Bill Text: MS SB2068 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Homestead exemption; revise.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2010-02-02 - Died In Committee [SB2068 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2010-SB2068-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division A
By: Senator(s) McDaniel
Senate Bill 2068
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 85-3-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE DETERMINATION OF WHAT REAL PROPERTY IS EXEMPT FROM EXECUTION FOR ANY JUDGMENT OR DECREE OTHER THAN LIENS AND JUDGMENTS FOR THE PAYMENT OF TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS ON REAL PROPERTY, OR OBLIGATIONS CONTRACTED FOR THE PURCHASE OF REAL PROPERTY, OR FOR LABOR, SERVICES OR MATERIALS FURNISHED TO REPAIR OR IMPROVE REAL PROPERTY OR FOR OTHER LABOR PERFORMED ON REAL PROPERTY; TO AMEND SECTION 85-3-23, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; TO AMEND SECTION 85-3-25, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR DECLARATION OR RENUNCIATION OF HOMESTEAD BY PERSONS OWNING ONE OR MORE RESIDENCES IN ANOTHER STATE OR STATES; TO AMEND SECTIONS 85-3-27, 85-3-31 AND 85-3-35, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; TO REPEAL SECTION 85-3-37, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE SALE OF HOMESTEAD PREMISES NOT SUSCEPTIBLE TO DIVISION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 85-3-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
85-3-21. Every citizen of this state, male or female, being a householder shall be entitled to hold exempt from seizure or sale, under execution or attachment, the land and buildings owned and occupied as a residence by him, or her, but the quantity of land, when located outside the corporate limits of a municipality, shall not exceed one hundred sixty (160) acres of land and improvements thereon, which shall not be reduced without the owner's consent by reason of subsequent inclusion within the corporate limits of a municipality, or, if located within the corporate limits of a municipality, shall not exceed one-half (1/2) acre and improvements thereon * * *. But husband or wife, widower or widow, over sixty (60) years of age, who has been an exemptionist under this section, shall not be deprived of such exemption because of not residing therein. These exemptions shall also inure to the surviving spouse or heirs of the owner.
SECTION 2. Section 85-3-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
85-3-23. Every citizen of this state, male or female, being a householder shall be entitled to hold exempt from seizure or sale under execution or attachment the land and buildings owned and occupied as a residence by such person, also the proceeds of any insurance, fire or otherwise, on any such buildings destroyed or damaged by fire, tornado or otherwise, not to exceed property as set forth in Section 85-3-21, and personal property to be selected by him or her, * * * or the articles specified as exempt to the head of a family, as set forth in Section 85-3-1; * * * however, * * * no sum or amount due, or to become due such person, nor any part thereof, for or on account of wages, salaries or commissions, shall in any proceedings be selected or claimed as exempt under this section. But husband or wife, widower or widow, over sixty (60) years of age, who has been an exemptionist under this section, shall not be deprived of such exemption because of not residing therein.
SECTION 3. Section 85-3-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
85-3-25. (1) Any citizen entitled to a homestead and desiring to select the same and obtain the advantages of such selection, may make a declaration thereof to the following effect, namely:
"The State of Mississippi, Homestead declaration.
County of _______
I, John Doe [or Nancy Roe], a citizen of said state and county, residing at [here insert the place of residence within the state] do declare that I am a bona fide resident of Mississippi and entitled to a homestead in said county, and that I have selected the same as follows: [Here describe the land and premises. Append plat if desired.]
I was formerly resident at [here insert the city, county and state wherein he or she formerly resided, if applicable, or mark "not applicable"] and I maintain the following additional places of abode [here insert the city, county and state of all additional places of abode if applicable, or mark "not applicable"].
Witness my signature, this ___ day of __________, A.D. ____
________________"
The declaration shall be acknowledged or proved as a deed is required to be, and deposited in the office of the clerk of the chancery court for record, in a book to be kept for that purpose, and styled "Homestead Record."
(2) Any person who has or who may have a place of abode within the State of Mississippi, or who has or may do or perform other acts within the State of Mississippi which might be taken to indicate that the person is or may intend to be domiciled in the State of Mississippi, a sworn statement signed under oath before an official authorized to take affidavits that the person's domicile is in such state other than the State of Mississippi, naming the state where he or she is domiciled and stating that he or she intends to permanently continue and maintain his or her domicile in the other state may be made, acknowledged or proved as a deed is required to be, and deposited in the office of the clerk of the chancery court for record, in the same book kept by the chancery clerk that is styled "Homestead Record."
(3) Nothing herein shall be construed to repeal or abrogate other existing methods of proving and evidencing domicile except as herein specifically provided.
SECTION 4. Section 85-3-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
85-3-27. The declaration, for not more than the property as set forth in Section 85-3-21, shall be notice to all persons to be affected thereby; and shall bind the exemptionist, the spouse of the exemptionist if the exemptionist be married, and the creditors of the exemptionist until the exemptionist shall execute and file a new declaration which shall nullify the preceding one, and otherwise have like effect; and shall moreover entitle the exemptionist thereafter to hold the same as exempt to the extent of the property claimed, but subject to contest and legal designation or allotment, if the exemptionist had declared for too much, or has insufficiently or improperly described the premises; and to contest by creditors on the ground that the exemptionist was not entitled to a homestead, and by the spouse of the exemptionist on the ground that it was intended to defraud or circumvent such spouse.
SECTION 5. Section 85-3-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
85-3-31. The homestead of every citizen entitled to such an exemption who shall not select or who has improperly selected his homestead by declaration, shall be, namely: A tract of land in the form of, first, a square, or second, a parallelogram, if practicable, and composed, if practicable, of contiguous parcels, and including the dwelling house, and, if practicable, the other principal buildings as set forth in Section 85-3-21. And in all cases where the homestead may be composed of detached parcels of land, it shall be made up of those nearest the forty (40) acre or other less tract containing the dwelling house.
SECTION 6. Section 85-3-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
85-3-35. If the land on which the person claiming the exemption resides exceeds that set forth in Section 85-3-21, and a proper selection of a homestead has not been made and filed for record, the officer holding an execution against such persons, and not finding other property to satisfy the same, shall levy the execution on the whole land, and shall notify the defendant, if to be found, and the plaintiff or his attorney, if in his county, each to select one (1) householder or freeholder; and each party may select one, and inform the officer of his selection, and the officer shall select a third; or, if defendant or plaintiff or his attorney be absent from the county, or if he shall not make a selection, or if the person selected will not act, the officer shall select the three (3) householders or freeholders, who, on oath to be administered by him, shall set off to such person a portion of the land, embracing the dwelling house and outhouses and not exceeding what is set forth in Section 85-3-21, and the allotment, distinctly indicated by metes and bounds or other sufficient description, shall be returned with the execution; and the levy of the execution shall be dismissed as to the part so allotted; and the officer may advertise and sell the remainder of the land. In making such allotment, the homestead shall be laid off as designated by law in case of the debtor's failure to select his homestead and file his declaration thereof for record.
SECTION 7. Section 85-3-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for the sale of homestead premises not susceptible to division, is repealed.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2010.
