N.Y. WKC Law § 33

§ 33. Assignments; exemptions. Compensation or benefits due under this\nchapter shall not be assigned, released or commuted except as provided\nby this chapter, and shall be exempt from all claims of creditors and\nfrom levy, execution and attachment or other remedy for recovery or\ncollection of a debt, which exemption may not be waived provided,\nhowever, that compensation or benefits other than payments pursuant to\nsection thirteen of this chapter shall be subject to application to an\nincome execution or order for support enforcement pursuant to section\nfifty-two hundred forty-one or fifty-two hundred forty-two of the civil\npractice law and rules. Compensation and benefits shall be paid only to\nemployees or their dependents, except as hereinafter in this chapter\nprovided. In the case of the death of an injured employee to whom there\nwas due at the time of his or her death any compensation under the\nprovisions of this chapter, the amount of such compensation shall be\npayable to the surviving spouse, if there be one, or, if none, to the\nsurviving child or children of the deceased under the age of eighteen\nyears, and if there be no surviving spouse or children, then to the\ndependents of such deceased employee or to any of them as the board may\ndirect, and if there be no surviving spouse, children or dependents of\nsuch deceased employee, then to his estate. An award for disability may\nbe made after the death of the injured employee.\n