---
kind: "section"
citation: "5 C.F.R. § 1653.12"
title: "5"
number: "1653.12"
heading: "Qualifying legal processes."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/5/1653.12"
---

# §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)](#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)](/cfr/5/1653.2.md?p=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.

## Notes

### Amendments

[68 FR 35510, June 13, 2003, as amended at 77 FR 26429, May 4, 2012; 87 FR 31690, May 24, 2022]

### Authority

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 8432d, 8435, 8436(b), 8437(e), 8439(a)(3), 8467, 8474(b)(5) and 8474(c)(1).

### Source

Source: 68 FR 35510, June 13, 2003, unless otherwise noted.

### Amendments

[68 FR 35510, June 13, 2003, as amended at 77 FR 26429, May 4, 2012; 87 FR 31690, May 24, 2022]