Homestead Act

Changes in the Homestead Law

It is important for buyers to understand the Homestead Act when buying

As of March 2011 the revised Homestead Law takes effect. The revisions generally expand the scope of Homesteads and do away with some of the prior law’s more anachronistic provisions.

The statute now provides for an automatic homestead without any action required of the owner. The automatic homestead provides for $125,000.00 protection for the owner and his or her family. However, while this is an improvement on the old statute, where no coverage was provided on an automatic basis, the protection provided is still significantly less than the $500,000 protection provided under the declared homestead.

The new statute provides $500,000.00 protection on the recording of a written Declaration of Homestead. Section 5 provides several amendments for the form of declaration to be recorded, the most notable among these being:

1. Homesteads may now be declared where the home is owned by a trust
2. If the Homestead is declared while the owner is single, and the owner then gets married, the homestead shall accrue to the benefit of the new spouse, and that benefit shall accrue as of the date of the original filing.
3. The new statute anticipates that a homestead may be declared by multiple owners. That is, each co-tenant, joint owner or tenant by the entirety may declare their own homestead

The Law office of Black and Buono has successfully represented hundreds of homebuyers. We know that buyers who engage our services early in the home buying process encounter far fewer problems than those that choose to do it alone and then seek legal advice when something goes wrong.