Homestead Exemption For Chapter 7 Clients' Motor Home

One of my Chapter 7 clients has an interesting living situation. The couple sold their home when the husband retired and purchased a motor home. The  motor home which can park on a rental lot and hook up to utilities. This couple volunteers for the State park service. The State of Florida asks them for help at two or three parks around the State each year. So, two or three times per year they drive their motor home from one campground to another when asked by the State. They do not drive the motor home for recreation or touring. They have no other place where they can live. The couple wanted to know if their motor home could be exempt as a homestead in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. 

Florida's homestead law protects a wide range of living arrangements including condos, cooperative apartments, long-term leases, and other forms of shared ownership. There is a separate Florida statute exempting mobile homes. There are no statutes or Constitutional language addressing homestead exemption of motorized vehicles including motor homes and boats. 

There are a few bankruptcy cases that have dealt with homestead exemption of a motor home. Whether a motor home can be a homestead depends upon the distinct facts of each bankruptcy case. Courts look at several factors including: whether the motor home is the debtor's sole residence, whether the debtors= have a right to possess the lot, whether the motor home is configured to allow long term habitability such as connection to utilities, whether the home is road-worthy and operational for transportation etc. 

In this case, I think the biggest issue is the fact that the motor home is not permanently affixed to utility connections and is driven on the roads between campsites. These clients motor home is a fully operational for transportation.

In my own opinion, if these clients drove their motor home for recreational purposes such as touring the State I do not think the home would be homesteaded. However, because the driving is limited to movement between otherwise permanent campsites for their volunteer work, and because the motor home is in their retirement their primary residence I think the motor home would be exempt. 

However, I advised these clients that they should assume their bankruptcy trustee would challenge their homestead exemption and that they would have to argue their position before a bankruptcy judge who could rule either way on these facts.