§4069a Retirement benefits for certain former spouses

Summary

Former spouses of Foreign Service members who were former spouses on February 14, 1981, may get retirement payments if Congress approved the money in advance and they are not disqualified. If the couple was married for the entire time the member earned creditable service, the former spouse can get 50 percent of the member’s benefit. If they were married for only part of that service, the former spouse gets a pro rata share of that 50 percent. A former spouse cannot get benefits if they remarried before age 55, or if they were not married at least 10 years during the member’s creditable service with at least 5 of those years while the member was in the Foreign Service. Benefits start on the later of when the member becomes entitled to benefits or the month the divorce is final, and they stop when the former spouse dies, remarries before 55, or when the member’s benefits end. If the member is receiving a disability annuity, the former spouse’s payments begin when the member would have otherwise qualified for regular benefits or when the disability annuity starts, whichever is later, and the amount is figured on the regular benefit the member would have had. To get payments, a former spouse had to file a written application with required documents within 30 months after December 22, 1987, though the Secretary can waive that deadline in some cases. If approved, payments can cover past periods when the person was entitled, but not before December 22, 1987. “Benefits” here means the participant’s annuity. These rules do not reduce the member’s own annuity. A special rule lets otherwise qualified former spouses of certain former USIA or AID employees get benefits if the employee retired under CSRS before their agency could join the Foreign Service system and the marriage included at least five years overseas.