
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 5USC5582]

 
             TITLE 5--GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES
 
                           PART III--EMPLOYEES
 
                      Subpart D--Pay and Allowances
 
                     CHAPTER 55--PAY ADMINISTRATION
 
                 SUBCHAPTER VIII--SETTLEMENT OF ACCOUNTS
 
Sec. 5582. Designation of beneficiary; order of precedence

    (a) The employing agency shall notify each employee of his right to 
designate a beneficiary or beneficiaries to receive money due, and of 
the disposition of money due if a beneficiary is not designated. An 
employee may change or revoke a designation at any time under 
regulations promulgated--
        (1) by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management or his 
    designee, in the case of an employee of an executive agency;
        (2) jointly by the President pro tempore of the Senate and the 
    Speaker of the House of Representatives, or their designee, in the 
    case of an employee of the legislative branch; and
        (3) by the Chief Justice of the United States or his or her 
    designee, in the case of an employee of the judicial branch.

    (b) In order to facilitate the settlement of the accounts of 
deceased employees, money due an employee at the time of his death shall 
be paid to the person or persons surviving at the date of death, in the 
following order of precedence, and the payment bars recovery by another 
person of amounts so paid:
        First, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries designated by the 
    employee in a writing received in the employing agency before his 
    death.
        Second, if there is no designated beneficiary, to the widow or 
    widower of the employee.
        Third, if none of the above, to the child or children of the 
    employee and descendants of deceased children by representation.
        Fourth, if none of the above, to the parents of the employee or 
    the survivor of them.
        Fifth, if none of the above, to the duly appointed legal 
    representative of the estate of the employee.
        Sixth, if none of the above, to the person or persons entitled 
    under the laws of the domicile of the employee at the time of his 
    death.

(Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 495; Pub. L. 104-316, title I, 
Sec. 103(c), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3828.)

                      Historical and Revision Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                    Revised Statutes and
     Derivation                U.S. Code             Statutes at Large
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a)................  5 U.S.C. 61j.                 Aug. 3, 1950, ch.
                                                    518, Sec.  5, 64
                                                    Stat. 396.
(b)................  5 U.S.C. 61f.                 Aug. 3, 1950, ch.
                                                    518, Sec.  1, 64
                                                    Stat. 395.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Subsection (a) is restated for clarity. The word ``officers'' is 
omitted as included in ``employee''.
    In subsection (b), so much of the first 35 words of former section 
61f as states the application is carried into the definition of 
``employee'' in section 5581(1). The word ``officer'' is omitted as 
included in ``employee''.
    Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable 
and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.


                               Amendments

    1996--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104-316 substituted ``An employee may 
change or revoke a designation at any time under regulations 
promulgated--'' for ``An employee may change or revoke a designation at 
any time under such regulations as the Comptroller General of the United 
States may prescribe.'' in introductory provisions and added pars. (1) 
to (3).

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 5307, 5583, 5595 of this 
title; title 22 sections 2504, 3965; title 42 section 4955.
