[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 3]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR1650.64]

[Page 273-274]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
         CHAPTER VI--FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD
 
PART 1650--METHODS OF WITHDRAWING FUNDS FROM THE THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN--Table of Contents
 
                        Subpart G--Spousal Rights
 
Sec. 1650.64  Executive Director's exception to requirement to obtain the spouse's signature.

    (a) Wherever this subpart requires a spouse's consent to a loan or 
withdrawal or a waiver of the right to a survivor annuity, an exception 
to this requirement may be granted if the participant establishes to the 
satisfaction of the Executive Director that:
    (1) The spouse's whereabouts cannot be determined in accordance with 
the provisions of Sec. 1650.63; or
    (2) Due to exceptional circumstances, requiring the spouse's 
signature would be otherwise inappropriate.
    (i) An exception to the spousal signature requirement may be granted 
based on exceptional circumstances only when the participant presents a 
judicial determination (court order) or a governmental agency 
determination signed by the appropriate department or division head. A 
court order or a governmental agency determination must contain a 
finding or a recitation of such exceptional circumstances regarding the 
spouse as would warrant an exception to the signature requirement.
    (ii) Exceptional circumstances are narrowly construed and include 
circumstances such as when a court order:
    (A) Indicates that the spouse and the participant have been 
maintaining separate residences with no financial relationship for three 
or more years;
    (B) Indicates that the spouse abandoned the participant, but for 
religious or similarly compelling reasons, the parties chose not to 
divorce; or
    (C) Expressly states that the participant may obtain a loan from his 
or her Thrift Savings Plan account or withdraw his or her Thrift Savings 
Plan account balance notwithstanding the absence of the spouse's 
signature.
    (b) A withdrawal election by a separated participant or an in-
service withdrawal request by a participant in the Federal service 
received within one year of an approved exception will be processed so 
long as the spouse named on the form is the spouse for whom the 
exception has been approved.
    (c) The requirements for establishing an exception for a withdrawal 
by a separated participant or an in-service

[[Page 274]]

withdrawal by a participant in the Federal service and the one-year 
period of validity of an approved exception also apply to exceptions for 
loans under 5 CFR 1655.18.