Agencies means the Department, the Agency for International Development (AID), the International Communication Agency (USICA), the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and the Foreign Commercial Service (FCS).

Annuitant means any person including a former participant or survivor who meets all requirements for an annuity from the Fund under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, or any other law and who has filed claim therefor.

Basic salary means the salary fixed by law or administrative action before deductions and exclusive of additional compensation of any kind. It includes the salary fixed by sections 401, 402, 403, and 406 of the Act and salary incident to assignment under section 503 of the Act. Basic salary excludes premium pay for overtime, night, Sunday and holiday work, allowances, post and special differentials, and chargé pay.

Chief of Mission means a principal officer in charge of a diplomatic mission of the United States or of a United States Office abroad which has been designated diplomatic in nature or any member of the Foreign Service assigned under the terms of the Act to be chargé d'affaires or head of such a mission or office.

Child means, except with reference to lump-sum payments, an unmarried child, under the age of 18 years, or such unmarried child regardless of age who because of physical or mental disability incurred before age 18 is incapable of self-support. In addition to the offspring of the participant, the term includes:

An adopted child;

A stepchild or recognized natural child who received more than one-half support from the participant; and

A child who lived with and for whom a petition of adoption was filed by a participant, and who is adopted by the surviving spouse of the participant after the latter's death. “Child” also means an unmarried student under the age of 22 years. For this purpose, a child whose twenty-second birthday occurs before July 1 or after August 31 of a calendar year, and while a student, is deemed to have become 22 years of age on the first day of July after the birthday.

Court means any court of any State or of the District of Columbia.

Court Order means any court decree of divorce or annulment, or any court approved property settlement agreement incident to any court decree of divorce or annulment.

Department means the Department of State.

Divorce means the dissolution of a marriage by a final decree of divorce or annulment.

Expressly provided for means a direction by a court order to divide a member's Foreign Service Retirement benefits or survivor benefits and awarding a portion of such benefits to an eligible beneficiary.

Former spouse 1 means a former wife or husband of a participant or former participant who was married to such participant for not less than ten years during periods of service by that participant which are creditable under section 816 of the Act provided the participant was making contributions to the Fund under section 805 of the Act during some portion of such service, and provided the divorce occurred after February 15, 1981. For this purpose, a former spouse shall not be considered as married to a participant for periods assumed to be creditable under section 808 of the Act in the case of a disability annuity or section 809 of the Act in the case of a death in service. A former spouse will be considered married to a participant for any extra period of creditable service provided under section 817 of the Act for service at an unhealthful post during which the former spouse resided with the participant. See § 19.5-3 for procedures to determine this extra period of marriage.

1 Note: Section 804(6) of the Act defines “former spouse” with respect to duration of marriage as being married to a participant “for not less than 10 years during periods of service by that participant which are creditable under section 816.” The Department interprets this as necessarily implying that the marriage must have covered a period of at least one day while the member of the Foreign Service was a participant in the System.

Fund means the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund.

M/MED means the Department's Office of Medical Services.

Military and naval service means honorable active service:

In the Armed Forces of the United States;

In the Regular or Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service after June 30, 1960; or

As commissioned officer of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or predecessor organization after June 30, 1961.

Participant means a person as described in § 19.3.

Previous spouse means any person formerly married to a principal, whether or not such person qualifies as a former spouse under paragraph (k) of this section.

Principal means a participant or former participant whose service forms the basis for a benefit under chapter 8 of the Act for a spouse, previous spouse, former spouse or child of a participant.

PER/ER/RET means the Department's Retirement Division in the Bureau of Personnel.

Pro rata share means, in the case of any former spouse of any participant or former participant, a percentage which is equal to the percentage that (1) the number of years and months during which the former spouse was married to the participant during the creditable service of that participant is of (2) the total number of years and months of such creditable service. When making this calculation, item (1) is adjusted in accordance with paragraph (k) of this section and item (2) is adjusted in accordance with § 19.4. In the total period, 30 days constitutes a month and any period of less than 30 days is not counted.

Spousal agreement means any written agreement between a participant or former participant, and the participant's spouse or former spouse.

Student means a child regularly pursuing a full-time course of study or training in residence in a high school, trade school, technical or vocational institute, junior college, university, or comparable recognized educational institution. A child who is a student shall not be deemed to have ceased to be a student during any interim between school years, semesters, or terms if the interim or other period of nonattendance does not exceed 5 calendar months and if the child shows to the satisfaction of the Retirement Division (PER/ER/RET) that the child has a bona fide intention of continuing to pursue such course during the school year, semester, or term immediately following the interim.

Surviving spouse means the surviving wife or husband of a participant or annuitant who, in the case of death in service or marriage after retirement, was married to the participant or annuitant for at least one year immediately preceding death or is the parent of a child born of the marriage.

System means the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability System.