The TSP record keeper will charge a participant a $600.00 court order processing fee as follows:

(a) Upon receipt of a complete court order document (whether draft or final) and prior to reviewing the order to determine whether it is a qualifying retirement benefits court order, the fee will be deducted from his or her TSP account balance on a pro rata basis from the participant's traditional and Roth balances. The portion of the fee deducted from the traditional balance will be further pro rated between the tax-deferred balance and tax-exempt balance. The portion of the fee deducted from the Roth balance will be further pro rated between contributions in the Roth balance and earnings in the Roth balance. In addition, the entire fee will be distributed pro rata from all TSP core funds in which the participant's account is invested. All pro rated amounts will be based on the balances in each fund or source of contributions on the day the fee is deducted;

(b) The fee will be charged only once per court order. However, it will not be refunded in the event that the court order is never determined to be a qualifying retirement benefits court order; and

(c)(1) If the court order:

(i) Is determined to be a qualifying retirement benefits court order; and

(ii) Explicitly requires the fee to be split between the participant and the payee;

(2) The TSP record keeper will deduct the payee's portion of the fee from his or her payment and credit that amount back to the participant's TSP account balance.

[87 FR 31690, May 24, 2022]