I recently read a case in which a West Palm Beach bankruptcy judge answered the question of whether Chapter 7 debtors, who initially claimed their homestead as exempt, may amend their Schedule C (schedule of exempt property) after the initial objection deadline (30 days after the conclusion of the meeting of creditors) to delete the homestead and add personal property under the Florida “wild card” personal property exemption. This particular judge ruled that the debtors could do so.

When the debtors filed their bankruptcy petition, despite the fact that they indicated that their home was worth significantly less than the mortgage that was on the property, they claimed the property as exempt, and indicated that they intended to retain the property. At that time, they only utilized the $1,000.00 personal property exemption provided by Article 10, Section 4, of the Florida Constitution. The Trustee timely filed an objection to the debtors’ claimed exemptions, challenging the value of personal property claimed exempt by the debtors as exceeding the $1,000.00 provided by that section of the Florida Constitution. Shortly thereafter, the debtors filed an amended Schedule C. They no longer claimed their home as exempt. Instead, they each claimed the $4,000.00 “wild card” exemption. The filing of the amendment triggered a new objection deadline of 30 days after the amendment was filed. Within the 30 days, the trustee objected to the amended claimed exemptions.

The trustee argued that the passage of the original objection deadline for exemptions prevented the debtors from amending their list of exempt personal property to delete their homestead and add personal property under the “wild card” exemption. Since the debtors have the right to amend at any time before their case is closed (absent an allegation of bad faith or prejudice to creditors (the trustee alleged neither)), the judge overruled the trustee’s objection to the debtors’ amended claimed exemptions.

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