Bankruptcy relief focus of Senate plan

Homeowners facing bankruptcy could get a break if a proposal to increase the homestead exemption makes its way to the state house floor during the next legislative session.

Georgia is home to the nation's second highest bankruptcy rate ... right behind Tennessee. But, the state is also home to one of the nation's lowest bankruptcy exemption amounts for homeowners. At $10,000 dollars, that’s less than half of what federal bankruptcy laws permit.

Under a proposal by Senator Ed Tarver (D-Augusta), the amount for single homeowners would be raised to $50,000 dollars.

"The idea is to help as many Georgians as we can. To the extent that we can do something legislatively, to provide Georgians with more protections, to allow them a greater opportunity to stay in their homes, then I think we should do it."

The measure would also means couples are eligible for a $100,000 dollar bankruptcy exemption. Tarver first proposed increasing the homestead exemption limit earlier this year, but the measure never made it past the powerful Rules Committee. This time around, Tarver hopes he’ll be able to hammer out the details of his proposal in advance of the '09 session.

The number of Georgians filing for bankruptcy reached well over 14,000 thousand in the period ending June 2008, marking a two year high.