How to Collect a Doctor Bill Part 4

ALABAMA.

The personal property of any resident of the State, to the amount of one thousand dollars, to be selected by such resident, is exempt for any debt contracted since the 13th of July, 1868. Every homestead, not over eighty acres of land, if in the country, or any lot in a city, town or village, to be selected by the owner, together with the improvements thereon, not exceeding two thousand dollars in value, is exempt from execution for any debt contracted since July 13th, 1868. The Statutes provide that the homestead may consist of as much as one hundred and sixty acres not exceeding in value two thousand dollars. (Code of Ala.

Sec. 4164 et seq.)

ALASKA.

1. Earnings of judgment debtor, for personal services rendered within sixty days next preceding the levy of execution or attachment, when necessary for the use of his family, supported in whole or in part by his labor. 2. Books, pictures and musical instruments owned by any person, to the value of seventy-five dollars. 3. Necessary wearing apparel owned by any person for the use of himself or family, but watches or jewelry exceeding one hundred dollars in value are not exempt. 4. The tools, implements, apparatus, team, vehicle, harness, or library necessary to enable any person to carry on the trade, occupation or profession by which such person habitually earns his living, to the value of five hundred dollars; also sufficient quant.i.ty of food to support such team, if any, for six months; the word "team" being construed to include not more than one yoke of oxen, or a span of horses or mules, or two reindeer, or six dogs. Ten sheep with one year's fleece or the yarn or cloth manufactured therefrom; two cows and five swine; household goods, furniture and utensils to the value of three hundred dollars; also food sufficient to support such animals, if any, for six months, and provisions actually provided for family use and necessary for the support of such person and family for six months. 6. The seat or pew occupied by the head of a family or his family in a place of public wors.h.i.+p.

Homestead. The homestead of any family, or the proceeds thereof, is exempt. Such homestead must be the actual abode of, and owned by such family or some member thereof, and not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars in value, nor exceed one hundred and sixty acres in extent, if not located in a town or city laid off into blocks or lots, or if located in any such town or city, one fourth of an acre.

ARIZONA.

Personal property to the amount of five hundred dollars to a family only. One half of earnings of debtor for thirty days next previous to levy necessary to family support are exempt. Prospector's mining tools and camping outfit are exempt.

Homestead. Twenty-five hundred dollars in one compact; not necessary to live on the same, but family must reside in Territory.

ARKANSAS.

The exemption law is contained in the present Const.i.tution, and is as follows: "Section 1. The personal property of any resident of this State, who is not married or the head of a family, in specific articles to be selected by such resident, not exceeding in value the sum of two hundred dollars, in addition to his or her wearing apparel, shall be exempt from seizure on attachment, or sale on execution or other process from any court, issued for the collection of any debts by contract; provided that no property shall be exempt from execution for debts contracted for the purchase-money therefor, while in the hands of the vendee. Sec. 2. The personal property of any resident of this State, who is married or the head of a family, in specific articles to be selected by such resident, not exceeding in value the sum of five hundred dollars, in addition to his or her wearing apparel, and that of his or her family, shall be exempt from seizure on attachment, or sale on execution, or other process from any court, on debt by contract. Sec. 4.

The homestead outside any city, town or village, owned and occupied as a residence, shall consist of not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres of land, with the improvements thereon, to be selected by the owner; provided the same shall not exceed in value the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, and in no event shall the homestead be reduced to less than eighty acres, without regard to value. Sec. 5. The homestead in any city, town or village, owned and occupied as a residence, shall consist of not exceeding one acre of land, with the improvements thereon, to be selected by the owner; provided the same shall not exceed in value the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars, and in no event shall such homestead be reduced to less than one quarter of an acre of land, without regard to value."

CALIFORNIA.

The following property is exempt from execution for any debt, except it be for the purchase price of such property, or a debt secured by mortgage, lien or pledge thereon, to wit: 1st. Chairs, tables, desks and books, to the value of two hundred dollars. 2d. Necessary household, table and kitchen furniture of the debtor, including one sewing machine, stoves, stove pipes and stove furniture, wearing apparel, beds, bedding, bedsteads, hanging pictures, oil paintings and drawings drawn or painted by any member of the family, family portraits and their necessary frames, provisions and fuel actually provided for individual or family use sufficient for three months, and three cows and their sucking calves, four hogs with their sucking pigs, and food for such cows and hogs for one month; also one rifle, one shotgun, one piano. 3d. Farming utensils, or implements of husbandry, not exceeding in value one thousand dollars, of the judgment debtor, also two oxen, or two horses, or two mules and their harness, one cart or buggy, and two wagons, and food for such animals for one month, also seed grain or vegetables reserved or on hand for planting within six months, not exceeding two hundred dollars in value; and seventy-five beehives, and one horse and vehicle belonging to any person who is maimed or crippled, the same being necessary to his business. 4th. Tools or implements of a mechanic or artisan, notary's seal, office furniture and records; instruments and library and necessary office furniture of a surgeon, physician, surveyor or dentist, necessary to the exercise of their profession; books, professional libraries and office furniture of attorneys, judges, ministers of the gospel, editors, and school and music teachers, and all the indexes, abstracts, books, papers, maps and office furniture of searcher of records necessary to be used in his profession, and instruments actually used by music teachers in giving instructions; also typewriters used by owner in making his living, also one bicycle. 5th. A miner's cabin, not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, also his sluices, pipes, tools, etc., necessary for his business, not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, and two horses, mules, or oxen, and their harness, and food for the same for one month, when necessary to be used for any windla.s.s, derrick, car, pump, or hoisting gear; and the miner's claim worked by him, and not exceeding one thousand dollars in value.

6th. Two oxen, horses, or mules and their harness and food for one month, and one cart, wagon, dray, truck, coupe, hack, or carriage for one or two horses, by the use of which a cartman, drayman, truckman, huckster, peddler, hackman, teamster, or other laborer habitually earns his living, and one horse, vehicle, and harness used by physician, surgeon, constable, or minister of the gospel in the legitimate practice of his profession or business, with food for such animal for one month.

7th. One fis.h.i.+ng boat and net not exceeding the value of five hundred dollars, the property of any fisherman, by the lawful use of which he earns a livelihood. 8th. Poultry worth not more than seventy-five dollars. 9th. Seamen and seagoing fishermen's wages and earnings not exceeding three hundred dollars. 10th. Earnings for personal service rendered within thirty days of levy, if the defendant swears they are necessary for the use of his family residing in the State, and supported in whole or in part by his labor; but only one-half of such earnings are exempt where the debt is for necessaries of life. 11th. Shares in homestead a.s.sociations, not exceeding in value one thousand dollars, if the debtor has not a homestead selected. 12th. Nautical instruments and wearing apparel of any master, officer, or seamen of any vessel. 13th.

All moneys, benefits, etc., accruing or growing out of any life insurance, if the annual premiums paid do not exceed five hundred dollars; if they exceed that sum, a like exemption exists, which shall bear the same proportion to the money, immunities, etc., so accruing or growing out of such insurance that five hundred dollars bears to the whole annual premiums paid. 14th. All fire-engines, etc. 15th. All firearms, etc., required by law to be kept by any person, and one gun selected by the debtor. 17th. All material not exceeding one thousand dollars purchased in good faith for use in or about to be applied in good faith to the construction, alteration, or repair of any building, mining claim, or other improvement entered upon a judgment recovered, for its price or foreclosure of a mortgage thereon. 18th. All machinery, etc., necessary for constructing surface or artesian wells to the value of one thousand dollars. 19th. Shares of stock in any building and loan a.s.sociation to one thousand dollars. 20th. Moneys derived from United States pension.

COLORADO.

Every householder, being the head of a family, is ent.i.tled to a homestead of the value of two thousand dollars exempt from execution and attachment while such homestead is occupied by the owner or his or her family. Entry of homestead is made by writing the word "homestead" on the margin of the recorded t.i.tle thereof, attested by the recorder with date of entry. There is also exempt from execution and attachment the necessary wearing apparel of every person, and the following property of a person being the head of a family: Family pictures, school-books, and library, a seat or pew in any house of public wors.h.i.+p, the sites of burial for the dead, all wearing apparel of the debtor and his family, all beds, bedsteads, and bedding, kept and used for the debtor and his family, all stoves and appendages kept for the use of the debtor or his family, all cooking utensils, and all the household furniture not above enumerated not exceeding one hundred dollars in value, the provisions for the debtor and his family necessary for six months, and fuel necessary for six months. The tools and implements or stock in trade of any mechanic, miner, or other person not exceeding two hundred dollars in value, the library and implements of any professional man not exceeding three hundred dollars in value, one bicycle, one sewing-machine, working animals of any person to the value of two hundred dollars, one cow and calf, ten sheep, and food for same for six months, one farm wagon, cart or dray, one plow, one harrow, and other farming implements, including harness and tackle for team not exceeding fifty dollars in value. If the head of the family dies the family is ent.i.tled to the exemption. There is also exemption from levy on execution, attachment, or garnishment sixty per cent. of the amount, due at the time of levy, of wages or earnings of the head of the family or his wife when such family resides in the State and is dependent in whole or in part, upon such earnings, and all wages are exempt when they do not exceed five dollars per week.

Pension money received from the United States is exempt from all legal process, whether in the actual possession of the pensioner, deposited or loaned, and whether the pensioner be the head of a family or not. This exemption runs to the pensioner's wife and children, or either of them, in case of his death or absconding.

CONNECTICUT.

The following property shall be exempted and not liable to be taken by warrant or execution, namely: of the property of any person, his necessary apparel and bedding, and household furniture necessary for supporting life, arms, militia equipments, uniforms, or musical instruments owned by any member of the militia for military purposes, any pension moneys received from the United States while in the hands of the pensioner, implements of the debtor's trade, his library not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, one cow not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars in value, any number of sheep not exceeding ten nor exceeding in all one hundred and fifty dollars in value, two swine and two hundred pounds of pork, and poultry not exceeding twenty-five dollars in value; of the property of any one person having a wife or family, twenty-five bushels of charcoal, two tons of other coal, two hundred pounds of wheat flour, two cord of wood, two tons of hay, two hundred pounds each of beef and fish, five bushels each of potatoes and turnips, ten bushels each of Indian corn and rye, and the meal or flour manufactured therefrom, twenty pounds each of wool and flax, or the yarn or cloth made therefrom; the horse of any practicing physician or surgeon of a value not exceeding two hundred dollars, and his saddle, bridle, harness, buggy, and bicycle; one boat owned by one person and used by him in the business of planting or taking oyster or clams, or taking shad, together with the sails, tackle, rigging and implements used in said business not exceeding in value two hundred dollars; one sewing-machine, being the property of any one person using it or having a family; one pew, being the property of any person having a family, who ordinarily occupy it; and lots in any burying ground appropriated by its proprietors for the burial of any person or family. So much of any debt which has accrued by reason of the personal services of the debtor as shall not exceed twenty-five dollars, including wages due for the personal services of any minor child under the age of twenty-one years, shall be exempted and not liable to be taken by foreign attachment or execution.

Any person owning and actually occupying any dwelling and real estate can file for record, in same manner as a deed, a declaration that he occupies and intends to occupy said dwelling and real estate as a homestead, and from the filing such declaration said property, to the value of one thousand dollars, shall be exempt from execution so long as actually occupied by the owner as a dwelling, and only the excess in value above one thousand dollars can be set off. (Gen. Stat. 1902 Sec.

4065, 4066.)

Money due on insurance losses for exempt property, whether real or personal, are also exempt.

DELAWARE.

Family Bible, school-books, and family pictures, seat or pew in church, lot in burial ground, all wearing apparel of debtor and family, and in addition to above tools, implements, and fixtures necessary to carry on a trade or business, not exceeding seventy-five dollars in New Castle and Suss.e.x Counties and fifty dollars in Kent County. There is exempted to the Head of a family, in addition to above, other personal property (goods and chattels of a merchantable character bought to be sold and trafficked in by the debtor in the transaction of his or her business or occupation, excepted) not exceeding two hundred dollars in New Castle County, and not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars in Kent County, and in the latter county consisting of household goods only; but there is no such additional exemption in Suss.e.x County, and there is no such additional exemption when such exemption would prevent the collection of a debt due or growing due for labor or services (other than professional services) rendered by any clerk, mechanic, or other employee of the debtor. Sewing-machines owned and used by seamstresses or private families are exempt from execution on attachment process, and also from distress for rent. In New Castle County ninety per cent. of all wages are exempt from execution attachment, except for board, lodging, or both, not exceeding fifty dollars. Widows in all cases shall have the benefit of the same exemption out of the husband's goods that the husband would have had if living. Funeral expenses, reasonable bills for medicine and medical attendance, nursing, and necessaries of last sickness, are paid out of personality of a deceased person before there is any application to the execution. Above exemptions extended to distress for rent.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

The following property is exempt from execution: Wearing apparel belonging to all persons and to all heads of families being householders; beds, bedding, household furniture, stoves, cooking utensils, etc., not exceeding three hundred dollars in value; provisions for three months' support, whether provided or growing; fuel for three months; mechanics' tools and implements of professional man or artist to value of three hundred dollars; one horse, one mule, or yoke of oxen; one cart, one wagon or dray, and harness for such team; farming utensils, with food for such team for three months, and if the debtor be a farmer, any other farming tools of value of one hundred dollars; all family pictures and all family library not exceeding in value four hundred dollars; one cow, one swine, six sheep. (Sec. 1105, Code.)

The earnings, not to exceed one hundred dollars each month, of all actual residents of the District of Columbia, and who are married persons or who have to provide for the support of a family in the District, for two months next proceeding the issuing of any writ or process from any court or justice of the peace, or other officer of and in the District against them, shall be exempt from attachment, levy, seizure, or sale upon such process; and the same shall not be seized, levied on, or taken, reached or sold by attachment, execution, or in any other process or proceedings of any court, judge, justice of the peace, or other officer of and in the District. (Sec. 1107, Code.)

FLORIDA.

Article X of the const.i.tution of 1885 provides as follows: "Sec. 1. A homestead to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres of land, or the half of one acre within the limits of any incorporated city or town, owned by the head of the family residing in this State, together with one thousand dollars' worth of personal property, and the improvements on the real estate, shall be exempt from forced sale under process of any court, and the real estate shall not be alienable without the joint consent of husband and wife, when that relation exists. But no property shall be exempt from sale for taxes or a.s.sessments or for payment of obligations contracted for the purchase of said property, or for the erection or repair of improvements on the real estate exempted, or for house, field or other labor performed on the same. The exemption herein provided for in a city or town shall not extend to more improvements or buildings than the residence and business house of the owner; and no judgment or decree or execution shall be a lien upon exempted property except as provided in this article. Sec. 2. The exemptions provided for in section one shall insure to the widow and heirs of the party ent.i.tled to such exemption, and shall apply to all debts, except as specified in said section. Sec. 3. The exemptions provided for in the const.i.tution of this State adopted in 1868 shall apply as to all debts contracted and judgments rendered since the adoption thereof and prior to the adoption of this const.i.tution. Sec. 4. Nothing in this article shall be construed to prevent the holder of a homestead from alienating his or her homestead so exempted by deed or mortgage duly executed by himself or herself, and by husband and wife, if such relation exists, nor, if the holder be without children, to prevent him or her from disposing of his or her homestead by will, in a manner prescribed by law. Sec. 5. No homestead provided for in Section 1 shall be reduced in area on account of its being subsequently included within the limits of an incorporated city or town, without the consent of the owner."

GEORGIA.

The Const.i.tution of 1877 provided: "There shall be exempt from levy and sale, by virtue of any process whatever, under the laws of this State, except as hereinafter excepted, of the property of every head of a family, or guardian, or trustee of a family of minor children or every aged or infirm person having the care and support of dependant female of any age, who is not the head of a family, realty or personalty or both, to the value in the aggregate of sixteen hundred dollars. No court or ministerial officer in this State shall ever have jurisdiction or authority to enforce any judgment, execution, or decree against the property set apart for such purpose, including such improvements as may be made thereon from time to time, except for taxes, for the purchase-money of the same, for labor done thereon, for material furnished therefor, or for the removal of inc.u.mbrances thereon. The debtor shall have the power to waive or renounce in writing his right to this benefit of exemption except as to wearing apparel and not exceeding three hundred dollars' worth of household and kitchen furniture and provision, to be selected by himself and his wife, if any, and he shall not, after it is set apart, alienate or inc.u.mber the property so exempted, but it may be sold by the debtor and his wife, if any, jointly, with the sanction of the judge of the superior court of the county where the debtor resides or the land is situated, the proceeds to be reinvested upon the same uses." The act of 1878 carries out these provisions.

HAWAII.

The following property is exempt from execution, attachment, distress, and forced sale: 1st. All necessary household, table, and kitchen furniture, one sewing-machine, crockery, tin and plated ware, calabashes and mats, family portraits and photographs and their necessary frames, wearing apparel, bedding, household linen, and provision for household use for three months. 2nd. Farming implements and utensils not exceeding five hundred dollars in value; two horses or mules, and their harness and their food for one month; one horse, one set of single harness, and one vehicle of any person who is maimed or crippled. 3d. The tools or implements of a mechanic or artisan necessary to carry on his trade; the instruments and chest of a physician, dentist, or surveyor necessary to the exercise of his profession, together with his necessary office furniture and fixture; the necessary office furniture, fixtures, blanks, stationery, and office equipment of attorneys and judges, ministers of the gospel and rabbis; the typewriter, one desk, and six chairs of a stenographer or typewriter; the musical instruments of every teacher of music, used in giving instruction; one bicycle used in carrying on of one's business or transporting him to and from his place of business; the fis.h.i.+ng nets, dips and seines, and the boats with their tackle and equipment, of every fisherman. 4th. The horses or mules and their harness, one cart, wagon, or stage, one dray or truck, one coupe, hack or carriage for one or two horses, by use of which a cartman, drayman, truckster, huckster, peddler, hackman, teamster, or other laborer earns his living; and one horse and harness and one vehicle used by a physician, surgeon, or minister of the gospel in the practice or exercise of his profession. 5th. The nautical instruments and wearing apparel of every master, officer, and seaman of any steams.h.i.+p or other vessel. 6th. All books, papers, pamphlets, and ma.n.u.scripts, together with book-cases, shelvings, cabinets, and other devices for holding the same except those kept for sale by any dealer therein. 7th. One-half of the wages due every laborer or person working for wages. 8th. The proceeds of insurance on, and the proceeds of sale of the property aforesaid for the period of three months after such proceeds are received. (Sec. 1831.) There is also exempt from execution the family Bible, family pictures, school-books, two swine or six goats, and all necessary fish, meat, flour, and vegetables, and one piece of land where kalo or any other vegetable is growing, not to exceed one-half acre actually cultivated for family use, also a house lot not to exceed one-quarter acre, and the dwelling and other buildings thereon, provided the value thereof shall not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars. But this exemption does not apply as against mechanics and material-men having liens for labor or material. (Sec. 1830.)

INDIANA.

Every resident householder, or resident married woman, may claim as exempt from execution against them respectively his or her property, real or personal, to the amount of six hundred dollars, on any debt founded on contract made since May 31, 1879. This right exists while in transitu from one residence to another within the State, and may be claimed by the wife for the husband in his absence.

The property of a resident householder, exempt from sale on execution, may be real or personal, or both. It must be properly appraised under direction of the officer, after receiving from the debtor a sworn schedule of all his property, credits, effects, etc. The statute makes ample provisions for the sale of real property where it is alone, or in part, claimed under the exemption law, in case its value exceeds six hundred dollars. The exemption does not effect liens for labor, purchase-money, or realty, or taxes in any event.

IOWA.

To an unmarried person not the head of a family and to non-resident there is exempt from execution their own ordinary wearing apparel and trunks necessary to contain the same. If the debtor is a resident of this State, and is the head of a family, he may hold exempt from execution the following property: Wearing apparel of himself and family kept for actual use and suitable for their condition, and the trunks to contain the same; one musket, or rifle, and shot-gun; all private libraries, family Bibles, portraits, pictures, musical instruments, and paintings, not kept for sale; a pew in church; a lot in burying ground, not to exceed one acre; two cows and two calves; fifty sheep and the wool therefrom, and the materials manufactured from such wool; six stands of bees, five hogs, and all pigs under six months; poultry to the value of fifty dollars; the necessary food for all animals exempt from execution for six months: one bedstead and the necessary bedding for every two in the family; all cloth manufactured by the defendant not exceeding one hundred yards; household and kitchen furniture not exceeding two hundred dollars in value; all spinning-wheels and looms, one sewing-machine, and other instruments of domestic labor kept for actual use; the necessary provisions and fuel for the use of the family for six months; the proper tools, instruments, or books of the debtor, if a farmer, mechanic, surveyor, clergyman, lawyer, physician, teacher, or professor; the horse, or team consisting of not more than two horses or mules, or two yoke of cattle, and the wagon with the proper harness tackle, by the use of which the debtor, if a physician, public officer, farmer, teamster, or other laborer, habitually earns his living, otherwise one horse; and to the debtor, if a printer, there is also exempt a printing press and the type, furniture, and material necessary for the use of such printing press and a newspaper office connected therewith, not to exceed in value twelve hundred dollars. But if the debtor being the head of family, has started to leave the State, he will have exempt only the ordinary wearing apparel of himself and family, and seventy-five dollars' worth of property in addition, to be selected by himself. But no exemptions shall extend to property against an execution issued for the purchase-money thereof. The earnings of a debtor, if a resident, and head of a family, for his personal services at any time within ninety days next preceding the levy, are also exempt. If a debtor is a seamstress, one sewing-machine shall be exempt from execution and attachment.

The homestead of every head of a family is exempt from judicial sale. It may be sold on execution for debts contracted prior to the purchase of such homestead; or for those created by written contract, expressly stipulating that it is liable therefor. If within a city or town plat it must not exceed one-half acre in extent, and if without, it must not embrace in the aggregate more than forty acres; and in each case embraces all the buildings and improvements thereon without limitation as to value. Upon the death of either husband or wife, the survivor may continue to possess and occupy the whole homestead. If there is no survivor and no will, the homestead descends to the issue of either husband or wife, and is to be held exempt from any antecedent debts of their parents or their own. Money received as a pension from the United States is exempt, whether pensioner is a head of a family or not, and a homestead purchased with such pension money is exempt from all debts whether contracted prior or subsequent to such purchase. The avails of all policies of insurance on the life of any individual payable to his surviving widow shall be exempt from liabilities for all debts of such beneficiary contracted prior to the death of the a.s.sured, the total exemption for any one person not exceeding five thousand dollars.

KANSAS.

The Const.i.tution provided that a "homestead to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres of farming land, or of one acre within the limits of an incorporated town or city, occupied as a residence by the family of the owner, together with all the improvements on the same, shall be exempted from forced sale under any process of law, and shall not be alienated without the joint consent of husband and wife, when that relation existed. By statute, each resident, being the head of a family, is ent.i.tled to have exempt from seizure and sale, upon any judicial process, the family books and musical instruments, a seat or pew in church and a lot in burial ground, all wearing apparel, bedding, bedstead, stoves and cooking utensils used by the family, one sewing-machine, all implements of industry, five hundred dollars' worth of other household furniture, two cows, ten hogs, one yoke of oxen, and one horse or mule (or, in lieu of one yoke of oxen and one horse or mule, a span of horses or mules;) twenty sheep and the wool from same; the necessary food for the stock above described for one year, either provided or growing; one wagon, cart or dray; two plows, one drag, and other farming utensils including harness and tackle for team, not exceeding in value three hundred dollars; provisions and fuel for the support and use of the family, for one year; the necessary tools and implements of any mechanic, minor, or other person, used and kept for the purpose of carrying on his trade or business, and in addition thereto stock in trade not exceeding four hundred dollars in value, and the library, implements, and office furniture of any professional man."

A resident, not being the head of a family, has exempt his wearing apparel, church pew, burial lot, necessary tools and implements used in his trade or business, stock in trade not exceeding four hundred dollars; and, if a professional man, his library, implements, and office furniture. (Sec. 3650.) The earnings of a debtor resident of the State for three months are exempt when it shall be made to appear that the same are necessary for the maintenance of a family supported wholly or partly by his labor. (Sec. 6127.)