement  annuity

 

if the contribution occurs  within 120 days before the debtor files

 

for bankruptcy. This exemption does not apply to an individual

 

retirement account or individual retirement annuity to the extent

 

that  any  1 or more of the following  occur  apply:

 

     (i) The individual retirement account or individual retirement

 

annuity is subject to an order of a court pursuant to a judgment of

 

divorce or separate maintenance.

 

     (ii) The individual retirement account or individual retirement

 

annuity is subject to an order of a court concerning child support.

 

     (iii) Contributions to the individual retirement account or

 

premiums on the individual retirement annuity, including the


 

earnings or benefits from those contributions or premiums, exceed,

 

in the tax year made or paid, the deductible amount allowed under

 

section 408 of the internal revenue code,  of 1986  26 USC 408.

 

This limitation on contributions does not apply to a rollover of a

 

pension, profit-sharing, stock bonus plan or other plan that is

 

qualified under section 401 of the internal revenue code,  of 1986  

 

26 USC 401, or an annuity contract under section 403(b) of the

 

internal revenue code,  of 1986  26 USC 403.

 

     (l) The right or interest of a person in a pension, profit-

 

sharing, stock bonus, or other plan that is qualified under section

 

401 of the internal revenue code,  of 1986  26 USC 401, or an

 

annuity contract under section 403(b) of the internal revenue code,  

 

of 1986, which  26 USC 403, if the plan or annuity is subject to

 

the employee retirement income security act of 1974, Public Law 93-

 

406, 88 Stat. 829. This exemption applies to the operation of the  

 

federal  bankruptcy code, as permitted by section 522(b)(2) of  

 

title 11 of the United States Code, 11 U.S.C. 522  the bankruptcy

 

code, 11 USC 522. This exemption does not apply to any amount

 

contributed to a pension, profit-sharing, stock bonus, or other

 

qualified plan or a 403(b) annuity if the contribution occurs

 

within 120 days before the debtor files for bankruptcy. This

 

exemption does not apply to the right or interest of a person in a

 

pension, profit-sharing, stock bonus, or other qualified plan or a

 

403(b) annuity to the extent that the right or interest  in the

 

plan or annuity  is subject to  any  1 or both of the following:

 

     (i) An order of a court pursuant to a judgment of divorce or

 

separate maintenance.


 

     (ii) An order of a court concerning child support.

 

     (2) The exemptions provided in this section  shall  do not

 

extend to any lien  thereon  on the property excluded from

 

exemption by law.

 

     (3) If the owner of a homestead dies  ,  leaving a surviving

 

spouse but no children, the homestead  shall be  is exempt, and the

 

rents and profits of the homestead  shall  accrue to the benefit of

 

the surviving spouse before his or her remarriage, unless the

 

surviving spouse is the owner of a homestead in his or her own

 

right.

 

     (4) The homestead exemption under subsection (1)(h) does not

 

apply to a lawfully obtained mortgage on the homestead. However, if

 

the debtor is married and the debtor's spouse did not sign the

 

mortgage, the exemption applies to the mortgage unless 1 or both of

 

the following apply:

 

     (a) The mortgage was given to secure the payment of all or a

 

portion of the purchase money for the homestead.

 

     (b) The mortgage has been recorded in the office of the

 

register of deeds of the county in which the homestead is located

 

for 25 years or more and notice of a claim of invalidity has not

 

been filed in that office during the 25 years following the

 

recording of the mortgage.

 

     (5) As used in this section, "homestead" means the following:

 

     (a) Land, limited to the following size, and the house and

 

appurtenances on it owned and occupied by a resident of this state:

 

     (i) If the homestead is not located in a recorded plat, city,

 

or village, 40 acres or less.


 

     (ii) If the homestead is located in a recorded plat, city, or

 

village, 1 lot or a fraction of a lot.

 

     (b) A house owned and occupied by a resident of this state

 

that is on land not owned by the resident.

 

     Sec. 6027. If the homestead of any debtor is appraised at a

 

value  of more than $3,500.00,  that exceeds the available

 

exemption under section 6023 and cannot be divided, the debtor  

 

shall not for that reason lose the benefit of  may still claim the

 

exemption,  ;  but  in such cases  the levying officer shall

 

deliver a notice, attached to a copy of the appraisal, to the

 

debtor or  to some of his  a member of the debtor's family of

 

suitable age to understand the  nature thereof  the notice, that

 

unless the debtor  pay  pays the officer the  surplus over and

 

above the $3,500.00, amount that exceeds the exemption or the

 

amount due on the execution within 60 days  thereafter  after the

 

delivery of the notice, the premises will be sold.