In Florida, Levy is the process by which a judgment creditor, after the court’s issuance of a final judgment and a Writ of Execution, directs the County’s Sheriff to seize non-exempt assets listed in the Instruction for Levy.
Protections Against Levy
In Florida, there are constitutional and statutory exemptions against levy. The most famous being the Florida Homestead Exemption, which protects the debtor from a judgement creditor. Florida’s homestead exemption protects up to ½ acre if within a municipality and 160 contiguous acres if outside a municipality.
Florida also enacted Florida Statute 222 – Homestead and Exemptions. This statute lists the exemptions from levy. To list a few assets exempt from levy: wages from garnishment if you are the head of the household (an individual that provides more than ½ of the support for a child or other dependent); life insurance proceeds; Retirement accounts; disability income; Social Security income; prepaid college funding; hurricane and medical savings accounts; and other miscellaneous exemptions. Additionally, Floridians can protect up to $1,000.00 of personal property from levy, and if they do not claim homestead protection, then they can exempt up to $4,000.00 of personal property from levy. There is also a protection levy for vehicles. A debtor is exempted up to $5,000.00 of their interest in a motor vehicle.
Also stated in the statute is that Floridians cannot use the federal bankruptcy exemptions besides the federal exemptions listed in 11 U.S.C. 522(d) (10). The allowed federal exemptions exempt debtor’s right to receive: social security benefit, unemployment compensation, or a local public assistance benefit; veteran’s benefit; disability, illness, or unemployment benefit; alimony support, or separate maintenance, to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any dependent of the debtor; a payment under a stock bonus, pension, profit sharing, annuity, or similar plan or contract on account of illness, disability, death, age, or length of service, to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any dependent of the debtor, unless-
(i) such plan or contract was established by or under the auspices of an insider that employed the debtor at the time the debtor’s rights under such plan or contract arose;
(ii) such payment is on account of age or length of service; and
(iii) such plan or contract does not qualify under section 401(a), 403(a), 403(b), or 408 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.