---
kind: "section"
citation: "25 U.S.C. § 117a"
title: "25"
title_heading: "Indians"
number: "117a"
heading: "Per capita distribution of funds to tribe members"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/25/117a"
units:
  - "Chapter 4 — Performance by United States of Obligations to Indians"
  - "Subchapter II — Disbursement of Moneys and Supplies"
---

# §117a. Per capita distribution of funds to tribe members


Funds which are held in trust by the [Secretary](/usc/25/5130.md?p=1) of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as the “[Secretary](/usc/25/5130.md?p=1)”) for an [Indian tribe](/usc/25/5130.md?p=2) and which are to be distributed per capita to members of that tribe may be so distributed by either the [Secretary](/usc/25/5130.md?p=1) or, at the request of the governing body of the tribe and subject to the approval of the [Secretary](/usc/25/5130.md?p=1), the tribe. Any funds so distributed shall be paid by the [Secretary](/usc/25/5130.md?p=1) 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.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–64, § 1, Aug. 2, 1983, 97 Stat. 365.)

## Notes

### 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 L. 98–64, Aug. 2, 1983, 97 Stat. 365, which enacted sections 117a to 117c and repealed section 117 of this title and repealed section 19 (per capita payments provisions) of act June 28, 1898, ch. 517, 30 Stat. 502, is popularly known as the “Per Capita Act”.