Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 66.djvu/736

 PUBLIC LAW 5 5 0 - J U L Y 16, 1952

[66

STAT,

TIME LIMITATIONS

SEC. 503. Any member of the Armed Forces entitled to musteringout payment who shall have been discharged or relieved from active service under honorable conditions before the effective date of this title shall, if application therefor is made within two years after the date of enactment of this title, be paid such mustering-out payment by the Department of the Army, Navy, or Air Force, or the Treasury Department, as the case may be, beginning within one month after application has been received and approved by such department. No member of the Armed Forces shall receive musteringout payment under this title more than once, and such payment shall accrue and the amount thereof shall be computed as of the time of discharge for the purpose of effecting a permanent separation from the service or of ultimate relief from active service or, at the option of such member, for the purpose of enlistment, reenlistment, or appointment in a regular component of the Armed Forces. DECEASED MEMBERS

SEC. 504. If any member of the Armed Forces, after his discharge or relief from active service, shall die before receiving any portion of or the full amount of his mustering-out payment, the balance of the amount due him shall be payable, on appropriate application therefor, to his surviving spouse, if any; and if he shall leave no surviving spouse, then in equal shares to his child or children, if any; and if he shall leave no surviving spouse or child or children, then in equal shares to his surviving parents, if any. No f)ayments under this title shall be made to any other person. ADMINISTRATION OF TITLE Mu s t er i n E-°"t payments.

Regulations.

Payment svirvivors.

SEC. 505. (a) Mustering-out payments due or to become due under this title shall not be assignable and any payments made to or on account of a veteran hereunder shall be exempt from taxation, shall be exempt from the claims of creditors, including any claim of the United States, and shall not be subject to attachment, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or equitable process whatever either before or after receipt by the payee. (b) The Secretaries of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Treasury shall make such regulations not inconsistent with this title as may be necessary effectively to carry out the provisions thereof, and their decisions shall be final and not subject to review by any court or other Government official. (c) The Secretaries of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Treasury, or such subordinate officers as they may designate, are authorized to make direct payment to survivors over seventeen years of age, and to select a proper person or persons to whom mustering-out payments may be made for the use and benefit of former active members of the Armed Forces, or survivors thereof, as defined by section 504 hereof, without the necessity of appointment by judicial proceedings of a legal representative of any such former member or such survivors when, in the opinion of the respective Secretaries or their designees, the interests of persons under seventeen years of age so justify, or where the former active member or his survivors is suffering from a mental disability sufficient to make direct payment not in the best interests of such person or persons. Payments made under the provisions of this subsection shall constitute a complete discharge of the obligation of the United States as provided in this title; and the selection of a proper person or persons, as provided herein, and the

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