Being Sued - Military Retirement Safe?

by Piper
(Tacoma)

My mom was in a car accident a few years ago and passed away a little while after due to non related problems but the person my mom hit is now suing my dad. He has good insurance and they are helping him but he is worried that his only asset during the marriage at that point is his navy retirement. Can they garnish that?

Reply from DebtCollectionAnswers.com:

Piper - We are so sorry to hear about your mother's death. Typically, certain assets are safe from creditors - and retirement funds are usually among the assets that can't be taken in most cases.

Hopefully, they are just trying to get as much from the insurance policy as possible. However, if it looks like they may try to go after more than that, then we would really encourage your father to talk with an attorney to find out what may be at risk here. If he is not already working with an attorney, then one option would be to talk with a bankruptcy attorney. For a reasonable fee, the attorney should be able to tell him what's safe and what isn't. (We're not implying he has to file for bankruptcy - the reason we are recommending this course of action is that these attorneys are typically familiar with property exemptions. He can tell the attorney he doesn't want to file, but wants to know what's at risk.)