CA System 2 question

[monkatom]

On the exemptions list it states
Personal Property
Animals, Crops, appliances, furnishings, household goods, books, musical instrumnets, and clothing to $525 per item.

My question is do you think this means per category or item. example I but a couch set that includes 4 pieces for 1600 dollars. the total is over 500 but each item is valued at 400?

Just curious as our lawyer told us to sell one of the cars pay bills, taxes, etc then buy clothes and furniture since it is exempt.
Thanks

We will double check with the lawyer as well but I am really nervous about me or him making a mistake.

[lrprn]

My question is do you think this means per category or item. example I but a couch set that includes 4 pieces for 1600 dollars. the total is over 500 but each item is valued at 400?

You may have purchased the couch set for $1600, but it certainly isn't worth that now. My guess is that $400 to $500 is all you could get for your whole used couch if you tried to sell it in the classifieds which would be under the exemption.

Don't get into too much detail on your household items. Most US households have belongings that are worth about $3-4,000 total.

Use classifieds and garage sale prices for your household items, not what they were purchased for or what you insure them for. This is likely why your lawyer isn't worried about you purchasing clothes and household things.

[monkatom]

Thanks for the response. I think this may be a little different though as my lawyer said to sell our SUV and use the money from the sale for property taxes, etc. he also said we could go on a shopping spree as clothes are exempt and to buy new couches as furniture is exempt. I think it will be strange if we buy 1600 couches in December then file in January. won't the trustee think this is fishy?

[monkatom]

Has anyone used system 2 for California? i am still stuck on the wording of
Animals, crops, appliances, furnishings, household goods, books, musical instruments and clothing to $525 per item
So this is per item? as mentioned above we sold a car and have 1500 left over. lawyer says go buy clothes or furniture as that would convert a non exempt asset (cash) into an exempt asset (furniture) I guess I am worrying too much but I am afraid if i spent 1500 on furniture now and file in 30 days trustee will think
A) we tried to pull a fast one on our creditors or
B) we are lying about value of furniture since it will be new.
Just curious as I feel we should try and give the trustee something but lawyer wants us to use this cash as he wants to use remaining wildcard exemptions to cover most of our tax returns.
Thanks

[Cali]

I am in CA and am confused on the systems as well. I am hoping to use the second choice.

[dp1969]

I am in CA and am confused on the systems as well. I am hoping to use the second choice.

Right there with you. We are in CA and just received our filing paperwork from the lawyer. I posted this on a different thread but on our Schedule C the totals were $114,839 ($121,519 before deducting exemptions). $88,464 is 401k & profit sharing.

I'm so confused on the systems. What does "homestead" mean? Everything we own?? How much (from Schedule B) are you allowed to consider "personal property"????

Another thing...our lawyer said we are allowed $25k personal exemption for the vehicles. We have a 2005 Tahoe worth $20k but a loan that we are reaffirming for $8900 ($11,100 value). A 1996 Chevy P/U worth $3k (if that) and a 2001 Mastercraft boat; damaged last July (at this point worth $7k being damaged). Totals are $21,100. He said we are under the limit...WHAT LIMIT?

[tay666]

Another thing...our lawyer said we are allowed $25k personal exemption for the vehicles. We have a 2005 Tahoe worth $20k but a loan that we are reaffirming for $8900 ($11,100 value). A 1996 Chevy P/U worth $3k (if that) and a 2001 Mastercraft boat; damaged last July (at this point worth $7k being damaged). Totals are $21,100. He said we are under the limit...WHAT LIMIT?

Don't know about the rest of it.
But as for "what limit".
See the part I bolded in your qute.
The $25.000 exemption is the limit.
Anything above that is not covered by the exemption and would be an asset the trustee could seize for the estate.

[dp1969]

Thanks Tay! All of a sudden I was getting a bit overwhelmed with exemptions. Paying the lawyer big bucks to protect our assets so he should know what's best!!

[luckyinlove]

My understanding is CA has $21K exemption

and you can slice and dice it anyway you want, cars, homes, furniture, or even CASH, bottom line is you can retain $21K of assets and no more. this was changed and increased recently because it was unfair to allow only homeowners $17K but not renters, and they just upped it to $21K.