80 STAT. ]
PUBLIC LAW 89-554-SEPT. 6, 1966
"(2) settlement of accounts; and "(3) payment of death gratuities. That date is— " (A) the day after the day on which the 12-month period in a missing status ends; or " (B) if the missing status has been continued under subsection (a) of this section, the day determined by the Secretary concerned, or his designee. "(c) For the sole purpose of determining status under this section, a dependent of a member on active duty is treated as if he were a member. Any determination made by the Secretary concerned, or his designee, under this section is conclusive on all other departments and agencies of the United States. This subsection does not entitle a dependent to pay, allowances, or other compensation to which he is not otherwise entitled. '*§ 556. Secretarial determinations " (a) The Secretary concerned, or his designee, may make any determination necessary to administer this chapter and, when so made, it is conclusive as to— " (1) death or finding of death; "^2) the fact of dependency under this chapter; "(3) the fact of dependency for the purpose of paying six months' death gratuities authorized by law; "(4) the fact of dependency under any other law authorizing the payment of pay, allowances, or other emoluments to enlisted members of the armed forces, when the payments are contingent on dependency; " (5) any other status covered by this chapter; "(6) an essential date, including one on which evidence or information is received by the Secretary concerned; and "(7) whether information received concerning a member of a uniformed service is to be construed and acted on as an official report of death. "(b) When the Secretary concerned receives information that he considers establishes conclusively the death of a member of a uniformed service, he shall, notwithstanding any earlier action relating to death or other status of the member, act on it as an official report of death. After the end of the 12-month period in a missing status prescribed by section 555 of this title, the Secretary concerned, or his designee, shall, when he considers that the information received, or a lapse of time without information, establishes a reasonable presumption that a member in a missing status is dead, make a finding of death. "(c) The Secretary concerned, or his designee, may determine the entitlement of a member to pay and allowances under this chapter, including credits and charges in his account, and that determination is conclusive. An account may not be charged or debited with an amount that a member captured, beleaguered, or besieged by a hostile force may receive or be entitled to receive from, or have placed to his credit by, the hostile force as pay, allowances, or c>ther compensation.
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