Page 339 TITLE 25—INDIANS § 954

lect who shall be approved jointly by the band

and the city before proceeding with such appraisal, the costs for the appraisal to be shared

by the band and the city; thereafter the Secretary shall review the completed appraisal and

shall, if approved, then submit copies to both

the band and the city for their approval which

shall be either accepted or rejected in writing

within thirty days; and if within three hundred

and sixty-five days after joint acceptance of

such appraisal by the band and the city, the city

accepts the offer and tenders payment in full,

the Secretary shall complete the sale, and any

allottees who may have made or who may thereafter make an equalization selection from the

lands sold to the city shall receive in lieu of the

allotment selected his proportionate share of

the proceeds of the sale.

(Pub. L. 86–339, §3, Sept. 21, 1959, 73 Stat. 602.)

REFERENCES IN TEXT

The words ‘‘at the time of this Act’’, referred to in

subsec. (c), mean at Sept. 21, 1959, the date of enactment of this subchapter.

SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS

This section is referred to in sections 955, 958 of this

title.

§ 954. Powers and duties of guardians

(a) Appointment and continuance in office; notice to Secretary of State court proceedings;

appearance

No guardian or other fiduciary shall be appointed under State law for the estate of any

member of the band, or continued in office, except with approval of the Secretary: Provided,

That no conservator for any member of the band

shall be appointed under State law or continued

in office after the effective date of this Act, unless the individual Indian concerned, with the

approval of the Secretary, personally petitions

for the appointment or continuation of such appointment. The Secretary shall be given notice

of all proceedings in the State court with respect to the estate of any member of the band

which is being administered, and he may at any

time appear as a party in such proceedings, and

may exercise all rights accorded to a party

under State law.

(b) Management and disposition of trust property and property subject to restrictions

against alienation by guardians, conservators, or fiduciaries; approved activities; approval of activities

No guardian, conservator or other fiduciary

appointed under State law shall, in his official

capacity, participate in the management or disposition of any property or interest therein

which is held in trust by the United States for

a member of the band or is subject to restrictions against alienation imposed by the laws of

the United States, execute or approve any use,

expenditure, investment, deposit, or disposition

of such property or interest therein, or proceeds

therefrom, or receive any fee or other compensation for services hereafter performed with respect to such property or interest therein. The

provisions of this subsection shall not preclude

any such person, in his private capacity, from

participating in the management or disposition

of such property or interest therein with the

specific approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Actions with respect to the use, expenditure, investment, deposit, or disposition of such

property or interests therein, or proceeds therefrom, shall be valid and efficacious in all respects without participation of affirmation by

any guardian, conservator, or other fiduciary

appointed under State law.

(c) Reports by guardians; failure or refusal to report; fraudulent, capricious, arbitrary or

grossly erroneous reports; prosecution; appropriate relief

The Secretary, at any time, may require any

guardian, conservator, or other fiduciary appointed under State law for a member of the

band to submit a full and complete report concerning his handling of the estate during the

preceding six years. If any person or entity required to do so by the Secretary fails or refuses

to so report, or, if having reported, the Secretary concludes that any action connected

therewith is fraudulent, or capricious or arbitrary or so grossly erroneous as necessarily to

imply bad faith, he may request the Attorney

General to cause an action to be brought in the

name of the United States in the United States

District Court for the Central District of California or in any such district court having jurisdiction over the person, or persons, and subject

matter, for such relief as may be appropriate,

and said courts are hereby granted jurisdiction

to hear and determine such action.

(d) Delivery to Secretary of money or property at

termination of fiduciary relationship

The Secretary may require any money or

property in the possession of a fiduciary at the

time the fiduciary relationship is terminated, or

which is recovered pursuant to this subchapter,

to be delivered to him to be held in trust for the

individual Indian concerned.

(e) Use and disposition of money or property

held in trust by the United States by the Secretary; consent by competent Indian; determination of competency; applicability of administrative procedure under title 5; time

and place of hearing; judicial review

Under such regulations as he shall provide,

and with the consent of the individual Indian

concerned, unless the Secretary determines such

Indian to be incompetent by reason of minority

or otherwise, in which case such consent shall

not be required, the Secretary may use, advance, expend, exchange, deposit, dispose of, invest and reinvest, in any manner and for any

purpose, any money or other property held by

the United States in trust for such Indian. The

Secretary shall make no determination that an

adult Indian is incompetent except after according him an opportunity to be heard upon reasonable notice, in accordance with the provisions of

subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5. Unless the

Indian otherwise agrees, the hearing shall be

held in the State of California within sixty days

of the date of notice. A person aggrieved by a determination of incompetency made by the Secretary shall be entitled to judicial review of

such determination in accordance with sections

701 to 706 of title 5.
§ 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