§ 25-1556.Specific exemptions; personal property; selection by debtor; adjustment by Department of Revenue.

Section 25-1556 layers itemized, category-specific exemptions on top of the general exemption in section 25-1552. Six categories are protected from attachment, execution, or sale on final process: the debtor’s and family’s immediate personal possessions; the debtor’s and family’s necessary wearing apparel; the debtor’s interest, up to three thousand dollars in aggregate fair market value, in household furnishings, household goods, household computers, household appliances, books, or musical instruments held for personal, family, or household use; the debtor’s interest, up to five thousand dollars, in implements, tools, or professional books or supplies — other than a motor vehicle — held for use in the debtor’s or family’s principal trade or business; the debtor’s interest, up to five thousand dollars, in a motor vehicle; and the debtor’s interest in any professionally prescribed health aids for the debtor or the debtor’s dependents. Personal possessions, wearing apparel, and prescribed health aids carry no stated dollar cap.

Selecting which property to claim under these categories follows the same procedure section 25-1552 sets out — the debtor or an authorized representative picks the items, subject to the listing and valuation process described there.

Like the general exemption, the three dollar caps in this section rise with inflation. The Department of Revenue adjusts them every fifth year, beginning in 2023, based on the cumulative change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers over the preceding five years.

Burial lots and mausoleums are exempted under separate statutes — sections 12-517, 12-520, and 12-605 — rather than under this section.