(a) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, for court orders affecting employee annuities or awarding former spouse survivor annuities, in the event that OPM receives two or more court orders acceptable for processing—

(1) When the court orders relate to two or more individuals (former spouses or child abuse creditors), the court orders will be honored in the order in which they were received by OPM to the maximum extent possible under §838.211 or §838.711.

(2) When two or more court orders relate to the same former spouse, separated spouse, or child abuse creditor the one issued last will be honored.

(b)

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, for court orders affecting refunds of employee contributions, in the event that OPM receives two or more court orders acceptable for processing—

(i) When the court orders affect two or more former spouses—

(A) The refund will not be paid if either court order prohibits payment of the refund of contributions; otherwise,

(B) The court orders will be honored in the order in which they were issued until the contributions have been exhausted.

(ii) When two or more court orders relate to the same former spouse, the one issued last will be honored first.

(2) In no event will the amount paid out exceed the amount of the refund of employee contributions.

(c) With respect to issues relating to the validity of a court order or to the amount of payment—

(1) If the employee, separated employee, retiree, or other person adversely affected by the court order and former spouse submit conflicting court orders from the same jurisdiction, OPM will consider only the latest court order; or

(2) If the employee, separated employee, retiree, or other person adversely affected by the court order and former spouse submit conflicting court orders from different jurisdictions—

(i) If one of the court orders is from the jurisdiction shown as the employee's, separated employee's, or retiree's address in OPM's records, OPM will consider only the court order issued by that jurisdiction; or

(ii) If none of the court orders is from the jurisdiction shown as the employee's, separated employee's, or retiree's address in OPM's records, OPM will consider only the latest court order.

[57 FR 33574, July 29, 1992, as amended at 59 FR 66638, Dec. 28, 1994]