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Pension Money of a Veteran Disabled in Service — Exempt From Levy

All pension money belonging to a resident who became disabled in the service of the United States as a soldier, sailor or marine is exempt from levy and sale upon execution or attachment. There is no dollar cap in the section.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

All pension money belonging to a resident who became disabled in the service of the United States as a soldier, sailor or marine is exempt from levy and sale upon execution or attachment. There is no dollar cap in the section.

What it's worth: Pension money exempt from levy, sale, execution and attachment — no cap stated

  • The section exempts "all pension money hereafter received belonging to such soldier, sailor or marine" for a resident who became disabled in the service of the United States.
  • No dollar ceiling and no "reasonably necessary for support" qualifier appears in the section.
  • The section is 1910 language carried forward unchanged, so its terms are the terms of that era.
  • Whether it reaches money once deposited and mixed with other funds is a question of tracing that the section does not answer.

Who is entitled to it

  • The exemption is written for the disabled veteran.
  • You served in the armed forces of the United States.
  • Your home is in Oklahoma.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: When a levy, execution or garnishment is served — act at once
  1. 1File the exemption claim as soon as the papers arrive. Exemptions are lost by silence far more often than they are lost on the merits.
  2. 2Cite §31-7 by number. The long famous exemption list at §31-1 does not mention veterans at all, and a clerk or a creditor’s lawyer reading only that list will tell you there is nothing there.
  3. 3Establish the two facts the section asks for: that you are a resident, and that you became disabled in the service of the United States. A VA benefit summary letter showing service connection does the second without disclosing a diagnosis.
  4. 4Keep the pension money in an account you do not use for anything else. The section speaks of pension money belonging to the veteran; mixing it with wages and deposits makes it harder to identify.
  5. 5Federal law protects VA compensation separately and more broadly. Claim both — the state section is an addition, not a substitute.
  6. 6Get a lawyer if the creditor is a debt buyer with a default judgment. That is the situation this section was written for.
Form
A claim of exemption in the collection proceeding
File with
The district court where the levy, execution or garnishment is pending
Documents you will need
va benefit summary letter
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThe general exemption list is the one everybody quotes, and it protects a homestead, a vehicle to $7,500, tools to $10,000, five milk cows and one hundred chickens — and says nothing about veterans. The veteran protection is a separate section six numbers later. Reading only §31-1 gives the wrong answer.
Known gapThe section says "soldier, sailor, or marine" — 1910 wording that predates the Air Force, the Coast Guard as an armed force in peacetime, and the Space Force. Nothing read this session settles how a court applies it to later services. Raise it; do not assume it is fatal.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.