SENATE BILL No. 524

 

 

September 19, 2013, Introduced by Senator NOFS and referred to the Committee on Families, Seniors and Human Services.

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1961 PA 236, entitled

 

"Revised judicature act of 1961,"

 

by amending section 6023 (MCL 600.6023), as amended by 2012 PA 553.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

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

 

the judgment debtor's dependents is exempt from levy and sale under

 

an execution:

 

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

 

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

 

person and his or her 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 a 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, 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 the insured person, whether the debt

 

or liability of such insured person or beneficiary was incurred

 

before or after the accrual of benefits under the insurance policy

 

or contract, except that the exemption under this subdivision does

 

not apply to actions to recover for necessities contracted for

 

after the accrual of the benefits.

 

     (g) A homestead of not more than 40 acres of land and the

 

dwelling house and appurtenances on that homestead that is not

 

included in a recorded plat, city, or village, or, at the option of

 

the owner, a quantity of land that consists of not more than 1 lot

 


that is 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 applies to any house that is owned, occupied, and

 

claimed as a homestead by a person but that is on land not owned by

 

the person. However, this exemption does not apply to a mortgage on

 

the homestead that is lawfully obtained. A mortgage is not valid

 

for purposes of this subdivision 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) An equity of redemption as described in section 6060.

 

     (i) 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.

 

     (j) An individual retirement account or individual retirement

 

annuity as defined in section 408 or 408a of the internal revenue

 

code of 1986, 26 USC 408 and 408a, and the payments or

 

distributions from the account or annuity. This exemption applies

 

to the operation of the federal bankruptcy code as permitted by

 

section 522(b)(2) of the bankruptcy code, 11 USC 522. This

 

exemption does not apply to any amounts contributed to the

 


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 of the following occur:

 

     (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, 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.

 

     (iv) The individual retirement account or individual retirement

 

annuity is subject to a levy under section 25c of the support and

 

parenting time enforcement act, 1982 PA 295, MCL 552.625c.

 

     (k) 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,

 


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 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 either 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.

 

     (l) Any interest in the following:

 

     (i) A trust, fund, or advance tuition payment contract

 

established under the Michigan education trust act, 1986 PA 316,

 

MCL 390.1421 to 390.1442.

 

     (ii) An account established under the Michigan education

 

savings program act, 2000 PA 161, MCL 390.1471 to 390.1486.

 

     (iii) An account in a qualified tuition program or educational

 

savings trust under section 529 or 530 of the internal revenue code

 

of 1986, 26 USC 529 and 530.

 

     (2) The exemptions provided in this section do not extend to

 

any lien on the exempt property that is excluded from exemption by

 

law.

 


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

 

spouse but no children, the homestead 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.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect

 

unless all of the following bills of the 97th Legislature are

 

enacted into law:

 

     (a) Senate Bill No. 523.                                   

 

           

 

     (b) Senate Bill No. 525.