(40 ILCS 5/6-213) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 6-213)
Sec. 6-213.
Annuities, etc., exempt.
All pensions, annuities, refunds and
disability benefits granted under this Article and every portion thereof, are
exempt from attachment or garnishment process and shall not be seized, taken,
subjected to, detained, or levied upon by virtue of any judgment or any process
or proceeding whatsoever entered or issued by or out of any court in this
State, for the payment and satisfaction in whole or in part of any debt,
damage, claim, demand, or judgment against any pensioner, annuitant, applicant
for a refund or other beneficiary hereunder.
No pensioner, annuitant, applicant for a refund, disability beneficiary
or other beneficiary has a right to transfer or assign his or her pension,
annuity, refund or disability benefit or any part thereof by mortgage or
otherwise, except that an annuitant or disability beneficiary may direct in
writing that a monthly payment be made to such association or organization
with which he or his widow may be affiliated by virtue of his fire service,
or for hospitalization insurance purposes.
An annuitant may execute under oath a written waiver of his right to
receive all or any part of his annuity. The waiver shall take effect upon
being filed with the board and shall be irrevocable. The annuity shall
thereupon be permanently reduced by the amount waived.
The board, in its discretion, however, may pay to the wife of any above
stated person, such proportion of her husband's annuity, pension, refund or
disability benefit as a court may order, or such an amount as the board may
consider necessary for her support or for the support of herself and the
children, in the event of his failure to provide such support. The board may
also retain out of any future annuity, pension, refund or disability benefit
payment such amount or amounts, as it may in its discretion set for the purpose
of repayment into this fund of any moneys paid to such person through
misrepresentation, fraud or error. Any action herein provided to be taken by
the board shall, when taken, release the board and the fund from any liability
for any moneys retained or paid out as herein provided.
Whenever any annuity, pension, refund or disability benefit is payable
to a minor or to a person adjudged to be under legal disability, the board
in its discretion when to the apparent interest of such minor or person under
legal disability may waive guardianship proceedings and pay such money to the
person providing for or caring for such minor and to the wife, parent or
blood relative providing or caring for such person under legal disability.
Whenever a pensioner, annuitant, applicant for refund or disability
beneficiary disappears or his whereabouts are unknown and it cannot be
ascertained whether or not he is living, there shall be paid to his wife
under this section the amount which would be payable to her in the event
her fireman husband had died on the date of his disappearance. In the event
of his subsequent return, or upon satisfactory proof of his being alive,
the amount theretofore paid to his wife shall be charged against any moneys
payable to him under any of the provisions of this Article as though such
payment to his wife had been an allowance to her out of the moneys payable
to him as such pensioner, annuitant, applicant for refund or disability
beneficiary.
(Source: P.A. 87-1265.)
|