[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 22, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 22CFR72.46]

[Page 361-362]
 
                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS
 
                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE
 
PART 72--DEATHS AND ESTATES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 72.46  Consular action on disagreements between claimants.

    If rival claimants or administrators (administrators may be 
appointed in different jurisdictions) demand the personal estate in the 
consular officer's possession, he should refuse to deliver the estate 
until an agreement has been reached, or judgment rendered, as to which 
claimant or administrator should receive it, and the consular officer so 
informed in writing. If, after one year, agreement has not been reached

[[Page 362]]

between rival claimants, or judgment rendered, the consular officer 
should notify all parties concerned and sell the entire personal estate 
at auction in the manner prescribed by Sec. 72.37, with the exception of 
jewelry, heirlooms, and articles which may have sentimental value to 
relatives, regardless of intrinsic value. Should any of the personal 
property not have been taken into physical possession previously (see 
Sec. 72.29), the consular officer should take possession of such 
property and, after preparing a supplementary inventory in the manner 
prescribed in Secs. 72.35 and 72.36, include this portion of the estate 
with that already in his possession. The proceeds of the sale should be 
converted into United States dollars and after payment of local debts 
(Sec. 72.39) and collection of the fee prescribed by Sec. 72.52, should 
be transmitted, with any unsold portion of the estate in the consular 
officer's possession, to the Department of State for forwarding to the 
General Accounting Office for safekeeping and lawful disposition as 
conservator of the estate (22 U.S.C. 1175).