Opinion
Dated: January 21, 1976
CPLR 5205(a), (b)
A single male living alone in an apartment is not entitled to the exemptions as provided for in CPLR 5205(a), but is entitled to the exemptions provided for in CPLR 5205(b).
HON. GERALD O. WILLIAMS County Attorney, Genesee County
This is in response to your letter of January 12, 1976, wherein you ask for our opinion as to whether a single male living by himself in an apartment is entitled to a householder's exemption under CPLR 5205(a), or whether he can only qualify under CPLR 5205(b) as a male non-householder.
You state that the sheriff has been asked to execute against the furniture of the single male which is now in storage.
CPLR 5205(a) provides, in part:
"The following personal property when owned by a woman or householder is exempt from application to the satisfaction of a money judgment except where the judgment is for the purchase price of the exempt property or was recovered by a domestic * * *.
* * *
"5. all wearing apparel, household furniture, one mechanical, gas or electric refrigerator, one radio receiver, crockery, tableware and cooking utensils necessary for the judgment debtor and the family;" (Emphasis supplied.)
CPLR 5205(b) provides, in part:
"The following personal property when owned by a male person who is not a householder is exempt from application to the satisfaction of a money judgment * * *."
The sole question presented is whether or not a single male living alone in an apartment can qualify as a householder.
In Tuckman v. Hayward (Sup.Ct., Special Term, Nassau County), 204 N.Y.S.2d 655; 26 Misc.2d 45, the Court stated:
"A householder is `the master or head of a family; one who occupies a house or separate tenement with his family alone' (Webster's New International Dictionary, 2d Ed.; Fink v. Fraenkle, City Ct., 14 N.Y.S. 140, 141). * * *"
In Fink v. Fraenkle (City Court of New York, General Term), at page 141, the Court stated:
"All of this judicial reasoning goes to establish that only a householder's property is exempt; that a householder is the master of a household; and that a household is a family living together, however not necessarily wife and children, but it must be a family, small or large, for which he provides. * * *" (Emphasis supplied.)
An examination of the following cases discloses that there is no precise definitions of household or householder, each having different meanings in different circumstances; however, in each and every case more than one single male person was involved although their relationships differed. ( People v. Allen, 27 N.Y.2d 108; Weiser v. Power, 29 A.D.2d 640; Potter v. Dugan, 37 Misc.2d 652; People v. James, 55 Misc.2d 953.) It should also be noted that the statute itself makes reference to family (CPLR 5205[a][5]).
From all of the foregoing, we conclude that a single male living alone in an apartment is not entitled to the exemptions as provided for in CPLR 5205(a), but is entitled to the exemptions provided for in CPLR 5205(b).