5068-S

AN ACT Relating to homestead exemptions; amending RCW 6.13.010, 6.13.030, 6.13.040, and 6.15.060; and reenacting and amending RCW 6.13.080.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 6.13.010 and 1987 c 442 s 201 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The homestead consists of real or personal property that the owner uses as a residence. In the case of a dwelling house or mobile home, the homestead consists of the dwelling house or the mobile home in which the owner resides or intends to reside, with appurtenant buildings, and the land on which the same are situated and by which the same are surrounded, or improved or unimproved land owned with the intention of placing a house or mobile home thereon and residing thereon. A mobile home may be exempted under this chapter whether or not it is permanently affixed to the underlying land and whether or not the mobile home is placed upon a lot owned by the mobile home owner. Property included in the homestead must be actually intended or used as the principal home for the owner.

(2) As used in this chapter, the term "owner" includes but is not limited to a purchaser under a deed of trust, mortgage, or real estate contract.

(3) As used in this chapter, the term "net value" means market value less all liens and encumbrances.

Sec. 2. RCW 6.13.030 and 1991 c 123 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

A homestead may consist of lands, as described in RCW 6.13.010, regardless of area, but the homestead exemption amount shall not exceed the lesser of (1) the total net value of the lands, mobile home, ((~~and~~)) improvements, and other personal property, as described in RCW 6.13.010, or (2) the sum of thirty thousand dollars in the case of lands, mobile home, and improvements, or the sum of fifteen thousand dollars in the case of other personal property described in RCW 6.13.010, except where the homestead is subject to execution, attachment, or seizure by or under any legal process whatever to satisfy a judgment in favor of any state for failure to pay that state's income tax on benefits received while a resident of the state of Washington from a pension or other retirement plan, in which event there shall be no dollar limit on the value of the exemption.

Sec. 3. RCW 6.13.040 and 1987 c 442 s 204 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Property described in RCW 6.13.010 constitutes a homestead and is automatically protected by the exemption described in RCW 6.13.070 from and after the time the real or personal property is occupied as a principal residence by the owner or, if the homestead is unimproved or improved land that is not yet occupied as a homestead, from and after the declaration or declarations required by the following subsections are filed for record or, if the homestead is a mobile home not yet occupied as a homestead and located on land not owned by the owner of the mobile home, from and after delivery of a declaration as prescribed in RCW 6.15.060(3)(c) or, if the homestead is any other personal property, from and after the delivery of a declaration as prescribed in RCW 6.15.060(3)(d).

(2) An owner who selects a homestead from unimproved or improved land that is not yet occupied as a homestead must execute a declaration of homestead and file the same for record in the office of the recording officer in the county in which the land is located. However, if the owner also owns another parcel of property on which the owner presently resides or in which the owner claims a homestead, the owner must also execute a declaration of abandonment of homestead on that other property and file the same for record with the recording officer in the county in which the land is located.

(3) The declaration of homestead must contain:

(a) A statement that the person making it is residing on the premises or intends to reside thereon and claims them as a homestead;

(b) A legal description of the premises; and

(4) The declaration of abandonment must contain:

(a) A statement that premises occupied as a residence or claimed as a homestead no longer constitute the owner's homestead;

(b) A legal description of the premises; and

(5) The declaration of homestead and declaration of abandonment of homestead must be acknowledged in the same manner as a grant of real property is acknowledged.

Sec. 4. RCW 6.13.080 and 1988 c 231 s 3 and 1988 c 192 s 1 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

The homestead exemption is not available against an execution or forced sale in satisfaction of judgments obtained:

(1) On debts secured by mechanic's, laborer's, construction, maritime, automobile repair, materialmen's or vendor's liens ((~~upon the premises~~)) arising out of and against the particular property claimed as a homestead;

(2) On debts secured (a) by security agreements describing as collateral the ((~~mobile home~~)) property that is claimed as a homestead or (b) by mortgages or deeds of trust on the premises that have been executed and acknowledged by the husband and wife or by any unmarried claimant;

(3) On one spouse's or the community's debts existing at the time of that spouse's bankruptcy filing where (a) bankruptcy is filed by both spouses within a six-month period, other than in a joint case or a case in which their assets are jointly administered, and (b) the other spouse exempts property from property of the estate under the bankruptcy exemption provisions of 11 U.S.C. Sec. 522(d);

(4) On debts arising from a lawful court order or decree or administrative order establishing a child support obligation or obligation to pay spousal maintenance; or

(5) On debts secured by a condominium's or homeowner association's lien. In order for an association to be exempt under this provision, the association must have provided a homeowner with notice that nonpayment of the association's assessment may result in foreclosure of the association lien and that the homestead protection under this chapter shall not apply. An association has complied with this notice requirement by mailing the notice, by first class mail, to the address of the owner's lot or unit. The notice required in this subsection shall be given within thirty days from the date the association learns of a new owner, but in all cases the notice must be given prior to the initiation of a foreclosure. The phrase "learns of a new owner" in this subsection means actual knowledge of the identity of a homeowner acquiring title after June 9, 1988, and does not require that an association affirmatively ascertain the identity of a homeowner. Failure to give the notice specified in this subsection affects an association's lien only for debts accrued up to the time an association complies with the notice provisions under this subsection.

Sec. 5. RCW 6.15.060 and 1988 c 231 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, property claimed exempt under RCW 6.15.010 shall be selected by the individual entitled to the exemption, or by the husband or wife entitled to a community exemption, in the manner described in subsection (3) of this section.

(2) If, at the time of seizure under execution or attachment of property exemptible under RCW 6.15.010(3) (a), (b), or (c), the individual or the husband or wife entitled to claim the exemption is not present, then the sheriff or deputy shall make a selection equal in value to the applicable exemptions and, if no appraisement is required and no objection is made by the creditor as permitted under subsection (4) of this section, the officer shall return the same as exempt by inventory. Any selection made as provided shall be prima facie evidence (a) that the property so selected is exempt from execution and attachment, and (b) that the property so selected is not in excess of the values specified for the exemptions.

(3)(a) A debtor who claims personal property as exempt against execution or attachment shall, at any time before sale, deliver to the officer making the levy a list by separate items of the property claimed as exempt, together with an itemized list of all the personal property owned or claimed by the debtor, including money, bonds, bills, notes, claims and demands, with the residence of the person indebted upon the said bonds, bills, notes, claims and demands, and shall verify such list by affidavit. The officer shall immediately advise the creditor, attorney, or agent of the exemption claim and, if no appraisement is required and no objection is made by the creditor as permitted under subsection (4) of this section, the officer shall return with the process the list of property claimed as exempt.

(b) A debtor who claims personal property exempt against garnishment shall proceed as provided in RCW 6.27.160.

(c) A debtor who claims as a homestead, under chapter 6.13 RCW, a mobile home that is not yet occupied as a homestead and that is located on land not owned by the debtor shall claim the homestead as against a specific levy by delivering to the sheriff who levied on the mobile home, before sale under the levy, a declaration of homestead that contains (i) a declaration that the debtor owns the mobile home, intends to reside therein, and claims it as a homestead, and (ii) a description of the mobile home, a statement where it is located or was located before the levy, and an estimate of its actual cash value.

(d) A debtor who claims as a homestead, under RCW 6.13.040, any other personal property, shall at any time before sale, deliver to the officer making the levy a notice of claim of homestead in a statement that sets forth the following: (i) The debtor owns the personal property; (ii) the debtor resides thereon as a homestead; (iii) the debtor's estimate of the fair market value of the property; and (iv) the debtor's description of the property in sufficient detail for the officer making the levy to identify the same.

(4)(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, a creditor, or the agent or attorney of a creditor, who wishes to object to a claim of exemption shall proceed as provided in RCW 6.27.160 and shall give notice of the objection to the officer not later than seven days after the officer's giving notice of the exemption claim.

(b) A creditor, or the agent or attorney of the creditor, who wishes to object to a claim of exemption made to a levying officer, on the ground that the property claimed exceeds exemptible value, may demand appraisement. If the creditor, or the agent or attorney of the creditor, demands an appraisement, two disinterested persons shall be chosen to appraise the property, one by the debtor and the other by the creditor, agent or attorney, and these two, if they cannot agree, shall select a third; but if either party fails to choose an appraiser, or the two fail to select a third, or if one or more of the appraisers fail to act, the court shall appoint one or more as the circumstances require. The appraisers shall forthwith proceed to make a list by separate items, of the personal property selected by the debtor as exempt, which they shall decide as exempt, stating the value of each article, and annexing to the list their affidavit to the following effect: "We solemnly swear that to the best of our judgment the above is a fair cash valuation of the property therein described," which affidavit shall be signed by two appraisers at least, and be certified by the officer administering the oaths. The list shall be delivered to the officer holding the execution or attachment and be annexed to and made part of the return, and the property therein specified shall be exempt from levy and sale, but the other personal estate of the debtor shall remain subject to execution, attachment, or garnishment. Each appraiser shall be entitled to fifteen dollars or such larger fee as shall be fixed by the court, to be paid by the creditor if all the property claimed by the debtor shall be exempt; otherwise to be paid by the debtor.

(c) If, within seven days following the giving of notice to a creditor of an exemption claim, the officer has received no notice from the creditor of an objection to the claim or a demand for appraisement, the officer shall release the claimed property to the debtor.