Thirty-six dollars of the wages, salary, or income of any person drawing forty dollars or less per month shall be exempt from legal process at date of service of process.
Household goods and provisions are exempt. The list includes practically every article to be found in the average home. The liberality of the law may be judged from the fact that one hundred gallons of sorghum molasses and twenty pounds of coffee are listed. The list ends with: twenty bushels of peanuts, three strings of red peppers, two gourds, two punger gourds, a carpet in actual use by the family, not exceeding in value twenty-five dollars, and two hundred bushels of cotton seed.
If the head of the family is engaged in agriculture there is further exempt in his hands the following property: Two plows, two hoes, one grubbing hoe, one cutting knife, one harvest cradle, one set of plow gears, one pitch-fork, one rake, three iron wedges, five head of sheep, and ten head of stock hogs. There is exempt in the hands of each mechanic in the State who is engaged in the pursuit of his trade or occupation one set of mechanic's tools, such as are usual and necessary to the pursuit of his trade; and, if he is the head of a family, two hundred dollars' worth of lumber or material, or products of his labor; also one gun in the hands of every male citizen of the age of eighteen years and upward, and every female who is the head of a family; to the heads of families fifty pounds of picked cotton and twenty-five pounds of wool, and a sufficient quantity of upper and sole leather to provide winter shoes for the family; also, three hundred pounds of tobacco in the hands of the actual producer; also thirty-five dollars' worth of roughness, to consist of oats, fodder, and hay, or either of them.
A homestead or real estate in the possession of or belonging to each head of a family, and the improvements thereon, to the value in all of one thousand dollars, shall be exempt from sale under legal process during the life of such head of a family, and shall inure to the benefit of his widow and be exempt from sale in any way at the instance of any creditor or creditors during the minority of the children occupying the same and until the youngest child reaches the age of twenty-one years.
TEXAS.
The Constitution of 1875 provides that a homestead of a family not in a town or city consisting of not more than two hundred acres of land, which may be in one or more parcels, with the improvements thereon, or, if in a town or city, lot or lots, not exceeding in value five thousand dollars at the time of designation, without reference to the value of the improvements thereon is exempt, provided the same shall be used for the purpose of a home, or as place to exercise the calling or business of the head of the family.
There is also exempted to every family, free from forced sale for debts; all household and kitchen furniture; any lot or lots for sepulture in a cemetery; all instruments of husbandry; all tools and apparatus belonging to any trade or profession, and all books belonging to private or public libraries, and family portraits and pictures, five milk cows and calves, two yoke of work oxen, two horses and one wagon, one carriage or buggy, one gun, twenty hogs, twenty head of sheep, all provisions and forage on hand for home consumption, all bridles, saddles, and harness necessary for the use of the family; and to every citizen not a head of a family, one horse, bridle, and saddle; all wearing apparel, any lot or lots for sepulture in a cemetery; all tools, apparatus, and books belonging to his trade, profession, or private library. Current wages for personal services are not subject to garnishment.
UTAH.
The following property is exempt from execution, except on a judgment for the purchase price, or on a judgment of a foreclosure of a mortgage, or a mechanic's or laborer's lien thereon, or from sale for taxes, to wit: 1st. Chairs, tables, and desks of the value of two hundred dollars, and the library belonging to the judgment debtor, also musical instruments in actual use in the family. 2d. Necessary household, table, and kitchen furniture of the value of three hundred dollars, one sewing-machine, family hanging pictures, oil paintings and drawings, portraits and their necessary frames, provisions on hand for three months, two cows and their sucking calves, and two hogs and all sucking pigs, all wearing apparel, and beds and bedding, and all carpets in use. 3d. A farmer may hold farming implements to the value of three hundred dollars, two oxen, horses or mules, and their harness; a cart or wagon; seed, grain or vegetable, for planting or sowing within six months, not exceeding in value two hundred dollars and crops and the proceeds thereof not exceeding two hundred dollars. 4th. Necessary tools, tool chest, and implements of a mechanic or artisan, not exceeding in value five hundred dollars; the seal and records of a notary public; the instruments and chests of a surgeon, physician, surveyor, and dentist, with their libraries, and the law libraries and office furniture of attorneys and judges, and libraries of ministers, and typewriters of reporters and copyist, the type, presses, and material of a printer or publisher, not exceeding five hundred dollars. 5th. The cabin of a miner not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, also his tools and appliances, not exceeding in value five hundred dollars. 6th. Two oxen, or horses or mules and harness, and cart or wagon, or dray or truck, by which a cartman, drayman, huckster, teamster, or other laborer habitually earns his living; and one horse, harness, and vehicle of a physician, surgeon, or minister. 7th. One-half of the earnings of the judgment debtor for personal services rendered within thirty days preceding the levy if debtor is married or is head of a family residing in Utah and dependent upon such earnings for support. If his earnings are two dollars per day or less, a married man or head of a family is entitled to an absolute exemption of thirty dollars per month. Costs cannot be taxed in any proceeding to obtain levy upon moneys of judgments debtor earned within thirty days next preceding levy. 8th. All moneys, benefits, privileges, or immunities accruing in any manner from a life insurance on a debtor's life, when the annual premiums do not exceed five hundred dollars. 9th. All arms, ammunition, uniforms, and accoutrements required by law to be kept. 10th. To a head of a family homestead, to be selected by the debtor. A homestead consisting of lands and appurtenances (which lands may be in one or more localities), not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars in value for the head of the family and five hundred dollars additional for his wife, and two hundred and fifty dollars for each other member of his family, shall be exempt from judgment lien and from execution or forced sale, for mechanics' or laborers' lien thereon, lawful mortgage thereon, or lien for purchase. The statute provides that the homestead exemption may be claimed by either the husband or the wife, and defines the terms "head of the family" and "members of the family." In case of sale the money received by the judgment debtor for value of his exemption is also exempt, and so, too, is insurance money when fire occurs (to the extent of the exemption).
VERMONT.