40 ILCS 5/6-213
All pensions, annuities, refunds and disability benefits granted under this Article and every portion thereof, are exempt from attachment or garnishment process and shall not be seized, taken, subjected to, detained, or levied upon by virtue of any judgment or any process or proceeding whatsoever entered or issued by or out of any court in this State, for the payment and satisfaction in whole or in part of any debt, damage, claim, demand, or judgment against any pensioner, annuitant, applicant for a refund or other beneficiary hereunder.
No pensioner, annuitant, applicant for a refund, disability beneficiary or other beneficiary has a right to transfer or assign his or her pension, annuity, refund or disability benefit or any part thereof by mortgage or otherwise, except that an annuitant or disability beneficiary may direct in writing that a monthly payment be made to such association or organization with which he or his widow may be affiliated by virtue of his fire service, or for hospitalization insurance purposes.
An annuitant may execute under oath a written waiver of his right to receive all or any part of his annuity. The waiver shall take effect upon being filed with the board and shall be irrevocable. The annuity shall thereupon be permanently reduced by the amount waived.
The board, in its discretion, however, may pay to the wife of any above stated person, such proportion of her husband's annuity, pension, refund or disability benefit as a court may order, or such an amount as the board may consider necessary for her support or for the support of herself and the children, in the event of his failure to provide such support. The board may also retain out of any future annuity, pension, refund or disability benefit payment such amount or amounts, as it may in its discretion set for the purpose of repayment into this fund of any moneys paid to such person through misrepresentation, fraud or error. Any action herein provided to be taken by the board shall, when taken, release the board and the fund from any liability for any moneys retained or paid out as herein provided.
Whenever any annuity, pension, refund or disability benefit is payable to a minor or to a person adjudged to be under legal disability, the board in its discretion when to the apparent interest of such minor or person under legal disability may waive guardianship proceedings and pay such money to the person providing for or caring for such minor and to the wife, parent or blood relative providing or caring for such person under legal disability.
Whenever a pensioner, annuitant, applicant for refund or disability beneficiary disappears or his whereabouts are unknown and it cannot be ascertained whether or not he is living, there shall be paid to his wife under this section the amount which would be payable to her in the event her fireman husband had died on the date of his disappearance. In the event of his subsequent return, or upon satisfactory proof of his being alive, the amount theretofore paid to his wife shall be charged against any moneys payable to him under any of the provisions of this Article as though such payment to his wife had been an allowance to her out of the moneys payable to him as such pensioner, annuitant, applicant for refund or disability beneficiary.
40 ILCS 5/6-213