How to Collect a Doctor Bill Part 5

So, also, the money received by any debtor as pensioner of the United States within three months preceeding the issuing of execution, attachment, or garnishment process must be released when it is shown in like manner that said money is necessary for the maintenance of a family supported wholly or in part by such pension. (Sec. 3653.)

IDAHO.

Execution issue on judgment at any time within five years. Homestead, after the same has been declared and recorded is exempt. Where the selection is made by the husband, or, in case of his failure, by the wife or other head of the family, such homestead may be selected to the value of five thousand dollars, and to the value of one thousand dollars by any other person. The declaration, properly acknowledged and recorded, is prior to all claims against the property which were not existing liens at the time the declaration of homestead was recorded. In addition thereto are the following exemptions from execution: 1st.

Chairs, tables, desks, and books to the value of two hundred dollars.

2d. Necessary household furniture to the value of three hundred dollars, wearing apparel, paintings, drawings, pictures, etc., and provisions provided for individual or family use, sufficient for six months, two cows and two hogs with their increase. 3d. Farmer's utensils to the value of three hundred dollars, four horses, four oxen or four mules, with harnesses, cart or wagon, and food for the same for six months; waterright, not exceeding one hundred and sixty inches of water, for the irrigation of lands annually cultivated, and crop or crops growing or grown on fifty acres of land leased, owned, or possessed by claimant.

4th. Necessary tools or implements of a mechanic or artisan of the value of five hundred dollars; notary's seal and records; necessary instrument for use of surgeon, physician, surveyor, and dentist, with their libraries; professional libraries and office furniture of attorneys, counsellors, and judges; and the libraries of clergymen. 5th. Cabin or dwelling of a miner, of the value of five hundred dollars, also his sluices, pipes, hose, and other necessary tools and machinery of the value of two hundred dollars: one saddle horse, and one pack horse, together with their saddles and equipments, belonging to a miner actually engaged in prospecting, of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars. 6th. The team, wagon, or cart and harnesses of teamster or other laborer; a horse, harness and vehicle used by physician, surgeon, or clergyman, with food for all such animals for six months. 7th.

Earnings of judgment debtor, if necessary for his family, for services rendered within the thirty days next proceeding levy of execution where his family is residing in the State. 8th. Shares held by a member of a homestead a.s.sociation, or building or loan a.s.sociation, duly incorporated under the laws of the State, where the person holding the shares is not the owner of the homestead, under the laws of the State.

9th. Life insurance in an amount represented by an annual premium not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars. 10th. Engines, apparatus, and uniforms of a fire company or department organized under any law of the State, 11th. Arms, uniforms, and accoutrements required by law to be kept.

ILLINOIS.

HOMESTEAD. (=Hurd, 1067.=) The farm or lot of land and buildings thereon of every householder having a family, occupied as a residence, to the extent in value of one thousand dollars is exempt. The exemption continues after the death of the householder to the surviving husband or wife so long as he or she occupies the homestead, and to the children until the youngest becomes twenty-one years of age. But such property is subject to taxes and debts incurred for its purchase or improvement. In case the premises are worth more than one thousand dollars, and can be divided without injury, a portion thereof, including the dwelling house, of the value of one thousand dollars, is set off, and the remainder is subject to execution and sale. If the premises cannot be divided the property is valued by appraisers, and the debtor may pay the surplus over one thousand dollars; otherwise the property may be sold, and the officer having the execution pays one thousand dollars to the debtor and the remainder is applied in satisfaction of the creditor's claim.

Substantially the same thing can be done by a court of chancery in a proceeding to foreclose a lien. Insurance money in case of fire, is exempt to the same extent as the property insured. Upon a conveyance of the homestead the exemption continues to the grantee to the same extent.

The proceeds from such sale, not over one thousand dollars, are exempt for one year, and may be invested in another homestead. The homestead right of exemption by abandonment, may be extinguished by a conveyance by both husband and wife, properly acknowledged by abandonment, or, in case of right in children, by order of court of competent jurisdiction.

PERSONAL PROPERTY.--The following personal property is exempt: 1st. The necessary wearing apparel, Bibles, school-books, and family pictures.

2d. One hundred dollars' worth of other property to be selected by the debtor, and in addition, when the debtor is the head of a family and resides with the same, three hundred dollars' worth of other property to be selected by the debtor, provided the exemption shall not be allowed from any money, salary, or wages due the debtor. When the head of a family dies, deserts, or does not live with the same, the exemption continues to the family. No personal property is exempt from process under a judgment for a debt for the wages of a laborer or servant.

Exemptions cannot be claimed out of partners.h.i.+p property. (=37 Ill. App.

489; 38 Ill. App. 269.=) When a debtor desires to claim exemptions he must, within ten days after service of process and notice, schedule under oath all his personal property of every kind, including money in hand and debts due or owing him. Property not so scheduled is subject to process. Appraisers are then appointed by the officer having the writ, who place a fair value on each article. The debtor may select articles so appraised of a total value not exceeding the amount of the exemption allowed, the remainder being sold by the officer in satisfaction of the debt. Money or benefits received from life or accident insurance companies, organized under the Act of July 1, 1893, are exempt. (=Hurd, 1262.=) The wages of a wage earner, being the head of a family, and residing with the same, are exempt from garnishment to the amount of fifteen dollars per week. (=Hurd, 1152.=) It is made a misdemeanor to send a claim to another State for collection out of the earnings of the debtor by garnishment or other proceedings when the debtor is a resident and the creditor, debtor, and garnishee are all within the jurisdiction of the courts of Illinois, with intent to deprive the debtor of his rights under the exemption laws of this State; or to transfer for such purpose a claim against a citizen of Illinois. The penalty is not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars. A non-resident, as to wages earned and payable outside of this State, is allowed here the same exemption he would be ent.i.tled to in the State of his residence. (=Hurd, 1155.=) Wages earned and payable outside of this State are exempt from attachment or garnishment, where the cause of action arose out of the State, unless the defendant in the attachment or garnishment suit is personally served with process. If the defendant be not served personally, the court or justice of the peace issuing the writ must dismiss the suit at the cost of the plaintiff. (=Hurd, 1155.=) The law of exemptions applies to cases of distress for rent, except as to crops growing on the premises. (=Hurd, 1343.=)

KENTUCKY.

The following personal property shall be exempt from execution, attachment, distress, or fee bill against a person with a family residence in this State: two work beasts, or one work beast and one yoke of oxen, two plows and gear, one wagon and one set of gear, or cart or dray, three hoes, one spade, one shovel, two cows and calves; beds, bedding, and furniture sufficient for family use; one loom and spinning-wheel and pair of cards; all the spun yarn and manufactured cloth manufactured by the family, necessary for family use; carpeting for all family rooms in use; one cooking-stove and all cooking utensils, not to exceed twenty-five dollars in value; one table, all books, not to exceed fifty dollars in value, two saddles and their appendages; two bridles, six chairs, or so many as shall not exceed ten dollars in value, one cradle; all the poultry on hand; ten head of sheep, not to exceed two dollars and fifty cents in value for each sheep; all wearing apparel; sufficient provisions including bread-stuffs and animal food to sustain the family one year; provender suitable for live stock, if there is any live stock, not to exceed seventy dollars in value; if none, then other property not to exceed seventy dollars in value in lieu thereof; all was.h.i.+ng apparatus not to exceed fifty dollars in value; one sewing-machine and all family portraits and pictures. And also on all debts and liabilities created after the first day of June, 1866, so much land, including the dwelling-house and appurtenances owned by a debtor who is =a bona fide= housekeeper with a family resident in Kentucky, and living on or claiming the land as a homestead, as shall not exceed in value one thousand dollars; and on all liabilities, the libraries of preachers, the professional libraries of lawyers, physicians, and surgeons, and their instruments, to the amount of five hundred dollars, and tools, not exceeding one hundred dollars in value, of a mechanic.

Ninety per cent. of wages or salaries of persons earning seventy-five dollars per month or less is exempt, the remaining ten per cent, being subject to debts. As to persons earning more than seventy-five dollars per month the law exempts sixty-seven dollars and fifty cents per month and holds the balance subject to debts.

LOUISIANA.

Homesteads are exempt from seizure. They consist of not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres of land, buildings, and appurtenances, whether rural or urban, bona fidely occupied by the head of a family, or persons dependent upon him or her for support, and exist without registration.

The homestead also includes certain farm implements and animals, together with a certain quant.i.ty of fodder, corn, etc. Homestead cannot exceed two thousand dollars in value. If so, the beneficiary shall be ent.i.tled to that amount only in case of a sale of the homestead under legal process. No husband shall have the benefit of a homestead whose wife owns or is in actual possession of property to the amount of two thousand dollars. The benefit of this exemption may be claimed by the surviving spouse or minor children of a deceased beneficiary. Laborer's wages, the clothes belonging to the debtor or his wife, his bed, the beds of his family, his arms and military accoutrements, the tools and instruments necessary for the exercise of the trade or profession by which he gains a living, the rights of personal servitude, use, and habitation, the usufruct to the estate of a minor child, the income of dotal property, the books and sewing-machine necessary for the exercise of one's calling, trade, or profession by which the owner makes a living, the salary of an officer, cooking-stove and utensils, plates, forks, etc., dining-table, chairs, wash-tubs, smoothing-irons and ironing furnaces, family portraits and musical instruments played on by any member of the family, are exempt from seizure. Whenever the widow or minor children of a deceased person are left in necessitous circ.u.mstances, they shall be ent.i.tled to demand and receive from the succession of their deceased husband or father a sum, which, added to the amount of property owned by them or either of them in their own right, will make up the sum of one thousand dollars, which shall be paid in preference to all other debts, except vendor's privilege and expenses incurred in selling the property.

MAINE.

The following =personal property= is exempt from attachment and levy: Wearing apparel, household furniture necessary for himself, wife, and children not exceeding one hundred dollars in value, and one bedstead, bed and bedding for each two members, family portraits, Bibles, school-books in actual use; copy of State statutes, library worth one hundred and fifty dollars, pew in use, one cooking and all iron-warming stoves, charcoal, twelve cords of wood at home for use; five tons of anthracite and fifty bushels of bituminous coal, ten dollars' worth of lumber, wood or bark, all produce till harvested, one barrel flour, thirty bushels of corn, grain, all potatoes raised or bought and necessary for debtor or his family, half an acre of flax and manufactures therefrom for use of himself or family, tools of trade, fifty dollars' worth of materials and stock procured and necessary for trade or business and intended to be used in same, sewing-machine worth one hundred dollars, one pair of working cattle, or one pair of horses or mules worth three hundred dollars, and hay to keep them through the winter, one harness worth twenty dollars for each horse or mule; a horse sled or ox sled, two swine, one cow, and a heifer under three years, or two cows if no oxen, horse, or mule, ten sheep with their wool and lambs until one year old, hay sufficient to keep them through the winter, fifty dollars' worth of domestic fowl, one plow, one cart or truck wagon or one express wagon, one harrow, one yoke with bows, ring, and staple, two chains, one ox sled, one mowing machine, one boat of two tons employed in fis.h.i.+ng and owned exclusively by an inhabitant of the State, life and accident policies except excess of annual cash premiums for two years above one hundred and fifty dollars. Also two shares in loan and building a.s.sociations, also the receipts of certain agricultural societies until their expenses, purses, and premiums are paid, provided the same are paid within three months from close of fair.

REAL ESTATE.--Lot of land and buildings worth five hundred dollars, if owner files required certificate in registry of deeds, is exempt as a homestead from all attachments except for liens of mechanics and material men; also one cemetery lot.

MARYLAND.

In Maryland the sheriff cannot take in execution wearing apparel, mechanical text-books, or books of professional men, or mechanical or professional men's tools (except books and tools kept for sale). And, except under executions issued upon judgments for seduction or breach of promise of marriage, he must also leave one hundred dollars' worth of other property, to be selected by the defendant, or, if one hundred dollars' worth cannot be conveniently set aside, pay him one hundred dollars out of the proceeds of sale. Also money payable in the nature of insurance for accident, death, etc.

Ma.s.sACHUSETTS.

The following exemptions of personal property are allowed: 1st. The necessary wearing apparel of the debtor and his wife and children, and household necessaries to a limited amount. 2d. Other household furniture necessary for him and his family, not exceeding three hundred dollars in value. 3d. The Bibles, school-books, and library used by him or his family, not exceeding fifty dollars in value. 4th. One cow, six sheep, one swine, and two tons of hay. 5th. The tools, implements, and fixtures necessary for carrying on his trade or business, not exceeding one hundred dollars in value. 6th. Materials and stock for carrying on his trade or business, and intended to be used or wrought therein, not exceeding one hundred dollars in value. 7th. The provisions necessary for the use of the family, not exceeding fifty dollars in value. 8th.

One pew occupied by him or his family in a house of public wors.h.i.+p; but this does not prevent the sale of a pew for the non-payment of a tax legally laid thereon. 9th. The boat, fis.h.i.+ng tackle, and nets of fishermen, actually used by them in the prosecution of their business, to the value of one hundred dollars. 10th. The uniform of an officer or soldier in the militia, and the arms and accoutrements required by law to be kept by him. 11th. Rights of burial and tombs while in use as repositories for the dead. 12th. One sewing-machine, not exceeding one hundred dollars in value in actual use by the debtor or by his family.

13th. Shares in co-operative a.s.sociations formed under the Revised Laws, ch. 110, not exceeding in value twenty dollars in the aggregate.

Every householder having a family is ent.i.tled to an estate or homestead to the value of eight hundred dollars exempt from levy on execution, if proper steps have been taken, by deed recorded in the registry of deed of the county where it is situated, to declare it a homestead.

MICHIGAN.

The laws of this State exempt from sale on execution to every householder a homestead not exceeding forty acres of land and the house thereon, if in the country, or a house and lot in any city or village not exceeding in value fifteen hundred dollars. A married householder cannot sell or enc.u.mber such homestead without the consent of his wife.

Of personal property, the laws exempt from sale on execution various articles, such as seats in churches, cemeteries, tombs, and right of burial, all arms and accoutrements, and all wearing apparel of every person and his family, the library and school-books of every individual and family, not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars, and all family pictures. To each householder, ten sheep and their fleeces, two cows, five swine, and provisions and fuel sufficient to keep such householder and family six months. To each householder all household goods, furniture, and utensils, not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars in value. The tools, implements, material stock, apparatus, team (either one yoke of oxen, a horse or pair of horses, as the case may be), vehicle, horses harness, or other things to enable any person to carry on the profession, trade, occupation, or business in which he is wholly or princ.i.p.ally engaged, not exceeding in value two hundred and fifty dollars, and also one sewing-machine; and a sufficient quant.i.ty of hay, grain, feed, etc., to keep the animals enumerated for six months. Only household goods, library, pictures, rights in cemeteries, and one cow and provisions, and fuel for one month, not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, are exempt from execution issued on judgment for labor. No lien can be created by mortgage or otherwise on any of the above property, except on profession, etc., without the consent of the wife, if he have one, by signing such mortgage or lien.

If a person ent.i.tled to the benefit of a homestead shall die, his widow or minor children shall have the same benefit during the time they continue to occupy the same.

MINNESOTA.

Family Bible, family pictures, school-books or library, and musical instruments for use of family; seat or pew in any house or place of public wors.h.i.+p; a lot in a burial ground; all wearing apparel of debtor and family, all beds, bedding, and bedsteads kept and used by debtor and used by debtor and his family; all stoves and appendages put up or kept for use of debtor and family; all cooking utensils, and all other household furniture not herein enumerated, not exceeding five hundred dollars in value.

As to debtors residing in this State only: Three cows; ten swine; one yoke of oxen and a horse, or in lieu thereof a span of horses or mules; twenty sheep and the wool from same; necessary food for such stock for one year, provided or growing, or both; one wagon, cart, or dray, one sleigh, two plows, one drag, and other farming utensils, including tackle for teams, not exceeding three hundred dollars in value; provisions for debtor and family for one year's support, provided or growing, or both, and one year's fuel; the tools and instruments of a mechanic, miner, or other person, used and kept for the purpose of carrying on his trade, and stock in trade not exceeding four hundred dollars; library and implements of a professional man; the presses, stones, type, cases, and other tools and implements used by any person or co-partners.h.i.+p, in printing or publis.h.i.+ng a newspaper, not to exceed two thousand dollars in value, together with stock in trade not exceeding four hundred dollars in value; one watch, one sewing-machine, one bicycle, one typewriter; necessary seed for personal use of debtor for one season not exceeding one hundred bushels of wheat, one hundred bushels barley, one hundred bushels potatoes, one hundred bushels oats, one hundred bushels flax, and ten bushels corn, and binding material for use in harvesting crop raised from such seed; the library and apparatus of and used by any public college or school; moneys from insurance on exempt property; life insurance not exceeding ten thousand dollars payable to wife or child on life of deceased husband or father; moneys or benefits payable by a police or fire department, beneficiary, or fraternal benefit a.s.sociation, to any person ent.i.tled to a.s.sistance therefrom, or beneficiary under certificate thereof; wages not exceeding twenty-five dollars due from services rendered during thirty days preceding attachment, garnishment, or levy of execution; earnings of a minor child of debtor, by reason of liability of debtor not contracted for the special benefit of such minor; claim for damages, and judgment thereon by reason of levy on or sale under execution of exempt personal property or the wrongful taking or detention of such property. If within an incorporated place of less than five thousand inhabitants, one-half acre, of more than five thousand inhabitants, one-third acre. Surviving or deserted spouse and minor children are ent.i.tled to the exemption. As to debts created prior to March 1, 1906, exemption continues.

MISSISSIPPI.

A homestead to every citizen of the State, male or female, being a householder and having a family, not to exceed two thousand dollars in value in country, or three thousand in town, nor one hundred and sixty acres in extent; this exemption is forfeitable, if the debtor cease to reside on the place, unless his removal be temporary.

The following property of each head of a family is also exempt: 1st. Two work-horses, or mules, and one yoke of oxen. 2d. Two heads of cows and calves. 3d. Ten hogs. 4th. Twenty sheep and goats each. 5th. All poultry. 6th. All colts under three years, raised in this State by debtors. 7th. Two hundred and fifty bushels of corn. 8th. Ten bushels of wheat or rice. 9th. Five hundred pounds of pork, bacon, or other meat.

10th. One hundred bushels of cottonseed. 11th. One wagon, and one buggy or cart, and one set of harness for each. 12th. Five hundred bundles of fodder and one thousand pounds of hay. 13th. Forty gallons of sorghum or mola.s.ses or cane syrup. 14th. one thousand stalks of sugar-cane. 15th.

One mola.s.ses-mills and equipments, not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars in value. 16th. Two bridles and one saddle, and one side-saddle.

17th. One sewing-machine. 18th. Household and kitchen furniture not exceeding in value two hundred dollars. 19th. All family portraits.

20th. One mower and rake. 21st. Wages to amount of fifty dollars per month.

The following property is also exempt to any person: 1st. The tools of a mechanic necessary for carrying on his trade. 2nd. Agricultural implements of a farmer necessary for two male laborers. 3d. The implements of a laborer necessary in his usual employment. 4th. The books of a student necessary for the completion of his education. 5th.

Wearing apparel. 6th. Libraries and pictures of all persons not exceeding five hundred dollars in value. 7th. Instruments of surgeons and dentists, used in their professions, not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars in value. 8th. The arms and accoutrements of each militiaman. 9th. All globes and maps used by teachers of schools, academies and colleges. 10th. The proceeds of insurance on, or the sale of, exempt property.

MISSOURI.

Certain animals, implements, and domestic furniture and wearing apparel, as specified by the statute, is exempt from execution and attachment when owned by the head of a family. Wearing apparel and the necessary tools and implements of trade of any mechanic, while carrying on his trade, are exempt from execution when owned by a person not the head of a family. Every householder or head of a family is ent.i.tled to have exempt from execution and attachment the homestead occupied by him, not exceeding in value three thousand dollars in cities of over forty thousand inhabitants, and not exceeding in quant.i.ty eighteen square rods of ground. In cities having less than forty thousand and not less than ten thousand inhabitants the homestead cannot exceed in value fifteen hundred dollars nor thirty square rods of ground; in cities having less than ten thousand inhabitants, five acres and not exceeding in value fifteen hundred dollars; and one hundred and sixty acres of land in the country, not exceeding in value fifteen hundred dollars.

MONTANA.

Exemptions are as follows: All clothing of the debtor and family, and chairs, tables, desks, and books to the value of two hundred dollars; also all necessary household, table and kitchen furniture, of the judgment debtor, including one sewing-machine, stove, stove-pipe, and stove furniture heating apparatus, beds, bedding and bedsteads and provisions and fuel for individual or family use, sufficient for three months; one horse, saddle and bridle, two cows with their calves, four hogs, and fifty domestic fowl, and feed for such animals for three months; one clock, and all family pictures. In addition to the above, there is exempt to a farmer his farming utensils not exceeding six hundred dollars in value, two oxen, or two horses or mules and their harness, one cart or wagon, and food for such stock for three months; two hundred dollars' worth of seed, grain, or vegetables actually provided for the purpose of sowing or planting. The proper tools, instruments, or books of any mechanic, physician, dentist, lawyer, or clergyman, and office furniture. To a miner his dwelling and all his tools and machinery necessary for carrying on his avocation, not to exceed in value the aggregate sum of one thousand dollars, and also one horse or mule, and its harness, with its food for three months, in case such stock is used in working his mining claim. One horse, mule, or two oxen, vehicle and harness, by which the debtor habitually earns his living, and one horse with vehicle and harness, of physician or clergyman, used in making professional visits, with food for such stock for three months. All arms, uniforms, etc., required by law to be kept by any person. The wages of the debtor earned at any time within thirty days next preceding the levy, provided they are necessary for the use of his family, residing in the State, supported wholly or in part by his labor. All moneys growing out of life insurance. These exemptions are restricted to married persons or to persons who are the heads of families, and only the wearing apparel of an unmarried person is exempt to him. None but =bona fide residents= can claim the benefit of this law.

A homestead not to exceed in value the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, if agriculture land it is not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres. If within the limits of a town, plat, city, or village, not to exceed one-fourth of an acre. The debtor has his option of the two and may select either, with all improvements thereon, which are included in the valuation.

NEBRASKA.