Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: $500,000 in the land and buildings, or in personal property the owner uses as a residence.
Deeding a home to a family member while you are alive? What Rhode Island requires, from its own documents: Rhode Island quitclaim deed requirements.
This is protection against an ordinary money judgment creditor under R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-26-4.1, a different question from a property tax bill or exemption, which this page does not cover.
How it works in Rhode Island
- No filing required. Automatic by operation of law: no declaration, deed statement, or other filing is required.
- Married couples and joint owners: One shared exemption per family (a household, not per spouse).
What it does not protect against
Sale for taxes or municipal assessments, debts predating the homestead, purchase-money debt for the home, family-court support orders, ground rent, a mortgage or other voluntary lien, a mechanics’ lien, a debt or lien in favor of the state for reimbursement of medical assistance, and a debt owed to a federally insured deposit-taking institution or to a person regulated or licensed under title 19 of the Rhode Island General Laws.
Read it yourself
Verbatim from R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-26-4.1: “an estate of homestead to the extent of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in the land and buildings, or personal property that the owner uses as a residence, may be acquired pursuant to this section by an owner of a home or an individual who rightfully possesses the premises by lease, as a life tenant, as a beneficiary of a revocable or irrevocable trust or otherwise, and who occupies or intends to occupy the home as his or her principal residence.” Read the full official text before relying on any figure here. Exemption law is fact-specific, and this is a source-backed planning guide, not individualized legal advice.
Figures verified against R.I. Gen. Laws section 9-26-4.1 as published by the Rhode Island General Assembly on September 30, 2026.