CopyCited 10 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 10 Fla. L. Weekly 758
...We conclude that the rationale of Buzzard is applicable. The trial court did not simply consider the funds for purposes of equitable distribution, as the wife argues; the court actually awarded the wife "50 percent of all University of South Florida retirement benefits, which have accrued to date." Section 121.131, Florida Statutes (1983) prohibits these benefits from being "subject to assignment, execution, or attachment or to any legal process whatsoever." If under Buzzard alimony rights against a retirement fund cannot be enforced, the award of such a fund also cannot be enforced....
CopyCited 5 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal
...d's retirement funds, and costs and attorney's fees. The trial court added the Department as a party defendant and granted the temporary injunction. The husband and the Department then moved to dissolve the injunction on the ground, inter alia, that Section 121.131, Florida Statutes (1979) exempted the husband's retirement benefits from legal process, and the Department filed an answer and affirmative defenses....
...After hearing, the trial court found "that the legislature has made the retirement benefits herein exempt from any legal process whatsoever" and therefore dissolved the temporary injunction and dismissed the Department as a party defendant. The wife's motion for rehearing was denied, and this appeal followed timely. Section 121.131, Florida Statutes (1979), the Florida Retirement System Act, provides: The benefits accrued to any person under the provisions of this chapter and the accumulated contributions, securities, or other investments in the trust funds here...
...tax of the state and shall not be subject to assignment, execution, or attachment or to any legal process whatsoever. (Emphasis added.) The wife argues, however, that Section
61.11, Florida Statutes (1979), provides an exception to the exemption of Section
121.131 that would otherwise apply....
...object". (Emphasis added.) Since the husband here unquestionably has a duty to support, in the form of alimony payments, his former wife, we must examine the applicable statutes to determine whether an intention to allow him to claim the benefit of section 121.131 against her is clearly demonstrated. Having done so, we reluctantly conclude that the section 121.131 exemption does apply here....
CopyCited 3 times | Published | United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida | 16 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 266, 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 1198, 2003 WL 22221205
...ion, Fla. Stat. § 222 and *644 Fla. Stat. §
122.15. On March 20, 2003 Read filed Motion to Strike Amendment to Schedule C and Objection to Exemptions. (Docs. 25, 26.) On April 16, 2003 Debtor filed Second Amendment to Schedule C, adding Fla. Stat. §
121.131 as a basis for the exemption....
...Are Debtor's Rights Arising out of the Final Judgment Exempt? The final issue before the Court is whether Debtor's rights arising out of the Final Judgment are exempt pursuant to Article 10, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution, Fla. Stat. §
222.21(2), Fla. Stat. §
122.15 or Fla. Stat. §
121.131....
...483, 487-488 (Bankr.M.D.Fla.1999); In re Cason,
211 B.R. 72, 73 (Bankr.N.D.Fla.1997). State retirement plans are specifically excluded from ERISA coverage. 29 U.S.C. § 1003(b)(1); 29 U.S.C. § 1002(32) (West 2003). Accordingly, §
222.21 does not apply. Section
121.131 applies to employees employed by the State of Florida on or after December 1, 1970 and employees employed prior to that date who elect to participate in the Florida Retirement System....
...Although the circuit court reserved jurisdiction to enter an order directing that the debtor's share of the retirement fund be paid directly to him, the circuit court had not done so as of the date of the filing of the petition. The debtor claimed his interest in the retirement fund as exempt pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 121.131....
...121.31 and that the debtor was a person with accrued benefits under the Florida Retirement system by virtue of the circuit court order. The Court held that the debtor's interest in his ex-spouse's retirement was exempt from his creditors pursuant to § 121.131....
...Because he is a party in interest, Read has standing to object to Debtor's Amended Claim of Exemptions. The interest or right that Debtor acquired as a result of the Final Judgment is not exempt pursuant to Article 10, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution, Fla. Stat. §
222.21(2), Fla. Stat. §
122.15 or Fla. Stat. §
121.131....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Florida | 11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 18, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 1009, 1997 WL 391618
...the provisions of this chapter and the accumulated contributions, securities, or other investments in the trust funds hereby created . . . shall not be subject to assignment, execution, or attachment or to any legal process whatsoever. Fla.Stat. ch. 121.131 (1995)....
...im that the debtor's interests in the retirement fund are protected by the statute. The Act defines numerous terms, including "officer or employee," "member," and "joint annuitant or dependent beneficiary." Fla. Stat. ch.
121.021 (1995). In adopting §
121.131, the exemption provision, the legislature did not use any of the defined terms....
...It may also encompass any other person not included in those definitions but who is entitled to accrued benefits under the Act. Here, the debtor is a person with accrued benefits under the Florida Retirement System by virtue of the Order of the circuit court. The plain language of section 121.131 protects his interest in the retirement fund from any legal process whatsoever....
...of the interests of an alternate payee. Government sponsored plans, such as that involved here are, however, specifically exempt from ERISA regulations. 29 U.S.C. § 1003(b)(1) (1990). However, in determining the breadth of protection afforded under § 121.131, it is useful to look at the scheme provided in § 221.21(2)(b) since the two systems have many parallels....
...As originally enacted, both ERISA and the Act required that all qualified plans prohibit assignment or alienation of benefits, respectively. Board of Pension Trustees of the City General Employees Pension Plan v. Vizcaino,
635 So.2d 1012, 1014 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994); Fla.Stat. ch.
121.131 (1995)....
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 1288, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 8165
benefits are exempt from legal process under section
121.131, Florida Statutes (1983). We agree with the
