[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: 22CFR72.31]

[Page 357]
 
                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS
 
                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE
 
PART 72_DEATHS AND ESTATES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 72.31  Action when immediate possession is impracticable.

    The law imposes no affirmative obligation upon the consular officer 
to travel long distances for the purpose of taking on-the-spot 
possession of a personal estate. If occasion to visit the locality where 
the death occurred coincides with the need to take action, the consular 
officer should avail himself of the occasion to assume custody of the 
effects. Normally, however, the consular officer's initial 
responsibility in such cases does not extend beyond reasonable efforts 
to obtain possession of the estate. He should communicate with the 
persons, officials, or organizations having custody of the effects, 
requesting that the effects be delivered to him, at the expense of the 
estate, for lawful disposition. If the local authorities should decline 
to surrender possession to the consular officer in a case where he feels 
that his right to take possession is clear, he may refer the matter to 
the mission. The consular officer's personal responsibility for any 
given item among the personal effects commences only when that item 
reaches his hand.