Montana Code 25-13-603. Medical care, health, or medical savings account — bankruptcy — exemption from attachment or garnishment
25-13-603. Medical care, health, or medical savings account — bankruptcy — exemption from attachment or garnishment. (1) An individual’s medical care savings account under Title 15, chapter 61, a health savings account under 26 U.S.C. § 223, or a medical savings account under 26 U.S.C. § 220:
Terms Used In Montana Code 25-13-603
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
- Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
(a)is exempt from creditor processes;
(b)is not liable to attachment, garnishment, or similar legal processes; and
(c)may not be seized, taken, appropriated, or applied by a legal or equitable process or by operation of law to pay a debt or liability of the individual or of a beneficiary on the account as provided in 72-6-223. This includes but is not limited to exemption from judgments under Title 25, chapter 13, and bankruptcy proceedings as provided under 31-2-106.
(2)This section applies to an individual’s rights to hold or receive the assets of, income from, or funds paid into or out of a medical care savings account, health savings account, or medical savings account.
(3)This section does not apply to the extent that the bankruptcy, creditor, and other processes in subsection (1) relate to recovery of eligible medical expenses incurred by an individual from the individual’s medical care savings account, health savings account, or medical savings account.