Bill Text: NJ A3760 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: "Medical Debt Homestead Protection Act."
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-22 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee [A3760 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A3760-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman MICHAEL VENEZIA
District 34 (Essex)
Assemblyman HERB CONAWAY, JR.
District 7 (Burlington)
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Morales
SYNOPSIS
"Medical Debt Homestead Protection Act."
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning certain debt executions and supplementing Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Medical Debt Homestead Protection Act."
2. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. Medical debt is a significant financial burden for many individuals and families that often leads to bankruptcy and the potential loss of the debtor's home.
b. The loss of a home exacerbates the distressing situation currently facing individuals and families filing for bankruptcy due to unpaid medical bills.
c. It is in the public interest to establish protections that prevent the forced sale of a home in cases of bankruptcy arising from medical debt.
3. a. Any person aged 18 or over, married or single, who resides within the State may hold as a homestead exempt from attachment, execution, and forced sale, as result of a judgement obtained for the payment and satisfaction of a medical debt, any one of the following:
(1) the person's interest in real property upon which exists a dwelling house in which the person resides;
(2) the person's interest in one condominium or cooperative in which the person resides; or
(3) a manufactured home as defined pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1990, c.61 (C.54:4-8.58), including the land on which the manufactured home is situated.
b. Only one homestead exemption pursuant to this section may be held by a married couple or a single person.
4. This act shall take effect on the 90th day next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes the "Medical Debt Homestead Protection Act." Under the bill, any person aged 18 or over, married or single, who resides within the State may hold as a homestead exempt from attachment, execution, and forced sale, as result of a judgement obtained for the payment and satisfaction of a medical debt, any one of the following: an interest in real property upon which exists a dwelling house in which the person resides; an interest in a condominium or cooperative in which the person resides; or a manufactured home, including the land on which the manufactured home is situated. Only one homestead exemption at a time may be held by a person under the bill.
