(a) Death benefits. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, the account balance of a deceased participant will be paid as a death benefit to the individual or individuals surviving the participant, in the following order of precedence:

(1) To the beneficiary or beneficiaries designated by the participant in accordance with § 1651.3;

(2) If there is no designated beneficiary, to the spouse of the participant in accordance with § 1651.5;

(3) If there are no beneficiaries or persons as described in paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(2) of this section, to the child or children of the participant and descendants of deceased children by representation in accordance with § 1651.6;

(4) If there are no beneficiaries or persons as described in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(3) of this section, to the parents of the participant in equal shares or entirely to the surviving parent in accordance with § 1651.7;

(5) If there are no beneficiaries or persons as described in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(4) of this section, to the duly appointed executor or administrator of the estate of the participant in accordance with § 1651.8; or

(6) If there are no beneficiaries or persons as described in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(5) of this section, to the next of kin of the participant who is or are entitled under the laws of the state of the participant's domicile on the date of the participant's death in accordance with § 1651.9.

(b) TSP withdrawals. If the TSP record keeper processes a notice that a participant has died, it will cancel any pending request by the participant to withdraw his or her account. The TSP record keeper will also cancel an annuity purchase made on or after the participant's date of death but before annuity payments have begun, and the annuity vendor will return the funds to the TSP. The funds designated by the participant for the withdrawal will be paid as a death benefit in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section, unless the participant elected to withdrawal his or her account in the form of an annuity, in which case the funds designated for the purchase of the annuity will be paid as described in paragraphs (b)(1) through (5) of this section:

(1) If the participant requested a single life annuity with no cash refund or 10-year certain feature, the TSP record keeper will pay the funds as a death benefit in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section.

(2) If the participant requested a single life annuity with a cash refund or 10-year certain feature, the TSP record keeper will pay the funds as a death benefit to the beneficiary or beneficiaries designated by the participant on the annuity portion of the TSP post-employment distribution request, or as a death benefit in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section if no beneficiary designated on the withdrawal request survives the participant.

(3) If the participant requested a joint life annuity without additional features, the TSP record keeper will pay the funds as a death benefit to the joint life annuitant if he or she survives the participant, or as a death benefit in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section if the joint life annuitant does not survive the participant.

(4) If the participant requested a joint life annuity with a cash refund or 10-year certain feature, the TSP record keeper will pay the funds as a death benefit to the joint life annuitant if he or she survives the participant, or as a death benefit to the beneficiary or beneficiaries designated by the participant on the annuity portion of the TSP post-employment distribution request if the joint life annuitant does not survive the participant, or as a death benefit in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section if neither the joint life annuitant nor any designated beneficiary survives the participant.

(5) If a participant dies after annuity payments have begun, the annuity vendor will make or stop the payments in accordance with the annuity method selected.

(c) TSP loans. If the TSP record keeper processes a notice that a participant has died, any pending loan disbursement will be cancelled and the funds designated for the loan will be distributed as a death benefit in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section. If a TSP loan has been disbursed, but the check has not been negotiated (or an electronic funds transfer (EFT) has been returned), the loan proceeds will be used to pay off the loan. If the loan check has been negotiated (or the EFT has been processed), the funds cannot be returned to the TSP and the TSP record keeper will declare the loan balance as a loan foreclosure in accordance with part 1655 of this chapter.

(d) TSP investments. Upon a participant's death, his or her TSP account will remain invested in the same TSP core funds as the account balance was invested on his or her date of death. If any portion of the participant's TSP account is invested through the mutual fund window at the time of his or her death, his or her mutual fund window account will be closed and the balance will be transferred back to the TSP core funds in the participant's TSP account in accordance with his or her most recent investment election until it is paid out or a beneficiary participant account is established under this part.