BP's $20 billion oil spill fund has halted payments to eligible victims until a U.S. federal court clarifies an order issued in December, according to a notice posted on the fund's website.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana had asked the fund, called the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, to pay into a court supervised escrow account 6 percent of the gross settlement amount. The funds from the escrow account would be used to meet certain legal expenses incurred by the plaintiffs' lawyers.