RCW 6.15.010: Homestead Exemption in Washington State

The Washington state homestead exemption automatically shields the equity in your principal residence from most judgment creditors, up to the greater of $125,000 or the median sale price of a single-family home in your county for the prior calendar year.¹ Protection starts the moment you occupy the home. You don’t have to file anything to claim it in most cases, and the amount can be substantial: King County’s 2024 median reached $968,300, and the statewide median was $648,600.²

What Counts as a Homestead

A homestead is any real or personal property you use as your principal residence. That includes a traditional house and lot, a mobile home whether or not it’s permanently attached to land you own, and unimproved land you own with the intention of building a home there.³ Detached garages, workshops, and similar outbuildings are covered when they’re part of the residential property. There’s no acreage cap.

You don’t need a free-and-clear deed. Buyers under a mortgage, deed of trust, or real estate contract all qualify as “owners” under the statute, and a dependent of the owner who lives on the property can also claim it as a homestead.

How Much Equity the Exemption Protects

Under RCW 6.13.030, the protected amount is the greatest of three figures:⁴

A $125,000 statutory floor that applies everywhere in Washington.
The prior calendar year’s median sale price for a single-family home in your county, using figures published by the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington.
An unlimited amount, if the judgment comes from another state trying to collect income tax on pension or retirement benefits you received while living in Washington.

In most counties the median figure controls because it far exceeds $125,000. Rural counties with lower home prices still get at least the floor.

How Equity Is Measured

The exemption applies to “net value,” meaning the property’s market value minus all liens and encumbrances senior to the judgment being executed, not counting the judgment itself.³ If your home is worth $800,000 and you owe $350,000 on the mortgage, your net value is $450,000. In a county with a $600,000 exemption, that entire $450,000 is shielded.

The exemption amount only matters to a creditor when net value exceeds it. If the same home had $750,000 in net value in a $600,000-exemption county, only the $150,000 surplus could potentially be reached through a forced sale. Everything up to the exemption belongs to you.

Automatic Protection and When You Need to File

Protection kicks in the moment you occupy the property as your principal residence and continues while you live there. No filing required.⁵

Two situations do call for a recorded Declaration of Homestead. The first is unoccupied land: if you own a parcel where you plan to place a home but haven’t moved in yet, you must record a declaration to trigger protection, and if you already claim a homestead elsewhere you must file a declaration of abandonment on the other property at the same time. The second is protecting sale proceeds. When you voluntarily sell your home, the proceeds carry the same protection as the homestead, and a recorded declaration strengthens your ability to trace and defend those funds during the window between selling and buying.⁶

The declaration itself must state that you reside on the property (or intend to), give a legal description, and estimate the property’s actual cash value. It has to be notarized like a deed and recorded with the county recording officer where the property sits.⁵ Pulling the legal description from your deed is the safest way to get it right.

Debts That Can Still Reach Your Home

RCW 6.13.080 lists seven categories of debts the homestead exemption does not block:⁷

Mechanic’s liens, construction liens, and similar claims from contractors, laborers, or suppliers who worked on the home.
Voluntary security interests you granted, including mortgages and deeds of trust. For married couples or registered domestic partners, both must have signed for this exception to apply.
Certain separate spousal bankruptcies filed within six months of each other where one spouse uses federal exemptions under 11 U.S.C. § 522(d).
Court-ordered or administrative child support and spousal maintenance.
Medicaid estate recovery for correctly paid medical assistance, consistent with 42 U.S.C. § 1396p.
Unpaid assessments owed to a condominium association, homeowners’ association, or common interest community association.
Sales or use taxes you collected but never remitted to the Department of Revenue.

Federal tax liens aren’t on the state list but operate under separate federal authority that generally overrides state exemptions. Property tax liens assessed directly against the home similarly survive as secured interests against the property itself.

What Happens if a Creditor Tries to Force a Sale

A judgment creditor whose debt isn’t on the override list can only reach your home through a court-supervised forced sale. The creditor has to petition the court and carries the burden at every step.

The court first evaluates whether the home’s net value exceeds the homestead exemption amount.⁸ If it doesn’t, the petition is denied and the property stays with the homeowner. No surplus equity, no forced sale.

If the property does have surplus equity and it must be sold as a whole, the court order directs that no bid can be accepted unless it exceeds the exemption amount.⁹ A bid that falls short means the sale doesn’t go through. This minimum-bid rule prevents a creditor from forcing a below-market sale that would leave you short of what the statute promises you.

When a sale does happen, proceeds are distributed in a fixed order:¹⁰

First, the full homestead exemption amount is paid to the homeowner.
Second, the judgment creditor is paid up to the amount of the execution.
Third, any remaining balance goes back to the homeowner.

The creditor fronts the costs of the forced-sale proceedings, which are then added to the execution and collected from the sale proceeds.¹¹ Because the homeowner’s exemption comes off the top, forced sales are unattractive for creditors with modest judgments.

Federal Caps in Bankruptcy

Washington lets bankruptcy filers use state exemptions, so Chapter 6.13 applies in bankruptcy cases. Federal law imposes its own caps in two situations.

If you acquired your homestead interest within the 1,215 days (roughly three years and four months) before filing, federal law caps the exempt amount at $214,000 regardless of what the state exemption would allow.¹² The figure was adjusted effective April 1, 2025 and applies to filings in 2026. The rule targets people who move assets into a home shortly before bankruptcy to shelter them.

The same $214,000 cap applies if the debtor has been convicted of a felony demonstrating abuse of the bankruptcy system, or owes debts from securities fraud, certain criminal acts, or intentional torts causing serious physical injury or death within the preceding five years. This cap doesn’t apply to the extent the equity is reasonably necessary to support the debtor and dependents.

One other bankruptcy limitation: the reinvestment protection under RCW 6.13.070, which normally lets you carry sale proceeds forward into a new home, does not apply to proceeds from a bankruptcy forced sale.³ The exemption protects equity up to the allowed amount, but there’s no follow-on reinvestment window.

Losing Protection by Moving Out

Your homestead is presumed abandoned if you vacate the property for six continuous months.¹³ Once abandonment is presumed, creditors can argue the exemption no longer applies. A long work assignment, extended travel, or a prolonged stay with family can trigger it without you realizing.

If you need to be away longer than six months but don’t intend to leave permanently, file a declaration of nonabandonment with the county recorder. That preserves the homestead while you’re gone, as long as you don’t establish a principal residence somewhere else during the absence.

You can also voluntarily terminate a homestead by recording a declaration of abandonment stating that the property is no longer your homestead, giving a legal description, and listing the date of abandonment.⁵ This is what you file when you’re moving and need to shift your claim to a new property.

1
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 6.13.030 – Homestead Exemption Amount
2
Washington Center for Real Estate Research. Median Home Prices – Annual 2017-2024
3
Washington State Legislature. RCW 6.13.010 – Homestead, What Constitutes, Terms Defined
4
Washington State Legislature. RCW 6.13.030 – Homestead Exemption Amount
5
Washington State Legislature. RCW 6.13.040 – Automatic Homestead Exemption, Conditions, Declaration of Homestead, Declaration of Abandonment
6
Washington State Legislature. Chapter 6.13 RCW Homesteads – Section: RCW 6.13.180
7
Washington State Legislature. RCW 6.13.080 – Homestead Exemption, When Not Available
8
Washington State Legislature. RCW 6.13.150 – Division of Homestead
9
Washington State Legislature. Chapter 6.13 RCW Homesteads – Section: RCW 6.13.160
10
Washington State Legislature. RCW 6.13.170 – Application of Proceeds
11
Washington State Legislature. Chapter 6.13 RCW Homesteads – Section: RCW 6.13.200
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 522 – Exemptions
13
Washington State Legislature. Chapter 6.13 RCW Homesteads – Section: RCW 6.13.050