My wife and I were served separately with Notice of Right to have exemptions designated. Can you please tell me is a pension and any annuiti...

Question

My wife and I were served separately with Notice of Right to have exemptions designated. Can you please tell me is a pension and any annuities that we have exempt? Thank you

Answer

It depends upon the source of the pension and the way the annuities are classified. I recommend you hire an attorney to help you with the Motion To Claim Exempt Property, this is a little too complicated to answer in an online forum. Most attorneys who help with these charge a very low fee and it will be worth it to have the exemptions done correctly.

In very general terms, the money in the pension and in the annuity funds themselves are probably exempt, but once the monthly benefit money is issued and hits your bank account, it probably is not exempt under any Federal or State statute unless it is coming from Federal or State retirement benefits. You may need to claim the money in the bank accounts themselves as exempt under the wild card exemption (as well as any other exemption which might apply such as the exemption for Social Security benefits). Again, this is very general advice. There is no specific space on the form to claim bank accounts exempt. An attorney will give you a Bank Account Addendum which will help to protect the money you have in your checking and savings accounts.

Answer

Ms. Coleman is correct. There is no specific exemption for retirement/pension but you offer no information. What is the source of this pension or retirement? Is it from a source which is qualified under ERISA (a federal law) or is it some kind of military/government/VA/Railroad retirement benefit? If so, then it may already be exempt under that statute. As long as these types of exempt funds go into your bank account then banks generally will protect up to 60

days' worth of income. However, do not commingle these exempt funds with any non-exempt funds belonging to yourself or another person.

I can assist you and your wife reviewing the form for a reasonable fee. Please contact me at [email protected]/* */ if interested.