§ 19.6-2 Qualifying court order.

(a) To be valid for purposes of this section, a court order must be found to be “qualified” by PER/ER/RET acting for the Secretary of State. A qualifying court order must—

(1) Be consistent with the terms of the Act and applicable regulations;

(2) Not direct payment of an amount in excess of the maximum amount authorized to be paid by the relevant regulation;

(3) Direct that payments be made to an eligible beneficiary from a principal's Foreign Service retirement benefit or survivor benefit. If a court directs or implies that a principal, rather than the Secretary of State or the Government, make the payments, the order will not be considered qualified unless the principal does not object during the 30-day notice period provided under § 19.6-6;

(4) Define the amount to be paid to a beneficiary in way so that it can be readily calculated from information in the normal files of the Department;

(5) Not make payment contingent upon events other than those on which other payments from the Fund are based such as age, marital status and school attendance; and

(6) Not be in conflict with any previously issued court order which remains valid.

(b) No apportionment of annuity to a beneficiary under § 19.6-1(a) (1) or (6) shall exceed the net annuity of the principal. The net annuity is computed by excluding from the gross annuity the amounts which are:

(1) Owed by the individual to the United States;

(2) Deducted for health benefits premiums pursuant to section 8906 of Title 5, United States Code;

(3) Deducted for life insurance premiums under the Government Life Insurance Program;

(4) Owed due to overpayment of annuity;

(5) Properly withheld for Federal income tax purposes, if amounts withheld are not greater than they would be if the individual claimed all dependents to which he/she was entitled.

[46 FR 12958, Feb. 19, 1981. Redesignated and amended at 46 FR 18970, Mar. 27, 1981]