Ohio Code 3923.19 – Benefits exempt from legal process – exception
(A) Benefits under all policies of sickness and accident insurance are not liable to attachment or other process, or to be taken, appropriated, or applied by any legal or equitable process or by operation of law, either before or after payment of the benefits, to pay any liabilities of the person insured under any such policy to the extent that the benefits are reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any dependents of the debtor.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 3923.19
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
When a policy provides for a lump sum payment because of a dismemberment or other loss insured, the payment is exempt from execution by the insured’s creditors.
(B)(1) A payment under a stock bonus, pension, profitsharing, annuity, or similar plan or contract on account of illness, disability, death, age, or length of service, to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the person who is the beneficiary of the plan or party to the contract and any dependents of the person, is not liable to attachment or other process, or to be taken, appropriated, or applied by any legal or equitable process or by operation of law, either before or after payment of the benefits, to pay any liabilities of the person unless all of the following apply:
(a) The plan or contract was established by or under the auspices of an insider that employed the person at the time the person’s rights under the plan or contract arose.
(b) The payment is on account of age or length of service.
(c) The plan or contract does not qualify under section 401(a), 403(a), 403(b), or 408 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C. 1, as amended.
(2) When a plan or contract provides for a lump sum payment because of a dismemberment or other loss covered by the plan or contract, the payment is exempt from execution by the person’s creditors.