How Much of Your Home Equity Does Ohio Protect?
If creditors are circling, the question underneath every other question is whether you lose the house. Ohio answers it with a homestead exemption, and the answer is more generous than most people expect — considerably more generous than the number printed in the statute, which has not been the operative figure since 2013. This article explains what the exemption actually protects, where the real number comes from, and why the right person to ask next is not us.
A small plain kitchen table with two wooden chairs pulled slightly out and two empty ceramic mugs left on the worn wooden surface in morning light
Ohio lets you hold your interest in one residence exempt from execution, garnishment, attachment or sale to satisfy a judgment. The statute prints $125,000, but that is a baseline from 2013 — division (B) requires the figure to be adjusted for inflation every three years. The operative amount for 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028 is $182,625. For a great many Greater Cleveland homes, that covers every dollar of equity in the house.
Why almost every article on this is out of date
Look up Ohio's homestead exemption and you will be told it is $125,000. That number appears on the statute page, so it gets repeated everywhere. Here is the codified text, which we read today:
(b) In the case of all other judgments and orders, the person's interest, not to exceed one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars, in one parcel or item of real or personal property that the person or a dependent of the person uses as a residence.
And here is the provision, later in the same section, that makes that figure a starting point rather than an answer:
On April 1, 2010, and on the first day of April in each third calendar year after 2010, the Ohio judicial conference shall adjust each dollar amount set forth in this section to reflect any increase in the consumer price index for all urban consumers … Any adjustments required by this division shall be rounded to the nearest twenty-five dollars. The Ohio judicial conference shall prepare a memorandum specifying the adjusted dollar amounts.
So the real figure lives in a memorandum published in the Register of Ohio, not in the statute text. The codified number has not moved since 2013 while the operative one has been adjusted four times. Anyone quoting $125,000 today is quoting the label on the tin rather than what is in it.
The figure we give below is $182,625 for 1 April 2025 through 31 March 2028. Our source is the table published by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio, over the Clerk of Court's name, on 28 March 2025. We tried and failed to confirm it independently: the Register of Ohio was unreachable, the Judicial Conference's own document returned "Forbidden", and we would not guess at URLs to manufacture a second source. So: one good source, from a federal court that has to get this right for its own filers, and the amounts are statewide. Check the current memorandum before you rely on it for a decision.
What the exemption actually does
The opening words of the section set the scope, and they are broader than "bankruptcy". Every person domiciled in Ohio may hold property exempt from execution, garnishment, attachment, or sale to satisfy a judgment or order. That covers an ordinary judgment creditor coming after you, not only a bankruptcy filing.
For the residence, what is exempt is your interest — your equity — in one parcel or item of real or personal property that you or a dependent uses as a residence. The section defines "parcel" as a tract of real property as identified on the records of the county auditor. Note that it says real or personal property: a mobile home used as a residence is within the same provision.
Ohio exemption amounts, 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028
| ORC 2329.66 subsection | What it covers | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| (A)(1)(a) | Residence, against a health care debt judgment | $182,625 |
| (A)(1)(b) | Residence, against all other judgments and orders | $182,625 |
| (A)(2) | One motor vehicle | $5,025 |
| (A)(3) | Cash on hand, money on deposit, tax refunds | $625 |
| (A)(4)(a) | Household items — per item | $800 |
| (A)(4)(a) | Household items — aggregate | $16,850 |
| (A)(4)(b) | Jewellery | $2,125 |
| (A)(5) | Professional books or tools of trade | $3,200 |
| (A)(18) | General aggregate amount | $1,675 |
Amounts as published by the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio on 28 March 2025. They are set by memorandum under division (B), not by the statute text, and the next adjustment is due 1 April 2028. This is not the full list — the section runs to many more categories than these.
Before you decide anything, get the numbers straight
Knowing what the house is actually worth is useful whichever route you take — including the route where you keep it. We will give you a straight figure with no obligation and no follow-up pressure.
The medical debt rule almost nobody mentions
Division (A)(1) has two halves, and the first one is written specifically for health care debt. Where the judgment concerns money owed for health care services rendered or health care supplies provided to you or a dependent, the residence is exempted — and the statute then does something unusual with any judgment lien.
It does not prevent the lien being created. What it does is delay enforcement of it "until the property is sold or otherwise transferred by the owner … to a person or entity other than the surviving spouse or surviving minor children of the judgment debtor".
A medical judgment lien on your home sits there, unenforced, while you live in it — and passes undisturbed to a surviving spouse or surviving minor children. It becomes enforceable when the property is sold or transferred to anyone else. Which means that selling is the event that activates it. If you have a medical judgment against you, that is a conversation to have with an attorney before you list or accept an offer, not after.
You cannot use the federal list instead
People sometimes read about the federal bankruptcy exemptions and assume they can pick whichever set is better. Ohio has closed that door, in one sentence:
Pursuant to the "Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978," … this state specifically does not authorize debtors who are domiciled in this state to exempt the property specified in the "Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978," 92 Stat. 2549, 11 U.S.C.A. 522 (d).
Ohio is what is called an opt-out state. If you are domiciled here, you use Ohio's exemptions. In practice this is usually good news, because Ohio's residence exemption is substantially larger than the federal one — but it is not a choice, so there is nothing to weigh up.
We are not the right people for the bankruptcy question
We buy houses. We do not give legal advice, and on this subject the advice matters more than the offer. Speak to an Ohio bankruptcy attorney first — and if after that a sale still makes sense, we will be here.
Why we are telling you this
It will not have escaped you that this article argues against its own commercial interest. A company that buys houses has every incentive to tell a worried homeowner that the house is at risk and that selling is the way out. So it is worth being direct about why we are not doing that.
If the exemption covers your equity, the house may simply not be the thing in danger — and selling it could be the worse outcome, because protected equity converted into cash is not necessarily protected cash. That is precisely the kind of decision that needs a bankruptcy attorney and not a cash buyer. We would rather you found that out from us and went elsewhere than found it out afterwards.
There are genuine situations where selling is the right move — equity well above the exemption, a house you cannot maintain, a property that is draining you every month. We will say so when we see one. We will also say when we do not.
Where this leaves your options
- Keep it. Often the right answer here, and the exemption is the reason. Get advice on whether your equity sits inside it before assuming otherwise.
- Repair, then list. Spending money on a house while creditors are active is a decision to take advice on first, not after.
- Rent it out. Changes whether the property is one you or a dependent uses as a residence, which is the language the exemption turns on. Worth raising with an attorney specifically.
- List it with an agent. Expect 5.5%–6% commission plus closing costs and a market timeline. A sale is also the event that can make a delayed medical judgment lien enforceable.
- Sell it yourself. Same considerations, without the commission or the help.
- Sell direct to a cash buyer. No repairs, no cleanout, closing as fast as 7 days and typically around 21 days. Genuinely useful where a sale is the right answer — and not a substitute for finding out whether it is.
We will not claim a cash sale nets more, and on this topic we will go further: if the exemption protects your equity, a fast sale may leave you materially worse off than doing nothing at all. Work out the net on each route, but get the legal position first. It is the one situation we write about where the arithmetic is not the first question.
The exact wording of the health care debt provision
Division (A)(1)(a) of this section does not preclude, affect, or invalidate the creation under this chapter of a judgment lien upon the exempted property but only delays the enforcement of the lien until the property is sold or otherwise transferred by the owner or in accordance with other applicable laws to a person or entity other than the surviving spouse or surviving minor children of the judgment debtor.
This article summarises ORC 2329.66 and 2329.662 as we read them and is provided for general information. It is not legal advice and it is not bankruptcy advice. We have deliberately not covered Chapter 7 versus Chapter 13, means testing, what filing does to your credit, or whether filing halts a foreclosure sale — those are federal questions we did not research here. The dollar figures come from a single published source and are adjusted every three years, so confirm the current memorandum. Talk to an Ohio bankruptcy attorney about your situation.
If a sale turns out to be the right answer
Once you have proper advice and you know where you stand, call or text 216-899-CASH. We will give you an honest number for the house — and we will tell you plainly if we think you should not sell it.
Frequently asked questions
Your interest in one parcel or item of real or personal property that you or a dependent uses as a residence, up to a set dollar amount. The amount printed in the statute is $125,000, but that figure is a baseline — it is adjusted for inflation every three years, and the current operative figure is considerably higher.
Because the adjustment happens outside the codified text. Division (B) requires the Ohio Judicial Conference to adjust each dollar amount in the section for the consumer price index every third year, rounded to the nearest $25, and to publish a memorandum in the Register of Ohio. The statute page keeps showing the baseline while the operative figure moves.
For the period 1 April 2025 through 31 March 2028, the residence exemption is $182,625. We take that from the table published by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio over the Clerk of Court's name. We were not able to reach the Register of Ohio to confirm it independently, so treat it as one good source rather than two, and check the current memorandum before relying on it.
It means your interest up to that amount is exempt from execution, garnishment, attachment or sale to satisfy a judgment or order. It is not a blanket immunity, it applies to one residence, and equity above the exempt amount is not protected by it. What it does mean is that for a great many Ohio homes the exemption covers all the equity there is.
Yes, and it is unusually favourable. Where the judgment is for money owed for health care services or supplies, the residence is exempted, and while a judgment lien may still be created against it, enforcement is delayed until the property is sold or otherwise transferred to someone other than the judgment debtor's surviving spouse or surviving minor children.
No. Ohio has opted out. The statute says the state specifically does not authorise debtors domiciled here to exempt the property specified in the federal list at 11 U.S.C. 522(d). Ohio residents use Ohio's exemptions.
The section runs well beyond the house — a motor vehicle, cash on hand and money on deposit, household furnishings and goods with both a per-item and an aggregate cap, jewellery, professional books and tools of trade, and a general aggregate amount among others. Every one of those dollar figures is adjusted on the same three-year cycle.
That is not a question we are the right people to answer, and we would rather say so. If the exemption covers your equity, selling may be the worse outcome — you would be converting protected equity into cash, which is treated differently. Talk to a bankruptcy attorney before you decide anything, including before you talk to us.
Find out what we would pay
Free, no obligation, and no pressure. If our number does not work for you, that is a perfectly fine answer.
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