[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 1, Parts 1 to 699]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR178.204]

[Page 25]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
                CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
 
PART 178--PROCEDURES FOR SETTLING CLAIMS--Table of Contents
 
  Subpart B--Settlement of Accounts for Deceased Civilian Officers and 
                                Employees
 
Sec. 178.204  Order of payment precedence.

    To facilitate the settlement of the accounts of the deceased 
employees, money due an employee at the time of the employee's death 
shall be paid to the person or persons surviving at the date of death, 
in the following order of precedence, and the payment bars recovery by 
another person of amounts so paid:
    (a) First, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries designated by the 
employee in a writing received in the employing agency prior to the 
employee's death;
    (b) Second, if there is no designated beneficiary, to the surviving 
spouse of the employee;
    (c) Third, if none of the above, to the child or children of the 
employee and descendants of deceased children by representation;
    (d) Fourth, if none of the above, to the parents of the deceased 
employee or the survivor of them;
    (e) Fifth, if none of the above, to the duly appointed legal 
representative of the estate of the deceased employee; and
    (f) Sixth, if none of the above, to the person or persons entitled 
under the laws of the domicile of the employee at the time of his or her 
death.