REGULATIONS AND FORMS. CHAPTER XXI. TRANSFER OF PAY AGENCY. PENSION OFFICE, [No. Date.] A PENSIONER desirous of having his pension transferred to another agency, must make his application according to the subjoined form. The oath of the applicant must be taken before a duly qualified magistrate, whose official character and signature must be certified by the proper officer. The county clerk, Secretary of State, or some other officer, will certify under his seal of office, that the officer who administered the oath is a justice of the peace, judge, mayor, alderman or notary public (as the case may be), and that the signature purporting to be his is genuine. The oath must be supported by the testimony of some respectable person, as to the pensioner's identity. He must swear that the person who has taken the oath is the person described in the affidavit. The magistrate must certify that the witness is a person of veracity, and the affidavit must also be authenticated in the manner above directed. In every case where the clerk of the court, or other certifying officer, has no public seal of office, the certificate of a member of Congress, proving the official character and signature of the certifying officer, should be sent with the papers. Form of Application for a Transfer of Pension to another Pay Agency. STATE OF On this 88. day of, 18-, before me, the subscriber, a justice of the peace for the said county of -, personally appeared , who, on his oath, declares that he is the same person who formerly belonged to the company commanded by Captain in the regiment commanded by Colonel in the service of the United States; that his name was placed on the pension roll of the State of, from whence he has lately removed; that he now resides in the State of where he intends to remain, and wishes his pension to be there payable in future. The following are his reasons for removing from to -. (Claimant's Signature.) Sworn and subscribed to before me, the day and year aforesaid. (J. P.) STATE OF came day of -, A. D. 18, before me, the subscriber, a in and for said county, duly authorized to administer oaths, personally and —, whom I know to be residents of the county and State aforesaid, and persons whom I certify to be respectable and entitled to credit, and who being duly sworn, say that they were present and saw sign and make oath to the foregoing affidavit. They further say that they are acquainted with the said and know him to be the identical person he represents himself to be, and who made oath as aforesaid. (Signatures of Witnesses.) day of, A. D. 18—, (J. P.) Sworn to and subscribed before me, this and I certify that I have no interest in this case, nor am I concerned in its prosecution. The Clerk of the proper Court must certify, under seal to the official character of the Magistrate. REGULATIONS, FORMS AND DECISIONS. CHAPTER XXII. PAYMENT OF PENSIONS. OFFICIAL INSTRUCTIONS AND FORMS OF APPLICATION FOR PAYMENT OF 1 PENSIONS. In case a pension has remained unclaimed by any pensioner for the term of fourteen months after the same has become due and payable, it can not be paid by the Pension Agent, but application therefor must be made to the Treasury Department: if the certificate issued through the War or Interior Departments (on account of military service), to the Third Auditor; if through the Navy Department, to the Fourth Auditor of the Treasury. I. When application is made for the payment of a pension, the first thing that seems necessary is, that the identity of the person in whose behalf the pension is claimed should be established. II. Under the provisions of the acts of 6th April, 1838, and 23d August, 1842, where a pension has remained unclaimed by any pensioner for the term of fourteen months after the same became due and payable, it can not be paid by the Pension Agent, but application therefor must be made to the Treasury of the United States through the Third Auditor, if the pension certificate issued from the War Department; and through the Fourth Auditor, if it issued from the Navy Department. Each Pension Agent, immediately on the expiration of fourteen months, subsequent to each semi-annual payment, will certify to the office of the Second Comptroller a correct list, containing the name, rank, rate of pension, amount due, and time of last payment of each pensioner remaining unpaid on the roll of his agency, whose pension has been due and payable for the term of fourteen months prior to the date of such certificate. When, however, a new pensioner is placed on the roll, or an old pension is renewed, the fourteen months commence running from the semiannual payment next after the date of his, or her, pension certificate, and not from the commencement or renewal of the pension. III. When an attorney shall make application for a pension, (be the rank of the pensioner what it may), he must deposit with you a 1 These regulations and forms apply to the payment of pensions, both army and naval. REGULATIONS, FORMS AND DECISIONS. power of attorney in his favor, duly acknowledged, and dated on, or subsequent to, the day on which the pension claimed became due, and within ninety days of the time of his applying for payment, and also his own affidavit that said power was not given to him by reason of any sale, transfer or mortgage of said pension; and the execution of the power must be in the presence of at least one witness, other than the magistrate before whom it is acknowledged. IV. In all cases of payments upon a power of attorney, the justice of the peace or magistrate before whom the power is executed, must have lodged with the agent the certificate of the clerk of some court of record, under seal of the court, that he is legally authorized to act as such, and also a paper bearing his proper signature, certified to be such by the clerk of some court of record. V. It is advisable, and is so recommended, that Pension Agents procure and place in a book the signature and seals of clerks of the different courts within their agency, who may be authorized to certify as to powers, the better to detect, by comparison of the signatures and seals, impositions that may be attempted. VI. Under the provisions of the act of 2d March, 1829, and 29th June, 1840, in case of the death of any pensioner, the arrears of pension due to him at the time of his death must be paid— 1. "To the widow of the deceased pensioner, or to her attorney," proving herself to be such before a court of record. 2. If there be no widow, then to the executor or administrator on the estate of such pensioner, for the sole and exclusive benefit of the children, to be by him distributed among them in equal shares; and the law of 1840 declares that the arrears of pension "shall not be considered a part of the assets of said estate, nor liable to be applied to the payment of the debts of said estate in any case whatever." 3. In case of the death of any pensioner who is a widow leaving children, the amount of pension due at the time of her death must be paid to the executor or administrator for the benefit of her children, as directed in the foregoing paragraph. 4. In case of the death of any pensioner, whether male or female, leaving children, the amount of pension may be paid to any one or each of them, as they may prefer, without the intervention of an administrator. If one of the children is selected to receive the amount due, he, or she, must produce a power of attorney from the others for that purpose, duly authenticated. 5. If there be no widow, child or children, then the amount due REGULATIONS, FORMS AND DECISIONS. such pensioner at the time of his death must be paid to the legal representative of the decedent. 6. When an executor or an administrator shall apply for the pension due to a deceased person, he must deposit with you a certificate of the clerk of the court, judge of probate, register of wills, ordinary or surrogate (as the case may be), stating that he is duly authorized to act in that capacity on the estate of the deceased pensioner, and, if a male, that it has been proved to his satisfaction that there is no widow of the said pensioner living. VII. In all cases of payments being made of moneys due a deceased pensioner, the original pension certificate must be surrendered, as evidence of the identity of the person to whom the pension claimed was due, or other substantial evidence of such identity must be produced in case such certificate can not be obtained for surrendry, and that due search and inquiry have been made for said certificate, and that it can not be found. The date of said pensioner's death must be proved before a court of record. VIII. A certificate of the facts proved must be obtained from the clerk of the court. It is not necessary for the clerk to give the evidence in detail, but only to state the facts that have been proved, and certify under his seal of office that the testimony adduced was satisfactory to the court; and in case a pension certificate is illegally withheld from a pensioner, he (or she, as the case may be) must produce evidence of identity and the facts. IX. When a pensioner is placed under guardianship, the guardian applying for a pension must, in addition to the evidence of the pensioner's identity, deposit with you a certificate, from the proper authority, that he is, at that time, acting in that capacity, and also satisfactory evidence that his ward was living at the date the pension claimed became due. The identity of the pensioner, in such cases, must be established. X. For all payments made by you duplicate receipts must be taken, one of each you will forward, with your quarterly accounts, to the Third Auditor of the Treasury for pensions under the War Department, and to the Fourth Auditor for pensions under the Navy Department; and in all cases where a pensioner or attorney makes a mark from inability to write his name, there must be a witness thereto, otherwise such receipt or voucher will not be admitted at the Treasury. |