Title 22, Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-110
§4055 Lump-sum Payments
Title 22 › CHAPTER 52 — FOREIGN SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER VIII — FOREIGN SERVICE RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY › Part I — Foreign Service Retirement and Disability System › § 4055
Summary
Gives a worker a one-time lump-sum payment if they leave the Service for at least 31 days (or move to a job not covered by these rules for at least 31 days), file an application with the Secretary of State, are not working in a covered job when they apply, will not get an annuity within 31 days after applying, and have told any spouse or ex-spouse about the application (rules can allow skipping the notice in certain cases). If paid, the lump sum may also go to a former spouse under special rules. If someone served on recall and then separates without getting a new annuity, their required contributions and special payments for that recall time are returned. If annuity payments stop before the total paid equals the lump sum, or if the participant dies with no eligible survivor, the remaining lump sum is paid out. Payments go first to a signed beneficiary on file, then to a surviving spouse, then children, then parents, then the estate’s executor, and finally other next of kin (some payments wait 30 days). Deductions taken after 35 years of service earn 3% annual interest and count toward any special contribution; any leftover is paid as a lump sum. A former spouse who was married the whole time of creditable service gets 50% of the lump sum; if not married the whole time, they get a pro rata share of that 50%. Creditable service means service that counts under parts I or II.
Full Legal Text
Title 22, §4055
Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Requirements for payment
(1)A participant is entitled to be paid a lump-sum credit if the participant—
(A)is separated from the Service for at least 31 consecutive days, or is transferred to a position in which the participant is not subject to this subchapter and remains in such a position for at least 31 consecutive days;
(B)files an application with the Secretary of State for payment of the lump-sum credit;
(C)is not reemployed in a position in which the participant is subject to this subchapter at the time the participant files the application;
(D)will not become eligible to receive an annuity under this part within 31 days after filing the application; and
(E)has notified any spouse or former spouse the participant may have of the application for payment in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of State.
Such regulations may provide for waiver of subparagraph (E) under circumstances described in section 4046(b)(1)(D) of this title.
(2)Such lump-sum credit shall be paid to the participant and to any former spouse of the participant in accordance with subsection (i).
(b)Recall service; return of contributions
Whenever an annuitant becomes separated from the Service following a period of recall service without becoming eligible for a supplemental or recomputed annuity under section 4063 of this title, the compulsory contributions of the annuitant to the Fund for such service, together with any special contributions the annuitant may have made for other service performed after the date of separation from the Service which forms the basis for annuity, shall be returned to the annuitant (and any former spouse of the annuitant who was married to the participant during the period of recall service, in accordance with subsection (i)).
(c)Difference between annuity and lump-sum credit
If all annuity rights under this part based on the service of a deceased participant or annuitant terminate before the total annuity paid equals the lump-sum credit to which the participant or annuitant is entitled, the difference shall be paid in accordance with subsection (f).
(d)Lack of eligible survivors
If a participant or former participant dies and is not survived by an individual eligible for an annuity under this part or by such an individual or individuals all of whose annuity rights terminate before a claim for survivor annuity is filed, the lump-sum credit to which the participant or annuitant is entitled shall be paid in accordance with subsection (f).
(e)Death of annuitant who was former participant
If an annuitant who was a former participant dies, any annuity accrued and unpaid shall be paid in accordance with subsection (f).
(f)Order of precedence for payments
Payments under subsections (c) through (e) shall be paid in the following order of precedence to individuals surviving the participant and alive on the date entitlement to the payment arises, upon the establishment of a valid claim therefor, and such payment shall be a bar to recovery by any other person:
(1)To the beneficiary or beneficiaries last designated by the participant before or after retirement in a signed and witnessed writing filed with the Secretary of State prior to the death of the participant, for which purpose a designation, change, or cancellation of beneficiary in a will or other document which is not so executed and filed shall have no force or effect.
(2)If there is no such beneficiary, to the surviving wife or husband of the participant.
(3)If none of the above, to the child (without regard to the definition in section 4044(2) of this title) or children of the participant (including adopted and natural children but not stepchildren) and descendants of deceased children by representation.
(4)If none of the above, to the parents of the participant or the survivor of them.
(5)If none of the above, to the duly appointed executor or administrator of the estate of the participant.
(6)If none of the above, to such other next of kin of the participant as may be determined in the judgment of the Secretary of State to be legally entitled to such payment, except that no payment shall be made under this paragraph until after the expiration of 30 days after the death of the participant or annuitant.
(g)Death of survivor annuitant
Annuity accrued and unpaid on the death of a survivor annuitant shall be paid in the following order of precedence, and the payment bars recovery by any other person:
(1)To the duly appointed executor or administrator of the estate of the survivor annuitant.
(2)If there is no such executor or administrator, to such person as may be determined by the Secretary of State (after the expiration of 30 days from the date of death of the survivor annuitant) to be entitled under the laws of the domicile of the survivor annuitant at the time of death.
(h)Amount of credit
Amounts deducted and withheld from basic salary of a participant under section 4045 of this title from the beginning of the first pay period after the participant has completed 35 years of service computed under section 4056 of this title (excluding service credit for unused sick leave under section 4056(b) of this title), together with interest on the amounts at the rate of 3 percent a year compounded annually from the date of the deduction to the date of retirement or death, shall be applied toward any special contribution due under section 4045(d) of this title), and any balance not so required shall be refunded in a lump sum to the participant after separation or, in the event of a death in service, to a beneficiary in the order of precedence specified in subsection (f).
(i)Former spouses
Unless otherwise expressly provided by any spousal agreement or court order under section 4060(b)(1) of this title, the amount of a participant’s or former participant’s lump-sum credit payable to a former spouse of that participant shall be—
(1)if the former spouse was married to the participant throughout the period of creditable service of the participant, 50 percent of the lump-sum credit to which such participant would be entitled in the absence of this subsection, or
(2)if such former spouse was not married to the participant throughout such creditable service, an amount equal to such former spouse’s pro rata share of 50 percent of such lump-sum credit.
The lump-sum credit of the participant shall be reduced by the amount of the lump-sum credit payable to the former spouse. For the purposes of this subsection, the term “creditable service” means service which is creditable under part I or II.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Amendment of SectionEx. Ord. No. 12446, § 1(a), (c), Oct. 17, 1983, 48 F.R. 48443, set out as a note under section 4067 of this title, provided that the first sentence of subsection (h) of this section, applicable (i) to contributions for civilian service performed on or after the first day of Nov. 1983, (ii) to contributions for prior refunds to participants for which application is received by the employing agency on and after such first day of Nov. 1983, and (iii) to excess contributions under section 4055(h) of this title and voluntary contributions under section 4065(a) of this title from the first day of Nov. 1983, is deemed to be amended to provide that interest shall be compounded at the annual rate of 3 percent per annum through December 31, 1984, and thereafter at a rate equal to the overall average yield to the Fund during the preceding fiscal year from all obligations purchased by the Secretary of the Treasury during such fiscal year under section 4059 of this title, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1988—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100–238 amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (a) read as follows: “Whenever a participant becomes separated from the Service without becoming eligible for an annuity or a deferred annuity under this subchapter, a lump-sum credit shall be paid to the participant (and to any former spouse of the participant, in accordance with subsection (i) of this section). A participant who becomes subject to part II of this subchapter shall be entitled to payment of the lump-sum credit if, and to the extent that, such lump-sum credit relates to service of a type described in clauses (i) through (iii) of section 302(a)(1)(C) of the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Act of 1986.” 1986—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 99–335, § 413, inserted provision relating to payment of a lump-sum credit for a participant who becomes subject to part II of this subchapter. Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 99–335, § 402(a)(2), substituted “part” for “subchapter”. Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 99–335, § 404(c), inserted provision defining “creditable service” as service creditable under part I or II of this subchapter.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1988 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 100–238 effective 90 days after Jan. 8, 1988, see section 261(a) of Pub. L. 100–238, set out as a note under section 4054 of this title.
Effective Date
of 1986 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 99–335 effective Jan. 1, 1987, see section 702(a) of Pub. L. 99–335, set out as an
Effective Date
note under section 8401 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
22 U.S.C. § 4055
Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110