Usually, when I meet with a prospective bankruptcy client, the first question I get is “how long will it take me to recover after filing bankruptcy” and the second question I get is “will I have to give up my personal items like furniture and jewelry?”

The “recover from bankruptcy” question is the subject of a different blog post, but I can tell you that in my experience of over 23 years, I rarely, if ever, see anybody lose any of their personal property when they file bankruptcy.

Let’s take jewelry, for example.  In Georgia, you can protect or “exempt” up to $500 worth of jewelry.  This means that you may have $100,000 of credit card debt and you can wipe all of that debt out and still keep your $500 worth of jewelry because under the Georgia exemption statute, this jewelry is exempt.

But wait – there’s more.  If you file jointly with your spouse, each of you gets to claim the $500 exemption, making a total of $1,000.  Further, the exemption law allows you an extra $600 of “wildcard” exemption that can be applied to jewelry, and you can take up to $5,000 of your real estate exemption and apply it to jewelry as well.

Thus, an individual can exempt $500 + $600 + $5,000 = $6,100 worth of jewelry.  A couple filing jointly can protect up to $12,200 worth of jewelry.

What if your jewelry is worth more than $6,100 (individual) or $12,200 (married couple)?  I would advise you to get that jewelry valued.  As Charleston bankruptcy lawyer Russ DeMott points out on his blog, people buying used jewelry want a deal–a really good deal.  That heirloom ring you think is worth $15,000 may fetch only $2,500 from a wholesale jewelry buyer.More on Will You Lose Your Jewelry if You File Chapter 7?