O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 33-15-62 (2019)

Exemption of benefits from process

✓ O.C.G.A.: 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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No money or other benefit, charity, relief, or aid to be paid, provided, or rendered by any society shall be liable to attachment, garnishment, or other process or to be seized, taken, appropriated, or applied by any legal or equitable process or operation of law to pay any debt or liability of a member or beneficiary, or any other person who may have a right thereunder, either before or after payment by the society.

History

Code 1981, § 33-15-62, enacted by Ga. L. 1993, p. 1744, § 1.

Annotations

Cross references. - Attachment, T. 18, C. 3. Garnishment, T. 18, C. 4.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Editor’s notes. - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 46-213, are included in the annotations for this Code section. Section deals with different property than exempted by Constitution. - The Legislature, in enacting this section, was dealing with a different species of property from that dealt with in Ga. Const. 1976, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XXIII (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XXVI). Southall v. Blount, 182 Ga. 368, 185 S.E. 321 (1936) (decided under former Code 1933, § 46-213). Section does not violate constitutional limit on value. - This section, relating to exemption of benefits to be paid by fraternal benefit societies, is not viola-

tive of Ga. Const. 1976, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XXIII (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XXVI), providing for exemption from levy and sale of the property of certain specified persons, realty or personalty, or both, to the value in the aggregate of $1,600.00, such constitutional provision not being a limitation upon legislative power as to a species of property not therein dealt with and not being applicable to cases of exemption of ‘‘money or other benefit’’ payable by a fraternal benefit society. Southall v. Blount, 182 Ga. 368, 185 S.E. 321 (1936) (decided under former Code 1933, § 46-213). Application in bankruptcy. - Debtor’s exemption in the cash surrender value of a life insurance policy received from a fraternal benefit society was lim-

ited to the amount in O.C.G.A. §§ 33-15-62 and 44-13-100(a)(9), did not apply. O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100(a)(9) does not distinguish between policies provided by a

fraternal benefit society and those that were not. Walton v. Gay (In re Gay), No. 11-60817, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 3671 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. Aug. 9, 2012).

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. - 36 Am. Jur. 2d, Fraternal Orders and Benefit Societies, § 64. ALR. - Constitutionality of statute ex-

empting proceeds of life or benefit insurance, 1 A.L.R. 757.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case, 2010–2010 · leading case: In Re Fullwood, 446 B.R. 634 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. 2010).
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In Re Fullwood, 446 B.R. 634 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. 2010). · cites it 2× “§ 18-4-20 prevents creditors from reaching more than 50% of a debtor’s take-home income by garnishment[, and] Section 33-15-62 makes exempt 100% of the benefits paid by a ‘fraternal benefit society.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.