View all text of Subpart B [§ 1653.11 - § 1653.16]
§ 1653.12 - Qualifying legal processes.
(a) The TSP record keeper will only honor the terms of a legal process that is qualifying under paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) A legal process must meet each of the following requirements to be considered qualifying:
(1) A competent authority must have issued the legal process;
(2) The legal process must expressly relate to the Thrift Savings Plan account of a TSP participant, as described in § 1653.2(a)(1);
(3) The legal process must require the TSP to:
(i) Pay a stated dollar amount from a participant's TSP account; or
(ii) Freeze the participant's account in anticipation of an order to pay from the account.
(c) The following legal processes are not qualifying:
(1) A legal process relating to a TSP account that has been closed;
(2) A legal process relating to a TSP account that contains only nonvested money;
(3) A legal process requiring the return to the TSP of money that was properly paid pursuant to an earlier legal process;
(4) A legal process requiring the TSP to make a payment in the future; and
(5) A legal process requiring a series of payments.
(6) A legal process that designates the specific TSP core fund, source of contributions, or balance from which the payment or portions of the payment shall be made.