40 ILCS 5/11-223
2021 Illinois Compiled Statutes|Chapter 40 - PENSIONS|40 ILCS 5/ - Illinois Pension Code.|Article 11 - Laborers' And Retirement Board Employees' Annuity And Benefit Fund--Cities Over 500,000 Inhabitants

 (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 11-223)Sec. 11-223.     Annuities, etc., exempt.(a) All annuities, refunds, pensions, and disability benefits  granted under this Article shall be 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 issued out of or by 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 annuitant, participant, refund  applicant, or other beneficiary hereunder.No annuitant, refund applicant, or other beneficiary may  transfer or assign his annuity, refund, or  disability benefit or any part thereof by way of mortgage or otherwise,  except as provided in Section 11-223.1, and except in the case of refunds,  when a participant has pledged by assignment, power of attorney, or otherwise,  as security for a loan from a legally operating credit union making loans  only to participants in certain public employee pension funds described  in the Illinois Pension Code, all or part of any refund which may become  payable to him in the event of his separation from service.  The board in its discretion may, however, pay to the wife or to the  unmarried child under 18 years of age of any annuitant, refund  applicant, or disability beneficiary, such an amount out of her  husband's annuity refund, or disability benefit as any court may order,  or such an amount as the board may consider necessary for the support of  his wife or children or both in the event of his disappearance or  unexplained absence or of his failure to support such wife or children.(b) The board may retain out of any future annuity, refund, or  disability benefit payments such amount or amounts as it may require  for the repayment of any moneys paid to any annuitant, pensioner, refund  applicant, or disability beneficiary through misrepresentation, fraud or  error.  Any such action of the board shall relieve and release the board  and the fund from any liability for any moneys so withheld.(c) Whenever an annuity or disability benefit is payable to a minor or  to a person certified by a medical doctor to be under legal  disability, the board, in its discretion and when it is in the best  interest of the person concerned, may waive guardianship or conservatorship  proceedings and pay the annuity or benefit to the person providing or caring  for the minor or person under legal disability.In the event that a person certified by a medical doctor to be under legal  disability (i) has no spouse, blood relative, or other person providing  or  caring for him or her, (ii) has no guardian of his or her estate, and (iii) is  confined to a Medicare approved, State certified nursing home or to a publicly  owned and operated nursing home, hospital, or mental institution, the Board  may pay any benefit due that person to the nursing home, hospital, or mental  institution, to be used for the sole benefit of the person under legal  disability.Payment in accordance with this subsection to a person, nursing  home, hospital, or mental institution for the benefit of a minor or person  under legal disability shall be an absolute discharge of the Fund's liability  with respect to the amount so paid.  Any person, nursing home, hospital, or  mental institution accepting payment under this subsection shall notify the  Fund of the death or any other relevant change in the status of the minor or  person under legal disability.(d) Whenever an annuitant, applicant for refund or disability  beneficiary disappears and his whereabouts are unknown, and it cannot be  ascertained that he is alive, there shall be paid to his wife or  children or both such amount as will not be in excess of the amount  payable to them in the event such annuitant, applicant for refund or  disability beneficiary had died on the date of disappearance.  If he  returns, or upon satisfactory proof of his being alive, the amount  theretofore paid to such beneficiaries shall be charged against any  moneys payable to him under this Article as though such payment to such  beneficiaries had been an allowance to them out of the moneys payable to  the employee as an annuitant, applicant for refund or disability  beneficiary.    (Source: P.A. 91-887, eff. 7-6-00.)