Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Pennsylvania has no dedicated homestead exemption at all for an ordinary money-judgment creditor. The only general protection is a tiny $300 ‘wildcard’ exemption covering any of the debtor’s property, real or personal, combined. A married couple’s jointly-owned home can sometimes get a different kind of protection (tenancy by the entirety, a property-law doctrine, not a homestead exemption) if the judgment is against only one spouse, but that rests on case law, not a codified statute fetched this session.
Pennsylvania is the outlier. Unlike every other state on this site, Pennsylvania has no real homestead exemption for an ordinary money judgment, only a $300 wildcard that covers any property, not just a home. Married couples sometimes get separate protection for a jointly owned home through tenancy by the entirety, a property-ownership rule established by case law rather than this statute.
This is protection against an ordinary money judgment creditor under 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 8123, a different question from a property tax bill or exemption, which this page does not cover.
Pennsylvania homestead exemption at a glance
| Protected amount | Pennsylvania has no dedicated homestead exemption at all for an ordinary money-judgment creditor. The only general protection is a tiny $300 ‘wildcard’ exemption covering any of the debtor’s property, real or personal, combined. A married couple’s jointly-owned home can sometimes get a different kind of protection (tenancy by the entirety, a property-law doctrine, not a homestead exemption) if the judgment is against only one spouse, but that rests on case law, not a codified statute fetched this session. |
|---|---|
| Filing/declaration | Conditional: The debtor may elect to take the $300 exemption in kind by designating specific property items, or claim it in cash out of sale proceeds, there’s a choice to make, but no separate advance filing to protect a home. |
| If you sell the home | The debtor may claim the $300 exemption in cash out of the proceeds of a sale instead of taking it in specific property. |
How it works in Pennsylvania
- Conditional filing rule. The debtor may elect to take the $300 exemption in kind by designating specific property items, or claim it in cash out of sale proceeds, there’s a choice to make, but no separate advance filing to protect a home.
If you sell the home
The debtor may claim the $300 exemption in cash out of the proceeds of a sale instead of taking it in specific property.
What it does not protect against
The $300 exemption doesn’t apply to judgments for support obligations, judgments against non-individual (business) debtors, board debts of four weeks or less, wage claims of $100 or less for manual labor, or mortgage foreclosure judgments (limited to the mortgaged property, excluding any deficiency judgment).
Read it yourself
Verbatim from 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 8123: “In addition to any other property specifically exempted by this subchapter, property of the judgment debtor (including bank notes, money, securities, real property, judgments or other indebtedness due the judgment debtor) to the value of $300 shall be exempt from attachment or execution on a judgment.” Read the full official text before relying on any figure here. A second citation, the full Chapter 81 index, same domain, is available here. Exemption law is fact-specific, and this is a source-backed planning guide, not individualized legal advice.