Title 22 › Chapter CHAPTER 52— - FOREIGN SERVICE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER VIII— - FOREIGN SERVICE RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY › Part Part I— - Foreign Service Retirement and Disability System › § 4054
A former spouse can get a pension from the Foreign Service if they were married to the worker for at least 10 years during the worker’s creditable service and at least 5 of those years were while the worker was in the Foreign Service. If the couple was married for the worker’s whole creditable service, the former spouse gets 50% of the worker’s annuity. If not, the former spouse gets a proportional share of that 50%. The former spouse loses the right to that annuity if they remarry before age 60. The payment starts when the worker becomes eligible for an annuity or the month the divorce is final, whichever comes later, and it ends when the former spouse dies, remarries before 60, or the worker’s annuity ends (with a special rule for disability annuities). If a former participant dies, a surviving former spouse may get 55% of the full annuity (or a proportional share if not married the whole time). That survivor annuity begins after the participant dies and stops at the former spouse’s death or remarriage before 60, but can be restored if the remarriage ends and any lump sum paid was returned. Total former-spouse survivor payments cannot exceed 55% of the participant’s full annuity. A participant’s own annuity is reduced by amounts paid to former spouses; if the participant returns to work, their pay is reduced instead and the reductions go back to the Fund. Participants may fund former-spouse benefits by taking a smaller annuity, making salary allotments, or paying a lump sum, and any refunds or recomputations follow rules to match the actuarial cost. Definitions: former spouse = someone divorced from the participant, participant = the Foreign Service worker, annuity = pension payment.
Full Legal Text
Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
22 U.S.C. § 4054
Title 22 — Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73