A divorce, legal separation or annulment decision may require an employee or pensioner to pay a survivor`s pension for a former spouse. According to the court order, we pay after the death of a current federal employee or after the death of an annuitant. A court order may provide for the full or partial refund of your pension contributions. It can also block payment of the refund, but only if the order orders us not to pay the refund and provides a survivor`s pension or part of your pension to a legally separated spouse or ex-spouse. If the former spouse loses entitlement to the court-ordered benefit, you can apply to have the insurable interest benefit converted to a fully reduced pension to provide a benefit to the spouse within 2 years of the former spouse`s loss of entitlement. In order to choose the insurable interest benefit, you and your spouse must jointly waive the benefit that could be chosen as a spouse. Your pension is reduced to provide the court-ordered benefit and the benefit of insurable interest. Learn more and see a detailed description of how benefits are allocated If you still work for the federal government, you should also provide a copy of the court order to your organization`s human resources office. All court orders regarding seizures or allocation payments by OPM should be addressed to the above address. FAQs and responses to court-ordered federal pension benefits. For example, if the court awarded your former spouse a benefit equal to 35% of your CSIS pension, your husband or wife could only receive a 20% benefit. If a court-ordered benefit for a former spouse prevents a spouse from receiving a benefit sufficient to meet anticipated needs, you may want to provide insurable interest to your spouse.
If we do not have a court order or income withholding for child support, child support/spousal support or bankruptcy, you should contact us if a seizure order is received. We need a certified version of the court order and other evidence of a pay-as-you-go pension or survivor`s pension. The benefit payable to your husband or wife is equal to the difference between the court-ordered benefit for your former spouse and the maximum benefit payable. Under the Public Service Pension Plan (CSIS), the maximum benefit paid after your death to survivors who are not children is 55% of your annual benefit. Under the Federal Employees Retirement Plan (FERS), the maximum is 50%. For more information on court-ordered benefits, see the links below: If a court order grants you a portion of your former spouse`s pension, you must apply in writing to OPM. No special form is required. Your letter of request must be attached by: A court order following the annulment of the marriage, legal separation or divorce may divide or divide your pension.
The order must explicitly ask OPM to pay for part of your monthly service. The spouse`s share must be expressed as an amount, percentage or fixed fraction of your pension or according to a formula whose value is easily visible. The amount cannot exceed the amount payable to you after deduction of taxes and insurance. A court order related to your divorce or separation agreement may: If the benefit is based on a court order, employees and retirees (or their former spouses) must send us a certified copy of the court order. Send the court order to: Because your pension is being split by the court, OPM will not calculate the taxable portion of your pension. On Form 1099-R, the Base of taxation field displays Unknown. Call us if you can`t find an answer to your question on OPM.gov or if you can`t sign up for OPM Retirement Services Online to manage your retirement account. You may also need to call us for special or complex cases, or because we have reported it to you. You will be taxed on your gross pension according to your last choice of civil status W4-P. We will send you an email with a response within 3-5 business days. Please do not call us for an update until you receive this email. I recently divorced and the settlement agreement explicitly grants me a portion of my ex-spouse`s employee pension when my ex-spouse retires.