Title 10, Armed ForcesRelease 119-102

§2605 Acceptance of Gifts for Defense Dependents’ Schools

Title 10 › Subtitle A — General Military Law › PART IV — SERVICE, SUPPLY, AND PROPERTY › CHAPTER 155 — ACCEPTANCE OF GIFTS AND SERVICES › § 2605

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Defense may accept gifts, including real property given on condition they be used for running or managing defense dependents’ schools. The Secretary may keep, manage, and spend those gifts and may pay the costs needed to accept them. Money and money from selling gifted property must go into the Department of Defense Dependents’ Education Gift Fund in the Treasury. The Secretary may use money from that fund for the benefit of those schools, following any conditions set by the gift. At the Secretary’s request, the Treasury may hold and invest the fund in U.S. government or U.S.-guaranteed securities. Interest and profits go back into the fund and can be used the same way. The Secretary of Defense must make rules to run this. Definitions: gift — includes a devise of real property or a bequest of personal property; defense dependents’ school — a school under the Defense Dependents’ Education Act of 1978 (20 U.S.C. 921 et seq.) or an elementary/secondary school under section 2164.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §2605

Armed Forces, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of Defense may accept, hold, administer, and spend any gift (including any gift of an interest in real property) made on the condition that it be used in connection with the operation or administration of a defense dependents’ school. The Secretary may pay all necessary expenses in connection with the acceptance of a gift under this subsection.
(b)There is established in the Treasury a fund to be known as the “Department of Defense Dependents’ Education Gift Fund”. Gifts of money, and the proceeds of the sale of property, received under subsection (a) shall be deposited in the fund. The Secretary may disburse funds deposited under this subsection for the benefit or use of defense dependents’ schools, subject to the terms of the gift.
(c)Subsection (c) of section 2601 of this title applies to property that is accepted under subsection (a) in the same manner that such subsection applies to property that is accepted under subsection (a) of that section.
(d)(1)Upon request of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Treasury may—
(A)retain money, securities, and the proceeds of the sale of securities, in the Department of Defense Dependents’ Education Gift Fund; and
(B)invest money and reinvest the proceeds of the sale of securities in that fund in securities of the United States or in securities guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States.
(2)The interest and profits accruing from those securities shall be deposited to the credit of the fund and may be disbursed as provided in subsection (b).
(e)In this section, the term “gift” includes a devise of real property or a bequest of personal property.
(f)The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe regulations to carry out this section.
(g)In this section, the term “defense dependents’ school” means the following:
(1)A school established as part of the defense dependents’ education system provided for under the Defense Dependents’ Education Act of 1978 (20 U.S.C. 921 et seq.).
(2)An elementary or secondary school established pursuant to section 2164 of this title.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Defense Dependents’ Education Act of 1978, referred to in subsec. (g)(1), is title XIV of Pub. L. 95–561, Nov. 1, 1978, 92 Stat. 2365, as amended, which is classified principally to chapter 25A (§ 921 et seq.) of Title 20, Education. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 921 of Title 20 and Tables.

Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–337, § 353(c)(1), substituted “schools” for “education system” in section catchline. Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–337, § 353(a)(1), substituted “a defense dependents’ school” for “the defense dependents’ education system provided for under the Defense Dependents’ Education Act of 1978 (20 U.S.C. 921 et seq.)”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103–337, § 353(a)(2), substituted “defense dependents’ schools” for “the defense dependent’s education system”. Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 103–337, § 353(b), added subsec. (g).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 2605

Title 10, Armed Forces

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102