[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: 5CFR1653.25]

[Page 286-287]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
         CHAPTER VI--FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD
 
PART 1653--DOMESTIC RELATIONS ORDERS AFFECTING THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN ACCOUNTS--Table of Contents
 
 Subpart B--Legal Process for the Enforcement of a Participant's Legal 
      Obligations To Provide Child Support or Make Alimony Payments
 
Sec. 1653.25  Payment pursuant to qualifying legal process.

    (a) Payment will be made pursuant to qualifying legal process after 
the Board's decision has been issued and the 30-day tax withholding 
notification period has ended. The taxpayer may receive the payment 
sooner by waiving the tax notification period.
    (b) A payment made pursuant to qualifying legal process will be made 
only to the persons or entities specified in the process. If payment is 
to be made to the spouse or former spouse of the participant, he or she 
may request that the TSP transfer all or a portion of his or her payment 
to an Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) or other eligible 
retirement plan. Such a request must be made by filing Form

[[Page 287]]

TSP-13-S, ``Spouse Election to Transfer to IRA or Other Eligible 
Retirement Plan'', which must be received before payment.
    (c) In no case may a payment made pursuant to qualifying legal 
process exceed the participant's vested account balance, excluding any 
outstanding loan amount as of the end of the month preceding the date of 
payment. If the amount to be paid exceeds the participant's vested 
account balance (excluding any outstanding loan amount), then only the 
vested amount in the account (excluding the outstanding loan balance) 
will be paid.
    (d) The entire amount to be paid pursuant to qualifying legal 
process must be disbursed at one time. A series of payments will not be 
made even if the process provides for such a method of payment. A 
payment made pursuant to qualifying legal process extinguishes all 
further rights to any payment under that legal process even if the 
entire amount specified could not be paid. Any further payment must be 
made pursuant to separate legal process.
    (e) Multiple legal processes pending before the Board will be 
honored as follows:
    (1) As between conflicting legal processes relating to the same 
spouse, same former spouse, or same children of the participant, the 
Board will pay only the legal process bearing the latest date of 
issuance.
    (2) As between conflicting legal processes relating to two or more 
former spouses or to different children of the participant, the Board 
will pay the legal processes in the order of their dates of issuance 
starting with the legal process bearing the earliest date and continuing 
until the account is exhausted.
    (f) Payment cannot be made jointly to more than one person. If 
payment is to be made to more than one person, the legal process must 
separately indicate the amount to be paid to each.
    (g) In order to make payment pursuant to a qualifying legal process, 
the TSP recordkeeper must be provided with the full name and mailing 
address of the payee, even if the payment is being mailed to another 
address. In addition, if the payee is a spouse or former spouse of the 
participant, the payee must provide his or her Social Security number.
    (h) If the payee dies before a payment is made pursuant to a 
qualifying legal process, payment will be made to the estate of the 
payee, unless otherwise specified by the legal process. If the 
participant dies before payment is made pursuant to qualifying legal 
process, the process will be honored as long as it is received by the 
TSP before payment of the account, regardless of whether the order was 
received before the participant's death.
    (i) A payment made pursuant to qualifying legal process in 
accordance with this subpart bars recovery by any other person or entity 
pursuant to that qualifying legal process.
    (j) Payments made pursuant to qualifying legal process will be paid 
pro rata from the TSP investment funds in which the participant is 
invested, on the date as of which the payment is made. The TSP will not 
honor provisions of legal process that require payment to be made from 
specific investment funds.
    (k) Unless the qualifying legal process specifically provides, 
interest or earnings will not be paid on the amount paid to a party or 
parties pursuant to the qualifying legal process.

[60 FR 45624, Aug. 31, 1995, as amended at 61 FR 18912, Apr. 29, 1996]