[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 22, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 22CFR19.9-3]

[Page 108-109]
 
                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS
 
                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE
 
PART 19--BENEFITS FOR SPOUSES AND FORMER SPOUSES OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEM--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 19.9-3  Computation and payment of pension to former spouse.

    (a) A pension to a former spouse is paid monthly on the same date 
that annuity is paid to the principal.

[[Page 109]]

    (b) No spousal agreement or court order may provide for a pension or 
any combination of pensions to former spouses of any one principal which 
exceeds the net annuity of the principal as defined in Sec. 19.6-2(b).
    (c) A pension to a former spouse not fixed by a spousal agreement or 
court order shall equal the former spouse's pro rata share of 50 percent 
of the annuity to which the principal is entitled on the date the 
divorce becomes final, or, if not then entitled to an annuity, 50 
percent of the annuity to which the principal first becomes entitled 
following that date. A pension to a former spouse of a disability 
annuitant shall be calculated on the basis of an annuity for which the 
participant would qualify if not disabled. A pension to a former spouse 
will be increased by the same percentage of each cost-of-living 
adjustment received by the principal.
    (d) The Department will initiate payment of a pension to a former 
spouse after complying with the notification and other procedures 
described in Sec. 19.6.
    (e) If a pension can not be paid because a former spouse is missing, 
the principal may file an affidavit with PER/ER/RET that he/she does not 
know the whereabouts of the former spouse. In such an event, the 
principal and the Department will follow the procedures in Sec. 19.11-4 
in an effort to locate the former spouse. The annuity of the principal 
will be reduced by the amount of the pension to the former spouse even 
though the latter is not being paid. If the former spouse has not been 
located during the 12-month period following the date the principal 
files an affidavit under this section, the annuity of the principal will 
be recomputed effective from its commencing date (or on the date 
following the last month a pension payment was made to the former 
spouse) and paid without reduction of the amount of pension to the 
former spouse. If the former spouse subsequently is located, pension 
payments to him/her will be initiated at that time at the rate that 
would have been payable had they been paid continuously from the 
original effective date. The Department shall not be liable to make any 
pension payments to the former spouse for the missing period if the 
procedures under this section were faithfully complied with nor will the 
Department be responsible for recovering any payments made to the 
principal for the benefit of the former spouse.