Your Pet and Your Personal Bankruptcy Filing

Are you considering a personal bankruptcy filing in South Florida, including either a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing? If so, you may not realize it, but you will need to disclose your pet or pets along with all of your other property in the bankruptcy schedules you submit to the court with your bankruptcy petition. Most pet owners do not think about their pets as property, but this is how Florida law sees them, and accordingly, they need to be disclosed as part of your bankruptcy case. For most debtors, having pets will not impact their bankruptcy case or how they use their exemptions. In some instances, however, you may need to use Florida’s “wildcard” exemption to keep your pet or pets. Our bankruptcy lawyers in West Palm Beach can explain in more detail.

Pets as Property in Personal Bankruptcy Cases

According to recent data published in Forbes, approximately 66 percent of American households, totaling nearly 87 million homes, have pets. Most of those homes have dogs or cats, though households also report other pets such as horses, reptiles, birds, and more. Are your pets part of the property you need to disclose in your bankruptcy case? For the most part, yes.

Under the United States Bankruptcy Code, pets are generally considered to be part of the personal property that a debtor must list on Schedule B, and then provide a value for on Schedule C. For most debtors who have adopted their animals or rescued their pet in some capacity, the value can be listed as $0, and the pet will not impact the debtor’s bankruptcy case in any meaningful way — whether they are filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. However, there are some exceptions.

When You Will Need Your “Wildcard” Exemption for Your Pet

What if you own a purebred dog, cat, horse, or another animal that has substantial market value? If this is the case, you may only be able to keep your pet if you can apply an exemption — for debtors in Florida, that means using the “wildcard” exemption.

The wildcard exemption is $1,000 of personal property of your choosing, or $4,000 if you do not use the homestead exemption. If your purebred animal is likely to be valued at significantly more, it is critical to find out about options in your bankruptcy case.

Contact Our West Palm Beach Bankruptcy Lawyers to Learn More About Pets in Personal Bankruptcy Cases

Are you considering a personal bankruptcy filing in South Florida? If so, you may not have realized that any pets you have would need to be disclosed in your bankruptcy materials. For all of the reasons discussed above, most pets will not impact your bankruptcy case one way or another. However, certain types of pure-breed pets that have a market value can in fact impact your bankruptcy case, including the way in which you use your “wildcard” exemption under Florida law. One of the experienced West Palm Beach bankruptcy attorneys at Kelley Kaplan Delaney & Eller, PLLC can speak with you today to determine the potential impact of your family pet or pets on your bankruptcy case, and we can assist you as you move forward with your filing.

Sources:

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0200-0299/0222/0222.html

forbes.com/advisor/pet-insurance/pet-ownership-statistics/