Ohio Asset Exemptions: A Creditor’s Guide
Ohio law lets a debtor keep certain property out of a creditor’s reach — $182,625 of homestead equity, a vehicle, household goods, tools of the trade, and most of a paycheck — under Ohio Revised Code 2329.66, with every dollar figure re-indexed for inflation each third April. The set below took effect on April 1, 2025 and holds until March 31, 2028. For a creditor, an exemption is not the end of the road; it is a map of where collection does and does not work. This guide explains, from a creditor’s point of view, what Ohio shields, what stays fully reachable, and how a lawful asset search separates the two so your attorney pursues the property that actually pays a judgment.
The Short Version
Ohio’s exemptions, listed in ORC 2329.66, protect a debtor’s homestead equity ($182,625 since the triennial inflation adjustment that took effect on April 1, 2025), one motor vehicle ($5,025), $625 in cash and deposits, household goods ($800 per item and $16,850 in aggregate), tools of the trade ($3,200), and the federally mandated portion of wages. What they do not protect is anything beyond those caps: home equity above the homestead figure, a second vehicle, investment and rental property, business assets held in an LLC, deposit balances above the $625 cash cap, and high-value personal property. Which exemptions a particular debtor can claim, and how they apply, is a legal call for your attorney and the court — not ours. Our job is the factual layer underneath it: we lawfully locate the Ohio debtor and identify everything they own, so counsel can see exactly which assets fall outside the exemptions and are worth pursuing. You get a clear picture of reachable property; the court decides what is exempt.
Watch: Ohio Exemptions From a Creditor’s View
Why the exemption list is really a collection map.
Watch Overview
What an Ohio Exemption Actually Does
It protects property, not the debt itself.
An exemption is a statutory shield. When you have a valid Ohio judgment and try to collect — by levying property, garnishing wages, or seizing funds — the debtor can claim that a specific asset is exempt, and the court will set that asset aside from collection. The exemptions are not a defense to the debt and they do not erase the judgment; they simply remove certain property from the pool a creditor can reach. The debt remains owed, and a judgment in Ohio is enforceable for years and renewable, so the question is never whether the obligation exists. It is which of the debtor’s assets sit outside the shield.
Ohio is one of the states that requires debtors to use its own exemption list rather than the federal bankruptcy exemptions, and that list lives in ORC 2329.66. The opt-out is a section of its own: ORC 2329.662, headed “Federal exemption not authorized,” provides that Ohio “specifically does not authorize debtors who are domiciled in this state to exempt the property specified in” the federal bankruptcy exemption menu. The practical effect for a judgment holder is that there is no election to worry about: the same schedule governs whether the debtor filed bankruptcy or is simply being chased by a judgment creditor in state court.
Critically, Ohio ties every dollar amount in the section to inflation, and the machinery is written into ORC 2329.66(B) rather than left to practice. On April 1, 2010 and on the first day of April in each third calendar year after 2010, the Ohio Judicial Conference adjusts each figure for the change in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers over the three-year period ending on the thirty-first day of December of the preceding year, and the result is rounded to the nearest $25. The Conference prepares a memorandum of the adjusted amounts, transmits it to the director of the Legislative Service Commission, and the director publishes it in the Register of Ohio, where it stands until the next memorandum replaces it. The cycle now running took effect April 1, 2025 and holds through March 31, 2028; the next adjustment lands on April 1, 2028. Every figure on this page belongs to that April 2025 set, as reproduced in the exemption table published by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
One consequence of that design is worth stating plainly, because it catches careful readers as often as careless ones. The dollar amounts printed in the body of ORC 2329.66 are not the operative ones. The section text still reads “one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars” for a residence and “three thousand two hundred twenty-five dollars” for a motor vehicle — the pre-adjustment statutory bases — and it carries no note anywhere on its face saying they have been superseded. The adjusted amounts exist only in the Judicial Conference memorandum and the tables that reproduce it. For an indexed figure the memorandum is the operative law and the section text is history, which is why every cap below is dated to April 1, 2025 rather than left for a reader to reconcile.
Ohio’s Key Exemptions at a Glance
The caps in force under ORC 2329.66 from April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2028; confirm how they apply with counsel.
| Asset | Ohio Exemption (Apr 2025 – Mar 2028) | What That Leaves Reachable |
|---|---|---|
| Homestead (primary residence) | $182,625 in equity — (A)(1)(b) | Any equity above the cap, plus second homes and rentals in full. |
| Motor Vehicle | $5,025 in one vehicle — (A)(2) | Equity above the cap and any additional vehicles, boats, or RVs. |
| Cash, Deposits & Money Due | $625 — (A)(3) | Every dollar above the $625 floor: deposit accounts, brokerage holdings, and business distributions. |
| Household Goods & Furnishings | $800 per item, $16,850 aggregate — (A)(4)(a) | High-value furnishings, art, and collectibles above the per-item cap, and everything above the aggregate. |
| Tools / Implements of Trade | $3,200 — (A)(5) | Business equipment and inventory beyond the modest trade cap. |
| Personal Bodily Injury Award | $31,650, and only within twelve months — (A)(12)(c) | Pain and suffering and actual pecuniary loss sit outside the exemption entirely, as does anything received more than twelve calendar months ago. |
| Wages | 75% protected; 25% garnishable | The disposable 25% above the federal floor — see Ohio garnishment rules. |
| Wildcard (any property) | $1,675 — bankruptcy only | Nothing, on this page’s facts. ORC 2329.66(A)(18) says in terms that it “applies only in bankruptcy proceedings,” so a debtor cannot claim the wildcard against a judgment creditor executing in state court. Deduct it only if the debtor has filed. |
Read down the right-hand column and the creditor’s picture appears: the categories Ohio protects are the basics of a household, and the caps are finite. The recovery lives in the overflow — equity beyond the homestead figure, a second car, a brokerage account, the rental duplex, the LLC that holds the contracting business. Whether a given item qualifies as exempt is a legal determination for the court; what we supply is the inventory that shows your attorney where that overflow is.
The Homestead Is Big — But It Has a Ceiling
Ohio’s headline exemption protects equity, not the whole house.
Ohio’s homestead exemption is generous compared with many states, and since the adjustment that took effect on April 1, 2025 it shields $182,625 of equity in a debtor’s primary residence — up from $161,375 in the 2022 to 2025 cycle. That number understandably discourages creditors who hear “homestead” and assume the house is untouchable. It is not. The exemption protects equity up to the cap — not market value, and not anything above the cap. A debtor with a home worth $400,000 and a $150,000 mortgage has roughly $250,000 in equity; the homestead shields $182,625 of it and leaves about $67,375 exposed to a properly perfected judgment lien.
The homestead is also not one rule but two, and the split matters most to exactly the creditors who read a page like this. ORC 2329.66(A)(1)(b) is the ordinary limb — the $182,625 cap, applied to “all other judgments and orders.” ORC 2329.66(A)(1)(a) governs a judgment for money owed for health care services rendered or health care supplies provided, and it operates differently: the statute says the limb “does not preclude, affect, or invalidate the creation. 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 to someone other than the debtor’s surviving spouse or surviving minor children. For a medical-debt judgment, in other words, the homestead does not defeat the lien — it postpones it. The lien attaches, sleeps, and is satisfied when the house changes hands. A medical creditor who writes the residence off because the equity sits under the cap has given away a secured position it already holds.
Nor does the homestead stand against every kind of claim. ORC 2329.661, headed “Certain claims not exempted,” provides that ORC 2329.66(A)(1) does not extend to a judgment rendered on a mortgage or security interest the debtor gave, does not impair a vendor’s lien for the purchase money of the residence or a mechanic’s lien for materials furnished or labor performed in erecting the dwelling, does not affect or invalidate any mortgage lien, and does not impair a lien for taxes. A creditor whose judgment traces back to one of those claims is not facing a $182,625 shield at all.
That gap is exactly where recovery hides, and it is invisible without research. You need the current ownership, the recorded mortgages and existing liens, and a realistic value before anyone can tell whether reachable equity exists. The statute itself names the record source: ORC 2329.66(A)(1)(c) defines a “parcel” as “a tract of real property as identified on the records of the auditor of the county in which the real property is located” — the county auditor’s roll is written into the exemption, not merely a convenient place to start. The same research applies to holdings the homestead never touches at all: a second home, an inherited share of a parcel, a rental held in the debtor’s name, land in another county, or a residence whose title has been rearranged between spouses, where Ohio’s marital property rules decide whose interest a creditor can actually reach. Establishing what real property the debtor owns, and pinpointing where collectible equity sits, is a core asset-research task; our guide to finding a judgment debtor’s real estate walks through how those records are pulled and read.
Where Recovery Actually Lives
The assets Ohio’s exemptions do not reach.
Non-Exempt Home Equity
Equity above the $182,625 homestead cap, plus any second home or rental, stays open to a judgment lien.
A Second Vehicle
Ohio shields one vehicle to $5,025. A second car, truck, boat, or RV is reachable in full.
Bank & Brokerage Funds
ORC 2329.66(A)(3) protects just $625 in cash and deposits, so balances above it are prime targets.
Entity-Held Business Assets
An LLC, corporation, or partnership the debtor controls can hold value the personal exemptions never touch.
High-Value Personal Property
Art, jewelry, collectibles, and luxury goods above the small per-item household caps remain collectible.
The Garnishable Wage Slice
Ohio protects most pay, but the 25% disposable slice above the federal floor is reachable through the employer.
Personal-Injury Recoveries: Narrower Than They Look
One category deserves separate treatment, because the exemption is far tighter than its headline number suggests and almost no creditor-side guide explains it. ORC 2329.66(A)(12) protects a debtor’s right to receive, or money received during the preceding twelve calendar months from, a short list of recoveries. The clock is the first thing to check: an award collected more than twelve calendar months ago has dropped out of the exemption altogether, which turns the date of a settlement into a collection fact rather than a footnote.
Within that window, the bodily-injury limb at (A)(12)(c) caps protection at $31,650 and expressly excludes payment “not including pain and suffering or compensation for actual pecuniary loss.” In most injury settlements those two components are the largest ones, so the exempt slice is the residue, not the recovery. The same subsection carves out inmates: where the person receiving the payment is an inmate and the payment resulted from a civil action or appeal against a government entity or employee, the bodily-injury exemption does not apply at all. Wrongful-death payments under (A)(12)(b) and loss-of-future-earnings payments under (A)(12)(d) carry no dollar cap, but they are limited to what is “reasonably necessary for the support” of the debtor and dependents — a ceiling that is argued rather than calculated, and one where a creditor with documentation of the debtor’s actual circumstances has something to say.
Wages: Mostly Protected, Partly Reachable
The slice Ohio leaves open runs through the debtor’s employer.
Ohio follows the federal framework on earnings, so a paycheck is largely — but not entirely — shielded. Roughly 75% of disposable earnings is protected, leaving up to 25% subject to garnishment above a floor tied to the federal minimum wage; below that floor, nothing can be taken. For a creditor, the practical limit is not the percentage but the prerequisite: you cannot garnish a paycheck you cannot locate. Wage garnishment in Ohio requires identifying the debtor’s current employer and serving the right entity, and a debtor who has changed jobs, gone 1099, or works for cash defeats the whole mechanism.
That is why the wage slice is really an employment-location problem. The exact percentages, the demand-for-payment notice, and the per-pay-period mechanics are set by statute and explained in our Ohio wage garnishment guide; the part we handle is finding where the debtor actually earns. Even a debtor who looks judgment-proof on paper frequently has a verifiable employer or a steady stream of self-employment income that an investigation surfaces.
“Exempt” Rarely Means “Nothing to Collect”
What creditors assume versus what an asset search shows.
| Common Assumption | What’s Often True in Ohio | How It’s Confirmed |
|---|---|---|
| “The house is exempt.” | ORC 2329.66(A)(1)(b) shields $182,625 of equity and no more; on a health-care judgment under subsection (A)(1)(a) the lien attaches anyway and waits for the sale. | Title, mortgage, and lien search against current value. |
| “They have no money.” | ORC 2329.66(A)(3) exempts $625 in cash and deposits, so accounts are often the easiest target. | Locating deposit and brokerage relationships, lawfully. |
| “It’s all in the business.” | Entity-held assets sit outside the personal exemption list. | Linking the debtor to LLCs, corporations, and ownership interests. |
| “They’re judgment-proof.” | Often a current employer, second vehicle, or non-exempt equity exists. | A full asset and employment investigation. |
| “The exemption numbers are fixed.” | Every cap is re-indexed on the first of April in each third year; the next change is April 1, 2028. | Reading the April 2025 memorandum figures, not the statute’s own pre-adjustment text. |
| “The wildcard covers the rest.” | ORC 2329.66(A)(18) applies only in bankruptcy proceedings — it is no answer to a state-court levy. | Checking whether the debtor has actually filed. |
The pattern is consistent: a debtor who appears protected on the surface usually owns something the exemptions do not cover. The exemptions are not a wall around the person; they are a fence around a specific list of property. Everything outside that fence — and every dollar above the caps — is in play, and a lawful investigation is what tells your attorney exactly where it is.
From Judgment to Reachable Assets
How we turn an Ohio exemption list into a collection plan.
Confirm the Debtor
We verify identity and locate the current Ohio debtor — name, address, and known associates — so the search is built on the right person.
Inventory the Assets
Real property, vehicles, deposit and investment relationships, business entities, and employment are researched from public records and licensed sources.
Map Against Exemptions
We flag where value sits above the Ohio caps or outside the exempt categories, so counsel sees the non-exempt overflow at a glance.
Hand Off to Counsel
Your attorney decides which exemptions apply and pursues the reachable property through the proper Ohio enforcement tools.
When the Assets Are Hidden or Moved
Exemptions are abused as a hiding place — research separates the two.
Some debtors do more than claim their lawful exemptions; they reshuffle property to manufacture exemptions or push assets out of reach. Cash gets converted into homestead equity right before collection, vehicles get retitled into a spouse’s or relative’s name, and a thriving business gets repapered so it appears to belong to an LLC the debtor “no longer” controls. Distinguishing a legitimate exemption from a sham transfer is a legal question for your attorney and the court — but it cannot even be raised without the factual trail of who owned what, and when, and where it went.
That trail is the heart of an asset investigation. We document ownership over time, surface business entities tied to the debtor, and identify deposit relationships and recently transferred property, then deliver it in a form counsel can act on — including, where appropriate, the groundwork to levy a debtor’s non-exempt assets or to locate a judgment debtor’s bank accounts. Everything we do is bound by GLBA and DPPA permissible-purpose rules; we research lawfully and never trespass or hack. What we produce is admissible, traceable information — not guesses. It is also, deliberately, not a consumer report: this firm is not a consumer reporting agency, so an Ohio asset profile may not be used to grant credit, set an insurance rate, fill a job, or approve a tenancy. We are public-records researchers, and before we locate an Ohio debtor we test the purpose, declining anything that looks like domestic violence, stalking, or harassment wearing a collection matter as a disguise.
Who We Help in Ohio
We find the assets; your attorney enforces the judgment.
Creditors’ Attorneys
Non-exempt property mapped
Ohio Judgment Holders
Reachable assets identified
Medical Debt Creditors
Delayed-enforcement liens
Mortgage & Deficiency Lenders
ORC 2329.661 claims traced
Small Landlords
Former tenants traced
Trade & Supplier Creditors
Entity holdings uncovered
Whatever the matter, the wall is the same in Ohio: you cannot collect from property you have not found, and you waste money chasing property the court will protect. We locate the debtor and inventory their assets through lawful skip tracing and public-records research, then map that inventory against the exemption list so your attorney can act with precision. It pairs naturally with our broader Ohio judgment collection guide and our walkthrough of Ohio’s bankruptcy exemptions, which works from the same April 2025 ORC 2329.66 schedule and owns the one limb that does not apply here — the (A)(18) wildcard. We do not give legal advice or enforce judgments ourselves — but we make sure counsel knows exactly which assets are worth the effort, and for a legitimate matter a debtor asset profile typically comes back fast.
Our Commitment
We find what an Ohio debtor actually owns so your judgment can be enforced against property that falls outside the exemptions — a documented asset and employment profile, researched lawfully under GLBA and DPPA. Court-ready locating for creditors, attorneys, and collection professionals since 2004.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ohio’s homestead exemption amount?
$182,625, under ORC 2329.66(A)(1)(b). That figure took effect on April 1, 2025, replacing the $161,375 that ran from 2022, and it holds until the next triennial adjustment on April 1, 2028. It protects equity up to that cap, not the home’s full value, so equity above the cap can be reachable. How it applies to a particular property is a legal matter to confirm with counsel.
Why does the Ohio exemption amount keep changing?
ORC 2329.66(B) requires the Ohio Judicial Conference to adjust every dollar figure in the section on the first of April in each third calendar year, using the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers over the three-year period ending the previous December 31, rounded to the nearest $25. The adjusted amounts are published as a memorandum in the Register of Ohio. Note that the figures printed in the statute’s own text are the pre-adjustment bases and are never updated, so the memorandum, not the section text, is what governs.
Can a creditor reach a debtor’s home in Ohio?
Sometimes. The homestead exemption protects equity only up to $182,625. A debtor with substantial equity above that, or who owns a second home or rental property, may have reachable real estate. There is also a separate rule for medical debt: under ORC 2329.66(A)(1)(a), a judgment for health care services or supplies still creates a lien on the residence and merely has its enforcement delayed until the property is sold or transferred. Whether a particular property is exempt is the court’s call; we research ownership, liens, and value so your attorney can evaluate it.
Does Ohio protect a debtor’s bank account?
Only to a point. ORC 2329.66(A)(3) exempts $625 in cash on hand, money due and payable, money to become due within ninety days, tax refunds, and money on deposit with a bank, savings and loan, credit union, public utility or landlord — expressly other than personal earnings. Everything above that $625 is reachable, subject to protections for specific exempt funds such as certain benefits, which often makes deposit accounts one of the more accessible targets. Locating where a debtor banks is a research task, and identifying those relationships lawfully is part of what an asset investigation provides.
How much of a debtor’s wages can be garnished in Ohio?
Ohio follows the federal framework: about 75% of disposable earnings is protected, leaving up to 25% subject to garnishment above a minimum-wage floor. The practical obstacle is locating the debtor’s current employer, since garnishment requires serving the right entity. Our Ohio wage garnishment guide covers the mechanics.
Are business assets covered by Ohio’s exemptions?
The ORC 2329.66 exemptions are personal-property protections. Assets held by an LLC, corporation, or partnership the debtor controls generally sit outside that personal list, though reaching them involves separate legal steps your attorney handles. We identify the entities and ownership interests tied to the debtor so counsel can pursue them.
Do you decide which assets are exempt?
No. Which exemptions a debtor can claim, and how they apply, is a legal determination for your attorney and the court. We do not give legal advice or enforce judgments. Our role is the factual layer: we locate the debtor and inventory what they own, lawfully, so counsel can apply the exemption rules to real assets.
What if the debtor moved assets to avoid collection?
Debtors sometimes retitle vehicles, convert cash into homestead equity, or shift a business into an entity right before collection. Whether that is a lawful exemption or a voidable transfer is your attorney’s call. We document ownership over time and surface recent transfers and related entities, giving counsel the factual record needed to raise the issue.
Holding an Ohio Judgment You Can’t Collect?
We locate the debtor and inventory what they own — non-exempt equity, vehicles, accounts, and business holdings — so your attorney pursues the property that actually pays, lawfully and typically within 24 hours. Contact us to get started.
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