[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 32, Volume 5]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 32CFR718.3]

[Page 193-195]
 
                       TITLE 32--NATIONAL DEFENSE
 
                   CHAPTER VI--DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
 
PART 718_MISSING PERSONS ACT--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 718.3  Transportation of dependents.

    (a) Whenever a person in active service is officially reported as 
dead, injured, (Only when the anticipated period of hospitalization or 
treatment is expected to be of prolonged duration as shown by a 
statement of the commanding officer at the receiving hospital), missing 
for a period of 29 days or more, interned in a foreign country, or 
captured by a hostile force, his dependents, household and personal 
effects including one privately owned motor vehicle may be moved 
(including packing, crating, drayage, temporary storage, and unpacking 
of household and personal effects) to the official residence of record 
for any such person or to the residence of his dependent, next of kin, 
or other person entitled to receive custody of the effects in accordance 
with the provisions of paragraph (d) of this section; or, upon 
application by such dependent, next of kin, heir or legal 
representative, or other person determined in accordance with paragraph 
(d) of this section, or upon the

[[Page 194]]

person's application if injured, to such location as may have been 
determined in advance or as may be subsequently approved, except that a 
reasonable relationship must exist between the condition and 
circumstances of the dependents and the destination to which 
transportation is requested. In the case of a person in an injured 
status, transportation of his dependents or household and personal 
effects may be authorized only when the hospitalization or treatment of 
the injured person will be of prolonged duration. Payment in money of 
amounts equal to such commercial transportation costs or a monetary 
allowance in lieu of transportation as authorized by law for the whole 
or such part of the travel for which transportation in kind is not 
furnished, may be authorized, when such travel has been completed.
    (b) When the Secretary of the Navy or his designee determines that 
an emergency exists and that such sale would be in the best interests of 
the Government, he may provide for the disposition of the motor vehicles 
and other bulky items of such household and personal effects of the 
person by public or private sale. Prior to any such sale, and if 
practicable, a reasonable effort shall be made to determine the desires 
of the interested persons. The net proceeds received from such sale 
shall be transmitted to the owner, next of kin, heir or legal 
representative, or other person determined in accordance with paragraph 
(d) of this section; but if there be no such persons or if such persons 
or their addresses are not ascertainable within one year from the date 
of sale, the net proceeds may be covered into the Treasury as 
miscellaneous receipts.
    (c) The Secretary of the Navy or his designee is authorized to store 
the household and personal effects of the person until such time as 
proper disposition can be made. The cost of such storage and 
transportation, including packing, crating, drayage, temporary storage, 
and unpacking of household and personal effects, will be charged against 
appropriations currently available.
    (d) The following provisions apply to the determination of the 
``other person'' or persons referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) of 
this section who may receive the effects or proceeds.
    (1) If no duly appointed legal representative of the owner of the 
personal effects makes demand upon the Department of the Navy for the 
effects, the determination by naval authorities as to the next of kin or 
heirs of the owner of the personal effects may be made on the basis of 
the following:
    (i) Personnel records; or
    (ii) Other documents applicable to the case; or
    (iii) Title 10 U.S.C., section 2771, to the extent that it 
prescribes an order of precedence among next of kin or heirs, namely, 
the widow or widower of the owner; if no widow or widower, then the 
child or children of the owner and descendants of deceased children, by 
representation; if none of the above, the parents of the owner or the 
survivor of them; or if none of the above, other persons determined to 
be eligible under the laws of the domicile of the owner.
    (2) Such determination should be regarded as administrative rather 
than legal, as the determination does not vest title to effects or 
proceeds in the next of kin, heirs, or legal representative to whom the 
effects are delivered. Therefore, delivery of the personal effects to 
other than the owner will be made subject to the following advisory note 
which should be written on a copy of the inventory or in a letter:

    Delivery of the personal effects into the custody of other than the 
owner thereof, by the Department of the Navy, does not in any way vest 
title to the effects in the recipient. Delivery of the effects to the 
recipient is made so that distribution may be made in accordance with 
the laws of the state in which the owner of the effects was legally 
domiciled or to restore the effects to the owner in the event of his 
return from a missing status.

    (3) When it is impracticable to divide the personal effects of a 
person into equal shares, and two or more persons within a class, as 
provided in 10 U.S.C. section 2771, are entitled to receive the effects 
but cannot agree among themselves as to which one of them shall receive 
the effects, then all of the effects will be retained by either the 
Personal Effects Distribution Center at Norfolk,

[[Page 195]]

VA, or the Personal Effects Distribution Center at Oakland, CA, for a 
period of two years from the date of death of the member. At the 
expiration of the two-year period such effects will be sold.

(R.S. 161, sec. 5031, 70A Stat. 278, as amended; 5 U.S.C. 22, 10 U.S.C. 
5031, 50 U.S.C. App. 1013-1015; Pub. L. 89-554, 80 Stat. 379 (5 U.S.C. 
301)

[26 FR 12659, Dec. 29, 1961, as amended at 37 FR 6472, Mar. 30, 1972; 44 
FR 22456, Apr. 16, 1979]