43:16A-17 - Exemption from taxes, garnishment, etc.;  assignment of group insurance policy rights and benefits

43:16A-17.  Exemption from taxes, garnishment, etc.;  assignment of group insurance policy rights and benefits
    The right of a person to a pension, an annuity, or a retirement allowance, to the return of contributions, any benefit or right accrued or accruing to a person under the provisions of this act and the moneys in the various funds created under this act, shall be exempt from any State or municipal tax and from levy and sale, garnishment, attachment or any other process, and except as  hereinafter in this section and as in this act otherwise provided, shall be  unassignable.

    Nothing in this section shall prohibit any person insured under a group insurance policy, pursuant to an arrangement among the insured, the group policyholder and the insurer, from making to any person other than his employer, a gift assignment of the rights and benefits conferred on him by any provision of such policy or by law including specifically but not by way of limitation the right to exercise the conversion privilege and the right to name  a beneficiary.  Any such assignment, whether made before or after the effective  date of this act, shall entitle the insurer to deal with the assignee as the  owner of all rights and benefits conferred on the insured under the policy in  accordance with the terms of the assignment.

     L.1944, c. 255, p. 855, s. 17.  Amended by L.1969, c. 98, s. 3, eff. June 26,  1969.