State of Maine Economy: :

Maine’s largest industries is finance insurance, real estate rental & leasing, making up 21% of the state’s economy. Other significant industries include: manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation.

Maine Bankruptcy Exemptions:

• Personal property. Up to $7,500 in one motor vehicle (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(2)); up to $200 per item in household goods and furnishings, clothing, appliances, books, animals, crops, and musical instruments (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(3)); up to $750 worth of jewelry for personal or family use (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(4)); one cooking stove, furnaces and stoves used for heating, and up to ten cords of wood, five tons of coal, and 1,000 gallons of petroleum for personal or family use (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(6)); up to $5,000 in tools needed in a trade, including books, tools, and inventory (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(5)); up to 6 months worth of food, seed, feed, and materials for raising food (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(7)); one of each type of farm equipment reasonably necessary to raise and harvest commercial agricultural products (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(8)); one boat, up to five tons burden, used primarily for commercial fishing, and one of each type of professional logging equipment necessary to harvest and haul wood commercially (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, §§ 4422(9) & (9A)); professionally prescribed health aids for you or your dependents (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(12)).
• Homestead. Up to $47,500 of equity in any real or personal property used as a residence, including co-ops. Burial plots are subject to the same exemption amount. You can protect up to $95,000 of equity in your home if minor dependents reside with you, or if you or your dependent is 60 years of age or older, or is mentally or physically disabled and unable to maintain gainful employment. (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(1))
• Pensions Retirement benefits. ERISA-qualified benefits needed for support: payments or accounts under a stock bonus, profit sharing, pension, annuity, or similar plan on account of illness, disability, death, age or length of service, to $1,000,000 (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(13-A)); state employees’ retirement accounts and benefits (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 5, § 17054). Tax-exempt retirement accounts, including 401(k)s, 403(b)s, profit-sharing and money purchase plans, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, and defined-benefit plans, to a certain amount, are exempt under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3)(C).
• Public benefits and support.Social Security, unemployment compensation, veteran’s, disability, and public assistance benefits, including the federal earned income and additional child tax credits; alimony and support, reasonably necessary for the support of you and your dependents (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(13), tit. 39, § A-106).
• Insurance and damages.. Any unmatured life insurance contract (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(10)); up to $4,000 in dividend or loan value of an unmatured life insurance contract, for which you or your dependent is the insured (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(11)); crime victim’s reparation awards, life insurance proceeds or awards for the wrongful death of a person upon whom you were dependent, loss of future earnings awards and up to $12,500 in personal injury damages for you or a person upon whom you are dependent (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(14)).
• Wildcard.Up to $400 in any property (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(15)); up to $6,000 of unused homestead exemption value can be used to protect the following types of property only: animals, crops, musical instruments, books, clothing, furnishings, household goods, appliances, jewelry, tools of the trade, and personal injury recoveries (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 4422(16)).