§ 955 TITLE 25—INDIANS Page 340

(f) Authority of the Secretary under other provisions unaffected

Nothing herein shall be deemed to limit any

authority possessed by the Secretary under any

other provisions of law.

(Pub. L. 86–339, §4, Sept. 21, 1959, 73 Stat. 604;

Pub. L. 90–597, Oct. 17, 1968, 82 Stat. 1164.)

REFERENCES IN TEXT

The effective date of this Act, referred to in subsec.

(a), probably means the date of enactment of Pub. L.

86–339, which was approved Sept. 21, 1959.

CODIFICATION

In subsec. (e), ‘‘subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5’’

substituted for ‘‘the Administrative Procedure Act’’ on

authority of Pub. L. 89–554, §7(b), Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat.

631, the first section of which enacted Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

AMENDMENTS

1968—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 90–597 substituted provisions requiring Secretary to approve any guardian or

other fiduciary appointed under State law for estate of

any member of band or continued in office as guardian

of estate, and provisions requiring Secretary to be

given notice of State court proceedings involving estate of any member of band and power to appear in

such proceedings, for provisions requiring Secretary to

request appointment of a guardian of estate of minor

allottees and adult allottees needing assistance.

Subsecs. (b) to (f). Pub. L. 90–597 added subsecs. (b) to

(f).

§ 955. Tax exemption

(a) The right to an equalization allotment or

to a cash payment in lieu thereof pursuant to

section 953(d) of this title, shall be transferable

by will or descent in the same manner as are

trust payments under existing law and shall not

be subject to State or Federal inheritance, estate, legacy, or succession taxes.

(b) A cash payment made in lieu of an equalization allotment pursuant to section 953(d) of

this title shall not be regarded as income or capital gain for purposes of Federal or State income

taxation and shall not, as long as it remains in

the form of cash or a bank deposit in the ownership of the allottee, be subject to taxation as

personal property. A payment and the income

derived therefrom heretofore or hereafter made

to an allottee as compensation for the acquisition of part or all of the allottee’s allotment for

a public purpose is—

(1) deemed a cash payment in lieu of an allotment for purposes of this subsection;

(2) deemed a right under subsection (a) of

this section; and

(3) subject to sections 409a and 410 of this

title.

(Pub. L. 86–339, §5, Sept. 21, 1959, 73 Stat. 604;

Pub. L. 100–581, title II, §216, Nov. 1, 1988, 102

Stat. 2941.)

AMENDMENTS

1988—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100–581 inserted sentence at

end relating to payment and income derived therefrom

made as compensation for acquisition of part of all of

allottee’s allotment for public purpose.

SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS

This section is referred to in section 162a of this title.

§ 956. Claims against allotments

(a) Assignment, sale, hypothecation, attachment

or levy void unless approved

Equalization allotments made pursuant to

this subchapter shall not be subject to assignment, sale, or hypothecation or to any attachment or levy for claims or debts created before

or after September 21, 1959, without the written

approval of the Secretary, and any such assignment, sale, hypothecation, attachment, or levy

that has not been so approved by the Secretary

shall be absolutely null and void.

(b) Liens and lis pendens; legal services

No equalization allotment made pursuant to

this subchapter, and no basic allotment made

prior to this Act, shall be subject to an equitable charging lien or other charge or lien or enforced sale for any advantage or benefit which

the allottee has received or will receive under or

as a consequence of enactment of this subchapter, nor shall any lis pendens heretofore or

hereafter filed upon such lands while in a restricted status be of any effect or constitute notice of any action. Whoever directly or indirectly accepts or receives any money or other

form of compensation for legal services in connection with such restricted lands from any person who has not expressly employed him as his

attorney shall be liable, in a civil action

brought by the payor or his heirs or devisees or

by the United States on his behalf, for twice the

amount so accepted or received unless, prior to

the time of acceptance or receipt of said compensation, the right to such compensation has

been determined and the amount thereof fixed

by a formal order of the Federal court having jurisdiction to make such order. Nothing herein

provided shall be construed to prevent any attorney from petitioning the Federal court having jurisdiction to fix and determine the fees to

which he is entitled and to pursue and enforce

payment thereof in any lawful manner after the

court has made such order.

(Pub. L. 86–339, §6, Sept. 21, 1959, 73 Stat. 604.)

REFERENCES IN TEXT

The words ‘‘prior to this Act’’, referred to in subsec.

(b), mean prior to enactment of Act Sept. 21, 1959, Pub.

L. 86–339.

§ 957. Allotments deemed full equalization

Allotments in accordance with the provisions

of this subchapter shall be deemed complete and

full equalization of allotments on the Agua

Caliente Reservation.

(Pub. L. 86–339, §7, Sept. 21, 1959, 73 Stat. 605.)

§ 958. Organization and transfer of title to legal

entity

The band may, at any time it wishes to do so,

organize a legal entity under the laws of the

State of California and request the Secretary to

transfer to such legal entity title to the lands in

the reserves established by section 953(b) of this

title. The Secretary shall transfer an unrestricted title to such property if the organization of the legal entity and request for the

transfer have been approved by a majority of the