Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Ohio protects up to $182,625 of a person’s interest in one parcel or item of property used as a residence for judgments and orders from April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2028. That is the statute’s $125,000 base figure as adjusted by the Ohio judicial conference, as listed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (S.D. Ohio) notice of March 28, 2025. The dollar figure is indexed to inflation and re-set every three years by the Ohio judicial conference.
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This is protection against an ordinary money judgment creditor under Ohio Rev. Code § 2329.66(A)(1)(b); § 2329.661, a different question from a property tax bill or exemption, which this page does not cover.
Ohio homestead exemption at a glance
| Protected amount | Ohio protects up to $182,625 of a person’s interest in one parcel or item of property used as a residence for judgments and orders from April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2028. That is the statute’s $125,000 base figure as adjusted by the Ohio judicial conference, as listed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (S.D. Ohio) notice of March 28, 2025. The dollar figure is indexed to inflation and re-set every three years by the Ohio judicial conference. |
|---|---|
| Filing/declaration | Conditional: No advance recorded declaration is required; the debtor claims the exemption as exempt property when the parcel becomes subject to a judgment lien or execution. |
| Married couples / joint owners | The exemption is written as a cap on ‘the person’s interest,’ i.e., an individual/per-debtor amount rather than a stated household cap, no explicit combined-spouse language was found in the statute text itself. |
How it works in Ohio
- Conditional filing rule. No advance recorded declaration is required; the debtor claims the exemption as exempt property when the parcel becomes subject to a judgment lien or execution.
- Married couples and joint owners: The exemption is written as a cap on ‘the person’s interest,’ i.e., an individual/per-debtor amount rather than a stated household cap, no explicit combined-spouse language was found in the statute text itself.
What it does not protect against
The exemption doesn’t defeat a mortgage or security interest the debtor gave, a vendor’s purchase-money lien, any lien for state/local taxes or other obligations owed to the state, or a judgment for uninsured tortious operation of a motor vehicle.
Read it yourself
Verbatim from Ohio Rev. Code § 2329.66(A)(1)(b); § 2329.661 (the statute’s unadjusted base figure; see the adjusted amount above): “the person’s interest, not to exceed one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars, in one parcel or item of real or personal property that the person or a dependent of the person uses as a residence” Read the full official text before relying on any figure here. A second citation, the companion exceptions section, Ohio Rev. Code 2329.661, same domain, is available here. Exemption law is fact-specific, and this is a source-backed planning guide, not individualized legal advice.
Figures verified against Ohio Rev. Code §§ 2329.66 and 2329.661 on codes.ohio.gov and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (S.D. Ohio) notice of April 1, 2025 Ohio exemption increases on September 30, 2026; the Ohio Judicial Conference adjustment memorandum itself and the no-advance-declaration statement were not re-checked.