72.15—Action when possession is impractical.
(a)
A consular officer should not take physical possession of the personal estate of a deceased United States citizen or non-citizen national in his or her consular district when the consular officer determines in his or her discretion that it would be impractical to do so.
(b)
In such cases, the consular officer must take action that he or she determines in his or her discretion would be appropriate to protect t the personal estate such as:
(1)
Requesting the persons, officials or organizations having custody of the personal estate to ship the property to the consular officer, if the personal estate contains sufficient funds to cover the costs of such shipment; or
(2)
Requesting local authorities to safeguard the property until a legal representative can take physical possession.