Section 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) 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) ;(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. 68 FR 35510 , June 13, 2003, as amended at 77 FR 26429 , May 4, 2012; 87 FR 31690 , May 24, 2022