§ 72.50 Final statement of account.

The consular officer must account directly to the parties in interest and to the courts of law in estate matters. Consequently, he must keep an account of receipts and expenditures for the personal estate of the deceased; i. e., debit all moneys and effects which actually come into his possession, and credit all payments made on account of the estate. At such time as the consular officer is ready to deliver the estate, he should prepare his final statement of account, entering thereon the balance delivered to the legal representative or person designated by him (with name and address stipulated) or the balance forwarded to the Department for transmission to the General Accounting Office.

§ 72.51

Preparation and disposition of final statement of account.

The final statement of account should be prepared in quadruplicate. All copies should be signed by the accountable officer and the consular impression seal impressed on each copy, and should be disposed of in the following manner:

(a) The original should be sent to the legal representative with the final balance due the estate;

(b) One copy retained in the office files; and

(c) Two copies, under cover of a despatch, submitted to the Department (one copy for transmission to the General Accounting Office).

In all cases where the residue of the personal estate is to be transmitted to the General Accounting Office for safekeeping and disposition (see §§ 72.46 to 72.48), the original should be sent to the Department, together with the two copies normally submitted, accompanied by a despatch giving detailed information concerning the efforts made by the consular officer to deliver the personal effects to a legal representative or other authorized person. Any information concerning the last known address of the decedent in the United States should also be supplied.

against the personal estate and should be assessed on the gross value of the estate in the consular officer's possession (§ 72.38). The consular officer should collect a fee of $2.00 for each $100 of the total value, or fraction thereof, for taking into possession as provisional conservator, inventorying, selling and finally disposing of the personal estate of a deceased citizen in the manner prescribed by the regulations in this part. The personal estate should not be released until the fee has been collected.

§ 72.53 No-fee services.

Fees are not chargeable:

(a) For placing the official seal upon real or personal property or on the effects of the decedent, or for breaking or removing such seals (§ 72.29);

(b) On funds furnished by relatives or other interested persons to cover expenses incident to the death and disposition of the remains, or for the settlement of the estate (§ 72.39 (b));

(c) On securities and other instruments not negotiated (or not negotiable) by the consular officer (§ 72.28 (g)), or on bank deposits;

(d) For releasing on the spot against memorandum receipt and without occasion either for safekeeping on official accountability or for consular inventory and appraisal, to the legal representative or other authorized person in the country, of personal property taken into nominal possession for the explicit purpose of transfer of custody (§ 72.29 (a)).

The personal estates of all United States citizens who have died on the high seas are exempt from the assessment of any Foreign Service fees (see § 72.25).

(c) "American public vessel" means any vessel owned or operated by a United States Government department or agency and engaged exclusively in official business on a non-commercial basis. (d) "Vessel of the United States" means any vessel documented under the laws of the United States.

(e) "American undocumented vessel" means any American vessel, other than an American public vessel, which is not documented under the laws of the United States. River or inter-island craft operating in foreign waters often fall in this category.

(f) "Foreign vessel" means any foreign-owned vessel, or any vessel regardless of ownership, which is documented under the laws of a foreign country.

(g) "Master" means any person having command of a vessel.

(h) The term "crew of a vessel" includes every person employed in any capacity on a vessel in pursuance of some contract or arrangement with the owner or master, but excludes laborers or other persons hired locally for work aboard ship while the vessel is in port.

(i) "Seaman" means any person employed as a member of the crew of a vessel.

(j) "American seaman" means any seaman, regardless of nationality, who has this status (see § 81.6).

(k) "Alien seaman" means a seaman of foreign nationality who does not have status as an American seaman.

(1) "Passenger vessel" means any vessel authorized to carry more than twelve persons in addition to the master, the crew, or other persons employed or engaged on board a vessel in any capacity connected with the business of the vessel.

(m) "Classification society” means an organization for establishing safe minimum standards for the strength of the hull and the reliability of the machinery of a vessel. Classification societies are quasi-governmental. The American classification society is the American Bureau of Shipping; the British, Lloyds Register; the French, Bureau Veritas.

§ 81.2

Status of American public vessels. American public vessels are usually accorded the courtesies of the port, and exempted from entry and clearance requirements. If, however, a United States Government-owned vessel is manned by a merchant crew (not military or civilservice personnel) and/or carries commercial cargo or passengers, public vessel exemptions may be denied it by local authorities.

§ 81.3 Status of vessels of the United States.

Vessels documented under the laws of the United States are entitled to privileges and subject to the obligations

prescribed by the laws of the United States for merchant vessels. The type of privileges and obligations appertaining to such vessels depends upon the form and the purpose of their docuinentation.

§ 81.4

Status of American undocumented vessels. American undocumented vessels are not under the jurisdiction of the United States, and consequently are not subject to the obligations nor entitled to the protection accorded vessels of the United States abroad. However, such vessels are entitled to the same degree of protection accorded any other property abroad owned by United States citizens. § 81.5

Status of foreign vessels.

Vessels under foreign registry are of no concern as such to United States consular officers except in cases where such officers are authorized to perform protective services for the vessels of a foreign power.

§ 81.6

Status as American seamen.

(a) Acquisition by United States citizens or nationals. A United States citizen or national acquires status as an American seaman by shipping on a vessel of the United States. After three or more years of relatively continuous service on merchant vessels of the United States, he may retain his status as an American seaman even if not so engaged for a period of up to one year.

(b) Acquisition by foreign citizens or nationals. A foreign citizen or national acquires status as an American seaman only by shipping on a vessel of the United States in a port of the United States. Having once acquired this status, he may thereafter reship on any vessel of the United States either in a foreign port or in a United States port without losing this status. However, if a foreign citizen or national having status as an American seaman deserts from a vessel of the United States except as a result of cruel or unusual treatment, or ships on a foreign vessel, or definitely abandons his calling as a seaman, he forfeits this status. A foreign citizen or national who has forfeited his status as an American seaman can regain such status only by following the procedure prescribed for acquiring the status originally.

§ 81.7 Status of Puerto Rican and Virgin Island seamen.

Puerto Rican and Virgin Island seamen, who are United States citizens or nationals, can acquire status as American seamen in accordance with the provisions of § 81.6 (a). Those who are not United States citizens or nationals must acquire this status in the same manner as any other foreign citizens or nationals (see § 81.6 (b)).

§ 81.8

Effect of employment on American public vessels.

The master and crew of an American public vessel are usually either military or civil-service personnel and not American seamen within the meaning of § 81.1 (j), except in individual cases where this status has been previously acquired and is still retained. However, the master and crew of a vessel, owned or chartered by a United States Government agency but operated by a private concern on behalf of that agency, who sign shipping articles before a United States shipping commissioner, are American seamen within the meaning of § 81.1 (j), and their service on such vessels affords them the same rights and privileges as service on vessels of the United States.

§ 81.9 Effect of employment on vessels of the United States.

The master and crew of a vessel of the United States are subject during the period of their employment to the jurisdiction of the United States, and are entitled to the protection of its laws in matters relating to their employment. Also as a result of this service, they may acquire and retain status as American seamen, subject to the conditions set forth in § 81.6.

§ 81.10 Effect of employment on barges, dredges, tugs at foreign ports.

The master and crew of an American documented barge, dredge, or tug, who sign United States Coast Guard shipping articles before a shipping commissioner, are American seamen and have the same rights and privileges as seamen employed on any other vessel of the United States. § 81.11 Effect of employment on American undocumented vessels.

The master and crew of an American undocumented vessel are not subject to

the jurisdiction of the United States by reason of their employment, and are not as a matter of right entitled to the protection of its laws in questions affecting such employment. However, in the case of United States citizens employed on such a vessel, the master of the vessel may request a United States consular officer to ship and discharge such seamen in foreign ports in accordance with the procedure followed in the case of seamen on vessels of the United States, and the consular officer shall accede to such request. A United States consular officer has no authority over foreign nationals employed on American undocumented vessels, and consequently cannot ship or discharge such seamen.

§ 81.13

Function of the Foreign Service.

(a) Description. The shipping and seamen function of the Foreign Service consists of the activities prescribed in Parts 81 through 88 of this chapter. These activities are for the protection or assistance of American vessels and American seamen in foreign ports and places.

(b) Post responsibility. Obviously, only Foreign Service seaport posts are required to perform many of the activities prescribed in this chapter. Inland posts are not required to perform activities attendant upon the arrival of a vessel in a foreign port. However, all posts are responsible for such activities as the relief of stranded American seamen, intervention on behalf of these seamen with local authorities, reports on the deaths of American seamen, and the conservation of their effects, etc. The responsibilities of seaport and inland consular agencies are similar to those of

other seaport and inland Foreign Service posts, except that, where the settlement of a controversy or the expenditure of funds is involved in a shipping and seaman case, the consular agency shall consult with, and act under the direction of, the supervising Foreign Service post.

(c) Post jurisdiction. Theoretically, the consular district of a post determines its jurisdiction in a shipping and seaman case. However, as has been pointed out in paragraph (b) of this section, the actual responsibilities of posts differ. Also, under the provisions of the Federal statutes of the United States, even a seaport post is not required to perform many activities unless the need therefor arises at the place where the post is located. For example, post employees assigned to shipping work are not required to leave the immediate locale of the post to ship or discharge a seaman, but if a vessel is wrecked along the coast, the post having jurisdiction over the territory where the wreck occurs is responsible for reporting the wreck and carrying out the owner's instructions with reference to the conservation of the wrecked vessel. The question of whether a post should perform shipping and seamen activities within the consular district, but away from the actual location of the post is one which must be decided in the light of the statute and regulations governing the performance of a particular activity.

(d) Place in post organizational pattern. The shipping and seamen function is a part of the consular program of a Foreign Service post. Therefore, the consular section of a post is responsible for carrying out the activities which comprise this function. This responsibility must be discharged, however, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (e) of this section.

(e) Employee authority and responsibility. Under United States Federal statutes, in the Foreign Service only United States consular officers have authority to perform shipping and seamen activities prescribed by statute. Accordingly, employees assigned to shipping and seamen work at a Foreign Service post must be commissioned as consular officers of the United States and accredited in this capacity in the foreign country of assignment.