How Is a CSRS Pension Divided in Divorce?

A Civil Service Retirement System pension is divided in divorce through a specialized federal court order called a Court Order Acceptable for Processing, or COAP. The COAP tells the Office of Personnel Management how much of the monthly annuity to send to the former spouse, whether to pay a survivor annuity if the retiree dies first, and how to handle any refund of employee contributions. Once OPM accepts the order, it pays the former spouse directly by direct deposit as soon as the employee reaches retirement status. Getting the language right is the whole game: OPM reads these orders literally, and a single misworded phrase can send the order back to court.

A COAP Is Not a QDRO

Private-sector pensions are split with a Qualified Domestic Relations Order under ERISA. CSRS is not an ERISA plan. It is governed by Title 5 of the U.S. Code and the regulations at 5 CFR Part 838, and OPM will reject an order that borrows QDRO terminology, references ERISA, or calls the former spouse an “alternate payee.” That is the most common drafting mistake attorneys unfamiliar with federal benefits make, and correcting it means going back to court for an amended order. If you are hiring counsel, ask directly whether they have drafted COAPs before.

What Parts of the CSRS Pension Can Be Divided

Three components of the CSRS package are subject to court-ordered division:

The employee annuity, meaning the monthly retirement check itself. This is the primary asset in most divorces.
A former spouse survivor annuity, which continues paying the former spouse after the retiree’s death. The maximum survivor annuity is 55% of the retiree’s unreduced annuity, and electing it reduces the retiree’s own monthly payment.¹²
A refund of employee contributions, which is what the employee can withdraw as a lump sum if they leave federal service before qualifying for an annuity. A court order can secure a share of that refund for the former spouse.

Three Ways to Calculate the Former Spouse’s Share

OPM recognizes three ways to express the former spouse’s share of the employee annuity, and the court order has to use one of them.³

A fixed dollar amount is a flat monthly payment, such as $1,200 a month. Simple to administer, but the number never adjusts. Over a 20- or 30-year retirement, inflation eats significant purchasing power.

A percentage of the annuity, such as 25% of the retiree’s gross annuity, keeps the former spouse’s payment proportional to what the retiree actually receives.

A fractional share, often called the Bangs formula, puts months of creditable federal service earned during the marriage over total months of creditable service across the whole career. That fraction is applied to the annuity, and the result is usually split equally. This method isolates the portion of the pension actually earned during the marriage and automatically accounts for later career growth without giving the former spouse credit for years unrelated to the marriage.

Cost-of-Living Adjustments Follow the Method

When the order awards a percentage or fraction of the annuity, OPM applies cost-of-living adjustments to the former spouse’s share automatically, so it stays at the same proportion of the retiree’s benefit as the annuity grows.⁴ A court order can override that default by expressly excluding COLAs. Fixed dollar amounts get no COLAs. Ever. A former spouse awarded $1,500 a month in 2026 will still be receiving $1,500 a month in 2046.

The Survivor Annuity Has to Be Expressly Awarded

This is where former spouses most often lose money years after the divorce. The apportionment of the monthly annuity ends the day the retiree dies unless the court order has separately awarded a former spouse survivor annuity. The order must specifically identify the CSRS survivor annuity and either award it directly or direct the retiree to elect it.⁵ Silence on the point means no survivor benefit, and no amount of legal action after the retiree’s death can create one that wasn’t in place beforehand.

What the Court Order Must Contain

OPM applies 5 CFR Part 838 literally.⁶ Vague language, references to state retirement statutes, or missing details will get the order deemed unacceptable. At a minimum:

The order must specifically name the Civil Service Retirement System. A reference to “federal retirement” or “government pension” is not enough.
The order must state which benefits are being divided — the monthly annuity, the survivor annuity, or both — and how the former spouse’s share is calculated.
If the share is expressed as a percentage or fraction, the order must specify whether it applies to the gross annuity, the net annuity, or the self-only annuity. If it doesn’t say, OPM defaults to gross annuity.⁷

Gross annuity is the full amount before deductions for taxes, health insurance, or life insurance. Net annuity is what’s left after those deductions. Self-only annuity is what the retiree would receive if no survivor annuity were being provided. The three numbers are meaningfully different, and picking the wrong one can shift thousands of dollars a year in either direction.

OPM publishes model language in the appendix to 5 CFR Part 838 and in its Handbook for Attorneys. Using that standardized phrasing is the most reliable way to avoid rejection.

Filing the Order With OPM

The former spouse or their attorney has to apply to OPM in writing. No special form is required, but the application must include:⁸

A certified copy of the court order bearing the court’s original seal or stamp
A written certification that the order is currently in force and hasn’t been amended or set aside
Enough identifying information to locate the employee’s records: full name, date of birth, Social Security number, or CSRS claim number
The former spouse’s current mailing address, and the employee’s address if the employee hasn’t yet retired

Everything goes to the OPM Retirement Operations Center at Post Office Box 45, Boyers, PA 16017. OPM reviews the order, notifies the retiree that a claim has been filed, and — if the order passes review — begins direct deposit to the former spouse once the employee enters retirement status.

If the court order requires payments to end on remarriage, OPM will not start payments until the former spouse signs a certification stating they have not remarried, will notify OPM within 15 days of any remarriage, and accept personal liability for any overpayment.⁸

How Remarriage Affects the Benefits

Remarriage before age 55 terminates a former spouse’s survivor annuity on the last day of the month before the remarriage.⁹ Remarriage at 55 or later has no effect. The rule is unforgiving in one respect: if the second marriage later ends through death or divorce, the survivor annuity does not come back. The only exception is an annulment declaring the marriage had no legal effect from the start.

The remarriage rule applies specifically to the survivor annuity and to any annuity provision the court order conditions on remaining unmarried. Whether apportionment of the employee annuity itself is affected by remarriage depends on what the court order says.

What Happens When Someone Dies

If the former spouse dies before the retiree, the retiree’s annuity can be restored to the full unreduced amount, but not automatically. The retiree has to notify OPM and request the restoration; until OPM processes it, the survivor annuity reduction keeps coming out of the monthly check.

If the retiree dies first and the court order established a former spouse survivor annuity, the former spouse begins receiving survivor payments of up to 55% of the retiree’s unreduced annuity starting the day after the retiree’s death or the first day of the second month after OPM received the court order, whichever is later.¹ Without a survivor annuity provision, all payments to the former spouse stop permanently.

Health Insurance After the Divorce

A former spouse may be able to keep Federal Employees Health Benefits coverage under the Spouse Equity Act, but the application must be filed within 60 days of the date the marriage ended.¹⁰ Miss it and the eligibility is gone.

To qualify, the former spouse must have been covered under FEHB as a family member at some point during the 18 months before the divorce, must not have remarried before age 55, and must have a qualifying court order awarding a portion of the annuity or a survivor benefit. The premium is the full cost — both the employee share and the government share a current employee wouldn’t pay. Coverage ends if the qualifying court order stops providing annuity or survivor benefits, the former spouse remarries before 55, or the employee separates from federal service and takes a refund of retirement contributions.¹¹

Taxes on the Divided Payments

The former spouse pays federal income tax on the pension payments they receive. OPM reports those payments on the former spouse’s own tax return, and the retiree does not pay tax on money that goes to the former spouse. The retiree’s 1099-R will show a reduced gross annuity with a footnote for the apportionment amount paid out during the year.¹²

Apportionment payments cannot be deducted as alimony. The tax code treats these as a division of retirement income, not a support obligation. OPM also marks the taxable amount on the 1099-R as “Unknown” when a court-ordered apportionment is in effect, so both sides typically need to work with a tax professional or the IRS to figure out the tax-free portion of their respective shares.¹²

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8341 – Survivor Annuities
2
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. CSRS Computation
3
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Court-Ordered Benefits for Former Spouses
4
Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School). 5 CFR Appendix A to Subpart F of Part 838
5
eCFR. 5 CFR 838.804 – Court Orders Must Expressly Award a Former Spouse Survivor Annuity
6
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 838 – Court Orders Affecting Retirement Benefits
7
eCFR. 5 CFR 838.306 – Court Orders Containing a Formula, Percentage, or Fraction
8
eCFR. 5 CFR 838.221 – Application Requirements for Former Spouses
9
eCFR. 5 CFR 831.644 – Remarriage
10
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 890 Subpart H – Benefits for Former Spouses
11
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. FEHB FastFacts – Former Spouse
12
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. How Is My Annuity Taxed if I Pay a Court-Ordered Apportionment to a Former Spouse?