Before filing for bankruptcy in Ohio, take the time to learn about Ohio bankruptcy laws.

Bankruptcy Exemptions

Under Ohio’s bankruptcy laws, those filing bankruptcy can keep the following assets:

• Up to $20,200 for your home
• Up to $3,225 for your vehicle
• Clothing, beds, and bedding, up to $200 per item
• Up to $300 per item for a refrigerator and cooking unit
• Up to $400 in cash
• Up to $525 for animals, books, crops, instruments, household goods, firearms, appliances, furniture, hunting gear, and fishing gear as well as up to $1,350 for jewelry with a $10,775 total value
• Up to $2,025 for tools of the trade, including books
• Burial plot
• Prescription health aids
• Up to $20,200 for personal injury rewards received in the 12 months before filing
• Necessary support payments
• Business partnership property
• Wrongful death recoveries for someone you depended on received in 12 months prior to filing
• ERISA-qualified benefits
• Pensions for public workers
• Disability benefits
• Up to $5,000 for benevolent society benefits
• Proceeds from your spouse’s life insurance
• Group life insurance policy/proceeds
• Life, endowment or annuity contract for spouse, child, or other dependent
• 75 percent of wages for 30 days
• Public compensation and assistance programs
• Up to $1,075 in value for any property
• Seal and register for a notary public
• Proceeds from life insurance if the policy prevents them from being used for creditors

If you have voluntary liens, like your mortgage or car loan, you may be able to keep the asset if you continue paying. Keep in mind that you have to reaffirm the debt on car loans after the 341 meeting.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Information

Chapter 7 bankruptcy allows most debts, like credit card debt, to be wiped out completely after assets have been sold. Some types of debt, like child support or alimony payments and back taxes, are not wiped out by Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In order to file this form of bankruptcy, you must pass the means test.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Information

If you wish to hold on to more of your assets or cannot pass the means test, consider Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This form of bankruptcy requires a repayment plan that repays the debts over three to five years. Some debts may be discharged if left unpaid after the repayment period.