Title 25, IndiansRelease 119-102
§117a Per Capita Distribution of Funds to Tribe Members
Title 25 › CHAPTER 4 — PERFORMANCE BY UNITED STATES OF OBLIGATIONS TO INDIANS › SUBCHAPTER II — DISBURSEMENT OF MONEYS AND SUPPLIES › § 117a
Summary
The Secretary can distribute trust funds held for a tribe that are meant to be paid per person, or the tribe can do the distributing if its leaders ask and the Secretary agrees. Payments go to the members or, if a member is a minor or legally found incompetent, to a parent, guardian, or a tribal trust.
Full Legal Text
Title 25, §117a
Indians, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Funds which are held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as the “Secretary”) for an Indian tribe and which are to be distributed per capita to members of that tribe may be so distributed by either the Secretary or, at the request of the governing body of the tribe and subject to the approval of the Secretary, the tribe. Any funds so distributed shall be paid by the Secretary or the tribe directly to the members involved or, if such members are minors or have been legally determined not competent to handle their own affairs, to a parent or guardian of such members or to a trust fund for such minors or legal incompetents as determined by the governing body of the tribe.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Short Title
Pub. L. 98–64, Aug. 2, 1983, 97 Stat. 365, which enacted sections 117a to 117c and repealed section 117 of this title and repealed section 19 (per capita payments provisions) of act June 28, 1898, ch. 517, 30 Stat. 502, is popularly known as the “Per Capita Act”.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
25 U.S.C. § 117a
Title 25, Indians
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102