NYS can only one spouse take the homestead exemption

[mrmem123]

Hi
Im from NYS and was going to use the NYS exemptions
Even though me and wife are both on our mortgage I get $170,000 living in long island. Which is more then enough.
We dont need to double it.
Is it possible only my wife takes the homestead exemption and i use the wildcard exemption instead .
LMK
Thanks

[justbroke]

According to the caselaw, married couple can double the homestead exemption. See https://www.legalconsumer.com/bankru...itationID=1416

From what I can tell, there is no unused homestead exemption available under the New York State exemption scheme. As you already learned, you get a wildcard exemption if you don't claim the NY homestead exemption. The Federal exemption scheme, which is available to NYers, does allowed unused portions of the exemption to be applied elsewhere. The unused homestead exemption under the Federal scheme is $25,150 (doubled for married). The problem is that may appear, and be, much less than you need to exempt the equity in your home.

I'm sorry but I just can't answer for NY State. This will be an important question for you if you're trying to protect property. The reason I can't answer is because I don't know how your home is titled (with "and", "or," or "by tenants in their entireties/in common), or even how that would apply in NY. Other problems could be if it's an "and" and not TBE (tenants by the entireties), then you each own 50% of the value of the home. More problems could come if you have joint creditors. For example, if you didn't protect your half then it could open the door to the Trustee's reach. Holding property as TBE, when you have joint creditors, doesn't protect the property and again, you would probably both need to claim the homestead exemption.

Where I live, Florida, you either get the unused exemption or you get the entire homestead exemption. You don't get an "unused" exemption if you use even $1 of the homestead exemption, in Florida. I say that as an example as to why it could be a complicated answer.

As for whether one of you could take that exemption and the other use it towards other property, I can't answer. You're going to need an answer from a NY bankruptcy/asset-protection attorney.