Exemptions in WA State question

[Bluefish]

Can anyone tell me if the exemptions for WA State are per filer? I know the vehicle limit of $2500 is per vehicle for 2 vehicles limit, but what about the other categories?

For example, we are a family of 4. Our attorney told us to list all family members clothing in our asset list. I'm seeing for WA it's $1000 exemption for clothing, but would that be $2000 total, since we are filing jointly?

I have several questions for our attorney, but have now waited almost a month for her to answer them for us!

[JJ888]

Hey Bluefish. Welcome to BK forum. Im from WA state too. It just concerns me that you're not getting info from your attorney. PM me if you need another attorney, the one Im using has a proven track record for 26 years based in Seattle.

As far as I know (please don't quote me on this), it really doesn't matter. We're also a family of 4 and filed BK jointly. I was able to file exemptions for funds in my savings and checking account, jewelry, clothing, house stuff like electronics, furniture and 401K/retirement accounts. Everything added up its about $10K. I think 401K and retirement pension are on a separate exemption, I have $44K.

I think the key here is to make sure you file exemptions and make sure to included tax refund.

[Bluefish]

Thanks for your reply. I think we may be over in some exemption limits, in certain categories, which is why I was wondering if the limits were per filer. I've tried to search this online and can't find a definite answer.

[BobMango]

Bluefish, you may want to explore the Federal exemptions since you are in Washington state. The Federal exemptions can be doubled if filing jointly, I'm not sure about Washington's.

From my point of view the only reason to use state exemptions in Washington is if your have a lot of equity in your house, since the Washington state homestead exemption is more generous than the Federal. The advantage to the Federal is that a portion of unused homestead exemption can be used to exempt any property. I seem to recall the amount of wildcard available for a married couple would be just over $21K.