[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 22, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 22CFR72.25]

[Page 355]
 
                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS
 
                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE
 
PART 72_DEATHS AND ESTATES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 72.25  Responsibility in case of citizens dying on the high seas.

    (a) Consular responsibility not provided by statute. There is no 
express provision of law authorizing the consular officer to take 
possession and dispose of the personal estate of a citizen of the United 
States (not a seaman) who has died on the high seas.
    (b) When death occurs on board vessel of United States registry. If 
the death occurred on board a vessel of the United States, the master of 
the vessel, in the absence of a legal representative or other authorized 
person (see Sec. Sec. 72.18 and 72.19), should be requested to take 
custody and return the personal estate to the shipping company in the 
United States for forwarding to the legal representative or other 
authorized person.
    (c) When death occurs on board vessel of foreign registry. Death on 
board a vessel of foreign registry is considered to have occurred in the 
territory of the country of the ship's registry, and the estate laws of 
that country are applicable in such cases. In the absence of a legal 
representative or other authorized person (see Sec. Sec. 72.18 and 
72.19), the consular officer should take possession and dispose of the 
personal estate, provided that the laws of the country of assignment as 
well as the laws of the country of the ship's registry permit. The 
procedure in such cases is identical with that followed in the 
disposition of the estate of any United States citizen who may have died 
within the consular district, except that no fees should be charged for 
services rendered (Sec. 72.55).