[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 43, Volume 2]

[Revised as of October 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 43CFR2521.3]



[Page 109-110]

 

                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR

 

    CHAPTER II--BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

 

PART 2520_DESERT-LAND ENTRIES--Table of Contents

 

                         Subpart 2521_Procedures

 

Sec.  2521.3  Assignment.



    (a) Lands which may be assigned. While by the Act of March 3, 1891 

(26 Stat. 1096; 43 U.S.C. 329), assignments of desert-land entries were 

recognized, the Department of the Interior, largely for administrative 

reasons, held that a desert-land entry might be assigned as a whole or 

in its entirety, but refused to recognize the assignment of only a 

portion of an entry. The Act of March 28, 1908, however, provides for an 

assignment of such entries, in whole or in part, but this does not mean 

that less than a legal subdivision may be assigned. Therefore no 

assignment, otherwise than by legal subdivisions, will be recognized. 

The legal subdivisions assigned must be contiguous.

    (b) Qualifications of assignees. (1) The Act of March 28, 1908, also 

provides that no person may take a desert-land entry by assignment 

unless he is qualified to enter the tract so assigned to him. Therefore, 

if a person is not at least 21 years of age and, excepting Nevada, a 

resident citizen of the State wherein the land involved is located; or 

if he is not a ciitzen of the United States, or a person who has 

declared his intention to become a citizen thereof; or, if he has made a 

desert-land entry in his own right and is not entitled under Sec.  

2521.1 to make a second or an additional entry, he cannot take such an 

entry by assignment. The language of the act indicates that the taking 

of an entry by assignment is equivalent to the making of an entry, and 

this being so, no person is allowed to take more than one entry by 

assignment, unless it be done as the exercise of a right of second or 

additional entry.

    (2) A person who has the right to make a second or additional 

desert-land entry may exercise that right by taking an assignment of a 

desert-land entry, or part of such entry, if he is otherwise qualified 

to make a desert-land entry for the particular tract assigned.

    (3) The Act of March 28, 1908, also provides that no assignment to 

or for the benefit of any corporation shall be authorized or recognized.

    (c) Showing required of assignees; recognition of assignments. (1) 

As evidence of the assignment there should be transmitted to the 

authorizing officer



[[Page 110]]



the original deed of assignment or a certified copy thereof. Where the 

deed of assignment is recorded a certified copy may be made by the 

officer who has custody of the record. Where the original deed is 

presented to an officer qualified to take proof in desert-land cases, a 

copy certified by such officer will be accepted.

    (2) An assignee must file with his deed of assignment, a statement 

on a form approved by the Director, showing his qualifications to take 

the entry assigned to him. He must show what applications or entries, if 

any, have been made by him or what entries assigned to him under the 

agricultural public land laws, and he must also show his qualifications 

as a citizen of the United States; that he is 21 years of age or over; 

and also that he is a resident citizen of the State in which the land 

assigned to him is situated, except in the State of Nevada, where 

citizenship of the United States only is required. If the assignee is 

not a native-born citizen of the United States, he should also furnish a 

statement as to his citizenship status in accordance with subpart 1811 

of this chapter. If the assignee is a woman, she should in all cases 

state whether she is married, and if so, she must make the showing 

required by subpart 1811 of this chapter. Desert-land entries are 

initiated by the payment of 25 cents per acre, and no assignable right 

is acquired by the application prior to such payment. (6 L.D. 541, 33 

L.D. 152.) An assignment made on the day of such payment, or soon 

thereafter, is treated as suggesting fraud, and such cases will be 

carefully scrutinized. The provisions of law authorizing the assignment 

of desert entries, in whole or in part, furnish no authority to a 

claimant under said law to make an executory contract to convey the land 

after the issuance of patent and thereafter to proceed with the 

submission of final proof in furtherance of such contract. (34 L.D. 

383.) The sale of land embraced in an entry at any time before final 

payment is made must be regarded as an assignment of the entry, and in 

such cases the person buying the land must show that he possesses all 

the qualifications required of an assignee. (29 L.D. 453.) The assignor 

of a desert-land entry may execute the assignment before any officer 

authorized to take acknowledgements of deeds. The assignee must furnish 

a statement on a form approved by the Director as to his qualifications.

    (3) No assignments of desert-land entries or parts of entries are 

conclusive until examined in the proper office and found satisfactory 

and the assignment recognized. When recognized, however, the assignee 

takes the place of the assignor as effectively as though he had made the 

entry, and is subject to any requirement that may be made relative 

thereto. The assignment of a desert-land entry to one disqualified to 

acquire title under the desert-land law, and to whom, therefore, 

recognition of the assignment is refused by the authorizing officer, 

does not of itself render the entry fraudulent, but leaves the right 

thereto in the assignor. In such connection, however, see 42 L.D. 90 and 

48 L.D. 519.

    (4) All applications for recognition of assignment of desert-land 

entries must be accompanied by an application service fee of $10 which 

will not be returnable.