40 ILCS 5/5-218
2021 Illinois Compiled Statutes|Chapter 40 - PENSIONS|40 ILCS 5/ - Illinois Pension Code.|Article 5 - Policemen's Annuity And Benefit Fund--Cities Over 500,000

 (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 5-218)Sec. 5-218.     Annuities, etc.     - Exempt.  All pensions, annuities, refunds or 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 issued out of or by any court for the payment and satisfaction  in whole or in part of any debt, damage, claim, demand, or judgment against  a pensioner, annuitant, refund applicant or other beneficiary hereunder.No pensioner, annuitant, refund applicant or disability 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 a pensioner or annuitant may direct in writing that payment be made  monthly, in a fixed amount, for hospitalization purposes.The board, in its discretion, may pay to the wife or unmarried minor  child of an annuitant, pensioner, refund applicant or disability  beneficiary, such amount out of the annuity, pension, refund or disability  benefit as a court may order, or such amount as the board may consider  necessary for the support of such wife or child (or both) in the event of  his disappearance or unexplained absence or his failure to support his wife  or child, or both.The board may also withhold from any future annuity, pension, refund or  disability benefit payments such amount, or amounts, as it may, in its  discretion, set for the purpose of repayment of any moneys paid to an  annuitant, pensioner, refund applicant or disability beneficiary through  misrepresentation, fraud or error; provided that when any pension or  annuity is claimed to have been paid erroneously to a policeman who retired  prior to the effective date and the policeman has subsequently re-entered  the service and resumed contributions to the fund, no part of any future  annuity or disability benefit payable to him when he again becomes  separated from the service shall be retained or withheld for repayment into  the fund of any deficiency due from him on account of any pension or  annuity prior to such re-entry if such original pension or annuity was paid  without any misrepresentation by the policeman as to his age or period of  service in the procuring of such prior pension. Any authorized action taken  by the board shall relieve and release the board and the fund from any  liability for any moneys retained or paid out as herein provided.Whenever money is payable to a minor or to a person adjudged to be under  legal disability to manage or care for his own estate, the board may,  in its discretion when to the apparent interest of the minor or person under  legal disability, waive guardianship proceedings and  pay such money to the person providing for or caring for the minor, and to  the wife, parent or blood relative providing or caring for the person under  legal disability.Whenever a pensioner, annuitant, refund applicant 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 or  his children, or both, under this section, such amount only as will not be  in excess of the amount which would be payable in the event the pensioner,  annuitant, refund applicant or disability beneficiary had died on the date  of his disappearance; and, in the event of his subsequent return, or upon  satisfactory proof of his being alive, the amount theretofore paid shall be  charged against any moneys payable to him under any of the provisions of  this Article to the same effect as though the payment to his wife or  children, or both, had been an allowance to her or them out of the moneys  payable to him as such pensioner, annuitant, refund applicant or disability  beneficiary.    (Source: P.A. 83-706.)