
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 38USC1918]

 
                      TITLE 38--VETERANS' BENEFITS
 
                        PART II--GENERAL BENEFITS
 
                          CHAPTER 19--INSURANCE
 
              SUBCHAPTER I--NATIONAL SERVICE LIFE INSURANCE
 
Sec. 1918. Assignments

    (a) Assignments of all or any part of the beneficiary's interest may 
be made by a designated beneficiary to a widow, widower, child, father, 
mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother, or sister of the insured, 
when the designated contingent beneficiary, if any, joins the 
beneficiary in the assignment, and if the assignment is delivered to the 
Secretary before any payments of the insurance shall have been made to 
the beneficiary. However, an interest in an annuity, when assigned, 
shall be payable in equal monthly installments in such multiple of 
twelve as most nearly equals the number of installments certain under 
such annuity, or in two hundred and forty installments, whichever is the 
lesser. The provisions of this subsection shall not be applicable to 
insurance maturing after July 26, 1962.
    (b) Except as to insurance granted under the provisions of section 
1922(b) of this title, any person to whom insurance maturing after July 
26, 1962, is payable may assign all or any portion of such person's 
interest in such insurance to a widow, widower, child, father, mother, 
grandfather, grandmother, brother, or sister of the insured when the 
designated contingent beneficiary, if any, joins the beneficiary in the 
assignment. Such joinder shall not be required in any case in which the 
insurance proceeds are payable in a lump sum.

(Pub. L. 85-857, Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1153, Sec. 718; Pub. L. 87-557, 
Sec. 1, July 27, 1962, 76 Stat. 245; Pub. L. 96-128, title III, 
Sec. 304, Nov. 28, 1979, 93 Stat. 986; Pub. L. 97-295, Sec. 4(24), Oct. 
12, 1982, 96 Stat. 1306; renumbered Sec. 1918 and amended Pub. L. 102-
83, Secs. 4(a)(2)(A)(iii)(III), 5(a), (c)(1), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 
403, 406.)


                               Amendments

    1991--Pub. L. 102-83, Sec. 5(a), renumbered section 718 of this 
title as this section.
    Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102-83, Sec. 4(a)(2)(A)(iii)(III), substituted 
``Secretary'' for ``Veterans' Administration''.
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 102-83, Sec. 5(c)(1), substituted ``1922(b)'' 
for ``722(b)''.
    1982--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 97-295 substituted ``after July 26, 
1962'' for ``on or after the date of enactment of this sentence''.
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 97-295 substituted ``after July 26, 1982,'' for 
``on or after the date of enactment of this sentence''.
    1979--Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96-128 substituted ``such person's'' for 
``his''.
    1962--Pub. L. 87-557 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), 
inserted sentence making subsection inapplicable to insurance maturing 
on or after ``the date of enactment of this sentence [July 27, 1962]'', 
and added subsec. (b).


                    Effective Date of 1979 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 96-128 effective Nov. 28, 1979, see section 
601(b) of Pub. L. 96-128, set out as a note under section 1114 of this 
title.
