Clarification of U S Code: TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 7 > SUBCHAPTER II > § 407 as relates to Soc Sec levy, garnishment.

On my first post I asked this question:

Are Social Security benefits [checks] exempt from levy, garnishment, and assignment if federal school loans are delinquent or child support payments are owed? If they are exempt what law states that they are [citation]?

I received (2) answers:

1. It's Federal Law, not State, so they are not exempt in ANY State.

2. They are not exempt from federal debts or child support payments, no, those are some of the few things they can be garnished for.

Then I found this in the United States Code:

TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 7 > SUBCHAPTER II > § 407

§ 407. Assignment of benefits

(a) In general
The right of any person to any future payment under this subchapter shall not be transferable or assignable, at law or in equity, and none of the moneys paid or payable or rights existing under this subchapter shall be subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process, or to the operation of any bankruptcy or insolvency law.

(b) Amendment of section
No other provision of law, enacted before, on, or after April 20, 1983, may be construed to limit, supersede, or otherwise modify the provisions of this section except to the extent that it does so by express reference to this section.

(c) Withholding of taxes
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit withholding taxes from any benefit under this subchapter, if such withholding is done pursuant to a request made in accordance with section 3402(p)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by the person entitled to such benefit or such person’s representative payee.


It sounds as though social security checks are exempt – can anyone explain how they are not. I would very grateful to gets this clarified.

:) Thanks in advance for your help and thanks to the two folks that replied to my initial post.

Social Security Online - Frequently Asked Questions About Direct Deposit

There are exemptions to the law, remember when a law is passed, then there are law suits to try and see what can or can't be done,
Where are the exemptions listed on the SS web site

Section 207 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 407) protects Social Security benefits from assignment, levy, or garnishment. However, the law provides five exceptions:

• Section 459 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 659) allows Social Security benefits to be garnished to enforce child support and/or alimony obligations;
• Section 6334 (c) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. 6334 (c)) allows benefits to be levied to collect unpaid Federal taxes;
• Section 3402 (P) of the Internal Revenue Code allows beneficiaries to elect to have a percentage of their benefits withheld and paid to the Internal Revenue Service to satisfy their Federal income tax liability for the current year;
• The Debt Collection Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-134) allows benefits to be withheld and paid to another Federal agency to pay a non-tax debt the beneficiary owes to that agency: and
• The Tax Payer Relief Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-34) authorizes the Internal Revenue Service to collect overdue federal tax debts of beneficiaries by levying up to 15 percent of each monthly payment until the debt is paid.
  
  The Social Security Administration's responsibility for protecting benefits against legal process and assignment usually ends when the beneficiary is paid. However, once paid, benefits continue to be protected under section 207 of the Act as long as they are identifiable as Social Security benefits using normal banking practices. For example, only social security benefits are deposited into a particular bank account.
  If a creditor tries to garnish your social security check, inform them that unless one of the five exceptions apply, your benefits can not be garnished. You also may want to provide this same information to your financial institution and seek legal assistance if you believe it is needed.

Basically the SS came up with that it can not be garnished, but other departments (IRS) came up with IRS rules that say they can, in court cases the IRS rules were upheld over the SS rules.
And child support was challenged and won to be garnished from it.