Homestead Law

"(1) An exempt homestead as defined in s. 990.01 (14) selected by a resident owner and occupied by him or her shall be exempt from execution, from the lien of every judgment, and from liability for the debts of the owner to the amount of $75,000, except mortgages, laborers’, mechanics’, and purchase money liens and taxes and except as otherwise provided. The exemption shall not be impaired by temporary removal with the intention to reoccupy the premises as a homestead nor by the sale of the homestead, but shall extend to the proceeds derived from the sale to an amount not exceeding $75,000, while held, with the intention to procure another homestead with the proceeds, for 2 years. The exemption extends to land owned by husband and wife jointly or in common or as marital property, and each spouse may claim a homestead exemption of not more than $75,000. The exemption extends to the interest therein of tenants in common, having a homestead thereon with the consent of the cotenants, and to any estate less than a fee.
(2) Any owner of an exempt homestead against whom a judgment has been rendered and entered in the judgment and lien docket, and any heir, devisee, or grantee of the owner, or any mortgagee of the homestead, may proceed under s. 806.04 for declaratory relief if the homestead is less than $75,000 in value and the owner of the judgment shall fail, for 10 days after demand, to execute a recordable release of the homestead from the judgment owner’s judgment lien. (815.20(1))

(14) Homestead exemption. “Exempt homestead” means the dwelling, including a building, condominium, mobile home, manufactured home, house trailer or cooperative or an unincorporated cooperative association, and so much of the land surrounding it as is reasonably necessary for its use as a home, but not less than 0.25 acre, if available, and not exceeding 40 acres, within the limitation as to value under s. 815.20, except as to liens attaching or rights of devisees or heirs of persons dying before the effective date of any increase of that limitation as to value. (990.01(14))"

"When a homestead exemption is claimed, a docketed judgment is a lien upon the debtor's equity in excess of $40.000. If debtor has less than $40,000 in equity then the homestead is fully exempt because the debtor possesses no equity interest upon which the judgment can be a lien. As a result, there is no lien and the debtor-seller can give clear title to a purchaser and the fully exempt homestead is free of the judgment lien when the property is conveyed. Rumage v. Gullberg, 235 Wis. 2d 279, 296-97, 611 N.W.2d 458, 465-66 (Wis. 2000).

Where the underlying judgment has been discharged in bankruptcy yet the debtor's homestead equity exceeded the allowable homestead exemption and the debtor failed to seek avoidance of the judgment lien in bankruptcy court, Wis. Stat. § 806.19(4) nonetheless requires the satisfaction of a judgment lien against a homestead. Megal Dev. Corp. v. Shadof, 286 Wis. 2d 105, 108-09, 705 N.W.2d 645, 646 (Wis. 2005)."