A homestead or homestead estate generally includes a house, outbuildings, and the adjoining land owned and occupied by a person or family as a primary residence.

Many states—but not all—have laws that protect a person’s homestead from forced sale for the satisfaction (payment) of debts—at least up to a certain amount of the homestead’s value. These laws may be referred to as homestead exemptions or homestead laws and may be located in a state’s constitution or in its statutes.

The homestead exemption exists to provide a secure home for the family against creditors. The exemption is liberally construed to further its purposes. No specific writing is needed to claim a homestead exemption, but instead merely proof of concurrent usage and intent on the part of the owner to claim the land as a homestead.

In some states the constitutional family homestead exemption applies to the entire family, and not to either spouse individually. Therefore, so long as real property is a family homestead due to one spouse's intention and use, that property is protected by the homestead exemption, unless full abandonment has been pleaded and proved. Once a property has been established as a homestead, the property remains exempt unless it ceases to be a homestead due to abandonment, alienation, or death.

Abandonment of a homestead occurs when the homestead claimant ceases to use the property and intends not to use it as a home again. Anyone asserting abandonment of a homestead has the burden of proving it by competent evidence.

In Oklahoma, the homestead exemption is a legal provision designed to protect the value of a person's home from property taxes, creditors, and circumstances arising from the death of the homeowner's spouse. Under Oklahoma law, the homestead exemption applies to no more than one acre of land in a city or town or up to 160 acres on land outside the city or town. The exemption also has a value limit; it protects up to $1,000 of the home's value from property taxes and up to $125,000 of its value from creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding. The homestead must be the principal residence of the owner, and the exemption is automatically applied; no specific writing is required to claim it. The exemption is liberally construed to provide a secure home for the family. In the case of married couples, the homestead is protected as long as one spouse has the intention and uses the property as their primary residence. The property remains exempt unless it is abandoned, alienated, or upon the death of the owner. Abandonment requires both cessation of use and intent not to return, and the burden of proof for abandonment lies with the party asserting it.