{"id":373105,"date":"2016-03-31T21:35:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T02:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/state\/illinois-law\/illinois-homestead-laws.html"},"modified":"2016-06-20T19:51:08","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T00:51:08","slug":"illinois-homestead-laws","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/state\/illinois-law\/illinois-homestead-laws.html","title":{"rendered":"Illinois Homestead Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Illinois Homestead Laws<\/h1>\n
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Created by FindLaw’s team<\/a> of legal writers and editors<\/i><\/p>\n\n | Last updated\n

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Homestead protection laws<\/a> are designed to prevent homeowners from becoming homeless as a result of economic hardship. Under certain conditions, these laws allow individuals to register a parcel of real property as a "homestead," and thus off limits to certain creditors. Illinois homestead laws allow people to claim as much as $15,000 worth of property (or $30,000, if jointly owned) as a homestead.<\/p>\n

Illinois Homestead Statutes<\/h2>\n

Unlike laws in many other states, Florida homestead laws don’t state a maximum acreage that may be designated. Indeed, with Florida’s homestead exemption, you can protect the entire property if you file for bankruptcy, although there are some limits on total value. Homeowners may exempt an unlimited amount of acreage covered by the homestead exemption. However, the property cannot be valued at more than $15,000 if owned by a single individual, or $30,000 if owned by two or more people. The basic provisions of Illinois homestead laws can be found in the table below.<\/p>\n\n

Code Section<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

735 ILCS 5\/12-901<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>

Max. Property Value That May Be Designated ‘Homestead’<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

$15,000; if 2 or more own property, value of each proportional exemption can’t exceed a total of $30,000<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>

Maximum Acreage (Urban)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

–<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>

Maximum Acreage (Rural)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

–<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n

Even with Illinois homestead protections, there are four situations where creditors may still force the sale of a homestead to collect debts owed to them:<\/p>\n