5 U.S.C. § 8424 — Lump-sum benefits; designation of beneficiary; order of precedence

submitted 40 years ago by Pub. L. 99-335 to r/title-5-GOVERNMENT-ORGANIZATION-AND-EMPLOYEES · 922 words · no verdicts yet

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This section lets a departing federal employee get back their retirement contributions as a lump sum, with protections for spouses and former spouses. It also sets the strict order — designated beneficiary, then spouse, children, parents, estate, or next of kin — for paying out lump-sum and unpaid annuity benefits after someone dies.

(a) You can get your lump-sum retirement contributions back if you've been separated from federal service, or moved to a job not covered by this system, for at least 31 days straight; you file an application; you're not currently back in a covered job; and you won't become eligible for an annuity within 31 days of filing. Taking this lump sum cancels all your annuity rights based on that service — unless you later come back to covered federal work — except as allowed under the alternative-annuity option in section 8420a. (b) The Office can't pay you this lump sum until your spouse and any former spouse have been notified that you applied. Beyond that, the Office must write rules blocking payment without a spouse's or former spouse's consent whenever it has proof that a court order is meant to preserve the court's power to award a survivor annuity, or that paying you would wipe out a court-ordered survivor benefit your spouse or former spouse already has. The Office can waive the notice requirement if it's satisfied the spouse or former spouse can't be found, and it must have rules for handling cases with more than one conflicting court order. (c) You (or a former employee or Member) can name one or more beneficiaries to receive these benefits, following Office regulations. (d) When lump-sum benefits under subsections (e) through (g) are owed, they go, in this strict order, to whoever is alive when the payment becomes due: first, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries you named in a signed, witnessed document filed with the Office before you died — a will doesn't count for this purpose; second, if you didn't name anyone, to your widow or widower; third, to your children, including the children of any child who died before you, taking that child's share; fourth, to your parents, or whichever one survives; fifth, to the executor or administrator of your estate; and sixth, to whatever other next of kin the Office decides is entitled under the law of where you lived. "Child" here means a natural or adopted child, but not a stepchild. Whoever is first in line gets paid, and that payment cuts off anyone else's claim. (e) The lump-sum credit gets paid out if you die without any survivor, or if you die with survivors but all of their rights to survivor benefits end before anyone files a claim. (f) If all annuity rights based on your service end (other than rights under the older Civil Service Retirement System) before the total annuity already paid reaches the amount of your lump-sum credit, whoever is entitled gets paid the difference. (g) If an annuitant dies, whatever annuity had built up but wasn't yet paid gets paid out. (h) If an annuity ends for a reason other than death, the unpaid balance goes to that person. If a survivor dies, the unpaid balance follows this order: first to the executor or administrator of the survivor's estate, and — if there isn't one — after 30 days, to whatever next of kin the law of the survivor's home state recognizes.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

(a)

Subject to subsection (b), an employee or Member who—

(1)

(A)

is separated from the service for at least 31 consecutive days; or

(B)

is transferred to a position in which the individual is not subject to this chapter and remains in such a position for at least 31 consecutive days;

(2)

files an application with the Office for payment of the lump-sum credit;

(3)

is not reemployed in a position in which the individual is subject to this chapter at the time of filing the application; and

(4)

will not become eligible to receive an annuity within 31 days after filing the application;

is entitled to be paid the lump-sum credit. Except as provided in section 8420a, payment of the lump-sum credit to an employee or Member voids all annuity rights under this subchapter, and subchapters IV and V of this chapter, based on the service on which the lump-sum credit is based, until the employee or Member is reemployed in the service subject to this chapter.

(b)

(1)

(A)

Payment of the lump-sum credit under subsection (a) may be made only if the spouse, if any, and any former spouse of the employee or Member are notified of the employee or Member’s application.

(B)

The Office shall prescribe regulations under which the lump-sum credit shall not be paid without the consent of a spouse or former spouse of the employee or Member where the Office has received such additional information or documentation as the Office may require that—

(i)

a court order bars payment of the lump-sum credit in order to preserve the court’s ability to award an annuity under section 8445 or 8467; or

(ii)

payment of the lump-sum credit would extinguish the entitlement of the spouse or former spouse, under a court order on file with the Office, to a survivor annuity under section 8445 or to any portion of an annuity under section 8467.

(2)

(A)

Notification of a spouse or former spouse under this subsection shall be made in accordance with such requirements as the Office shall by regulation prescribe.

(B)

Under the regulations, the Office may provide that paragraph (1)(A) may be waived with respect to a spouse or former spouse if the employee or Member establishes to the satisfaction of the Office that the whereabouts of such spouse or former spouse cannot be determined.

(3)

The Office shall prescribe regulations under which this subsection shall be applied in any case in which the Office receives two or more orders or decrees referred to in paragraph (1)(B)(i).

(c)

Under regulations prescribed by the Office, an employee or Member, or a former employee or Member, may designate one or more beneficiaries under this section.

(d)

Lump-sum benefits authorized by subsections (e) through (g) shall be paid to the individual or individuals surviving the employee or Member and alive at the date title to the payment arises in the following order of precedence, and the payment bars recovery by any other individual:

First, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries designated by the employee or Member in a signed and witnessed writing received in the Office before the death of such employee or Member. For this purpose, a designation, change, or cancellation of beneficiary in a will or other document not so executed and filed has no force or effect.

Second, if there is no designated beneficiary, to the widow or widower of the employee or Member.

Third, if none of the above, to the child or children of the employee or Member and descendants of deceased children by representation.

Fourth, if none of the above, to the parents of the employee or Member or the survivor of them.

Fifth, if none of the above, to the duly appointed executor or administrator of the estate of the employee or Member.

Sixth, if none of the above, to such other next of kin of the employee or Member as the Office determines to be entitled under the laws of the domicile of the employee or Member at the date of death of the employee or Member.

For the purpose of this subsection, “child” includes a natural child and an adopted child, but does not include a stepchild.

(e)

If an employee or Member, or former employee or Member, dies—

(1)

without a survivor, or

(2)

with a survivor or survivors and the right of all survivors under subchapter IV terminates before a claim for survivor annuity under such subchapter is filed,

the lump-sum credit shall be paid.

(f)

If all annuity rights under this chapter (other than under subchapter III of this chapter) based on the service of a deceased employee or Member terminate before the total annuity paid equals the lump-sum credit, the difference shall be paid.

(g)

If an annuitant dies, annuity accrued and unpaid shall be paid.

(h)

Annuity accrued and unpaid on the termination, except by death, of the annuity of an annuitant or survivor shall be paid to that individual. Annuity accrued and unpaid on the death of a survivor shall be paid in the following order of precedence, and the payment bars recovery by any other person:

First, to the duly appointed executor or administrator of the estate of the survivor.

Second, if there is no executor or administrator, payment may be made, after 30 days from the date of death of the survivor, to such next of kin of the survivor as the Office determines to be entitled under the laws of the domicile of the survivor at the date of death.

Source credit: (Added Pub. L. 99–335, title I, § 101(a), June 6, 1986, 100 Stat. 539; amended Pub. L. 106–361, § 3(b), Oct. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 1402; Pub. L. 111–84, div. A, title XIX, § 1904(b)(4), Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2617.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1986Enacted · Pub. L. 99-335 · 100 Stat. 539
2000Amended · Pub. L. 106-361 · 114 Stat. 1402
2009Amended · Pub. L. 111-84 · 123 Stat. 2617

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 99-335 on 1986-06-06.

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