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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 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.
(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.
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