The Commercial Law League of America has posted a memo which outlines the effective dates of provisions within the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. Thanks to Jim Calloway for the pointer. The majority of the changes to the Bankruptcy Code will not go into effect until 180 days after signing which will be mid-October 2005. However, certain changes to the homestead exemption apply to all cases filed after President Bush signed the law on April 20, 2005, including the $125,000 cap on the homestead exemption in certain circumstances. The change was designed to specifically apply to the states like Florida and Texas that have large homestead exemptions. A debtor will have to review the changes if (1) he or she purchased a home within 1215 days of filing for bankruptcy, (2) he or she added value to his or her home within 10 years of filing for bankruptcy, and (3) the debtor resides in a state with a generous homestead exemption.