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31 CFR § 515.523 - Transactions incident to the administration of decedents' estates.

Date issued: Sep. 21 2015

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§515.523 Transactions incident to the administration of decedents' estates.
All transactions incident to the administration and distribution of the assets of a blocked estate of a decedent are authorized. Such transactions include the appointment and qualification of a personal representative in the United States or Cuba, collection and preservation of assets by a personal representative and associated fees, payment of funeral expenses and expenses of the last illness, transfer of title, and distribution of assets pursuant to a valid testamentary disposition or intestate succession. All property distributed pursuant to this section is unblocked, provided that neither Cuba nor a Cuban national (other than the decedent or a person unblocked pursuant to §515.505) has an interest in the property.
Note to §515.523: See §515.570(f)(1) for a general license authorizing funds deposited in a blocked bank account in a banking institution, as defined in §515.314, as a result of certain administration of decedents' estates to be remitted to a national of Cuba.
[80 FR 56920, Sept. 21, 2015]
External link location:
https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=39d526b0e9bbc0f7269459b6dd3007ab&mc=true&node=pt31.3.515&rgn=div5#se31.3.515_1523

TURBOFAC Commentary (230 words)

Notes:

1) Read in conjunction with 515.327 (Blocked estate of a decedent), 515.407 (Administration of blocked estates of decedents) and 515.570(f)(1) (Remittances).

2) While 515.327 treats virtually all estates relating to Cuba in any was a nominally blocked in their entirety, recent policy changes, as reflected in the GLs referred to above, are very permissive. But see Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (2011), an enforcement action involving a blocked estate that, even as of January, 2019, would exceed the scope of the available general license.

See also FAQ 111.

3) Refer to the Email in FAC No. CU-155527; C-19065; Related OFAC Email from 2017 (and comments thereto). This provision appears to apply to "the assets of a blocked estate of a decedent," as well as blocked assets of an estate that is, at the level of the entire estate, not actually blocked (e.g., because the decedent and all heirs are not Cuban nationals).

4) Case No. CU-81874; Case No. CU-2013-300818-4 and Case No. CU-2013-300818-5 are also of note, as is Case No. CU-2019-361318-1 (515.523 allows U.S. lawyer to act as "personal representative" of a blocked estate at the behest of a blocked Cuban National heir, and distribute blocked funds to a blocked Cuban National pursuant to 515.570(f)(1)).