You are using an unsupported browser. This web site is designed for the current versions of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Safari.
The Office of the Federal Register publishes documents on behalf of Federal agencies but does not have any authority over their programs. We recommend you directly contact the agency associated with the content in question.
If you have comments or suggestions on how to improve the www.ecfr.gov website or have questions about using www.ecfr.gov, please choose the 'Website Feedback' button below.
If you would like to comment on the current content, please use the 'Content Feedback' button below for instructions on contacting the issuing agency
Enhanced content is provided to the user to provide additional context.
This content is from the eCFR and is authoritative but unofficial.
Navigate by entering citations or phrases (eg: 1 CFR 1.1 49 CFR 172.101 Organization and Purpose 1/1.1 Regulation Y FAR).
Choosing an item from citations and headings will bring you directly to the content. Choosing an item from full text search results will bring you to those results. Pressing enter in the search box will also bring you to search results.
Background and more details are available in the Search & Navigation guide.
5 U.S.C. 5721-5738; 5741-5742; E.O. 11609, 36 FR 13747, 3 CFR, 1971-1975 Comp., p 586; Presidential Memorandum of September 12, 2011, 76 FR 57621, 3 CFR, 2011 Comp., p. 356.
FTR Case 2025-05, 90 FR 56893, Dec. 8, 2025, unless otherwise noted.
This content is from the eCFR and may include recent changes applied to the CFR. The official, published CFR, is updated annually and available below under "Published Edition". You can learn more about the process here.
Subscribe to: 41 CFR Part 303-70
View the most recent official publication:
These links go to the official, published CFR, which is updated annually. As a result, it may not include the most recent changes applied to the CFR. Learn more.
Information and documentation can be found in our developer resources.
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the official legal print publication containing the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the Federal Government. The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR) is a continuously updated online version of the CFR. It is not an official legal edition of the CFR.
Learn more about the eCFR, its status, and the editorial process.
5 U.S.C. 5721-5738; 5741-5742; E.O. 11609, 36 FR 13747, 3 CFR, 1971-1975 Comp., p 586; Presidential Memorandum of September 12, 2011, 76 FR 57621, 3 CFR, 2011 Comp., p. 356.
FTR Case 2025-05, 90 FR 56893, Dec. 8, 2025, unless otherwise noted.
Agencies must authorize payment of expenses when the employee, at the time of death, was:
(a) On official travel status away from the official station;
(b) Performing official duties OCONUS or in transit;
(c) Reassigned away from their actual place of residence under a mandatory mobility agreement;
(d) In direct support of or directly related to a military operation, including a contingency operation, or an operation in response to an emergency declared by the President as provided in § 303-70.600; or
(e) Performing official duties as determined by the head of agency and was a covered employee as provided in § 303-70.700.
Agencies must pay death-related expenses if the requirements in § 303-70.1 are met, even when the death is not work-related.
Agencies must pay death-related expenses when an employee dies while on leave or on a non-workday, while on TDY or stationed OCONUS, provided the requirements in § 303-70.1 are met. However, payment cannot exceed the amount allowed if death had occurred while on duty at the TDY station or at the official station OCONUS.
Agencies will not pay death-related expenses under this chapter when the same expenses are payable under other United States laws. Specifically, when an employee dies from injuries sustained while performing official duty, death-related expenses are payable under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), 5 U.S.C. 8134.
Agencies will not pay death-related expenses under this chapter to relocate the immediate family to another location for an employee who dies at the permanent official station, except when the employee dies while performing duties under the provisions of subparts F, G, and H of this part.
Agencies must pay all actual costs including but not limited to:
(a) Preparation of remains, including:
(1) Embalming or cremation;
(2) Necessary clothing;
(3) A casket or container suitable for shipment to place of interment; and
(4) Expenses necessary to comply with local laws at the port of entry in the United States; and
(b) Transportation of remains by common carrier (that is normally used for transportation of remains), hearse, other means, or a combination thereof, from the TDY station, OCONUS location, or CONUS location covered by § 303-70.1(e), to the employee's residence, official station, or place of interment, including but not limited to:
(1) Movement from place of death to a mortuary and/or cemetery;
(2) Shipping permits;
(3) Outside case for shipment and sealing of the case if necessary;
(4) Removal to and from the common carrier; and
(5) Ferry fares, bridge tolls, and similar charges.
No limitations exist on the place of interment; agencies may pay expenses to transport the remains for interment at the actual residence, the official station, or such other place appropriate for interment as determined by the head of the agency.
Agencies may authorize the escort of remains when the employee's death occurs:
(a) While in official travel status away from the official station inside CONUS;
(b) While assigned to official duties OCONUS or in transit thereto or therefrom; or
(c) While reassigned away from the actual place of residence under a mandatory mobility agreement.
No more than two persons may be authorized travel expenses to escort the remains of a deceased employee.
Agencies may authorize any travel expenses in accordance with chapter 301 of this subtitle that are necessary for the escort of remains to the place of internment.
(a) Mortuary services must be furnished when an immediate family member, residing with the employee, dies while the employee is stationed OCONUS if such services are requested by the employee, and when:
(1) Local commercial mortuary facilities or supplies are not available; or
(2) The cost of available mortuary facilities or supplies is prohibitive as determined by the agency head.
(b) The employee must reimburse the agency for all furnished mortuary facilities and supplies.
If requested by the employee, agencies must pay to transport the remains of an immediate family member, residing with the employee, who dies while the employee is stationed OCONUS. The remains may be transported to the residence of the immediate family member. The employee may elect an alternate destination, but it must be approved by the agency head or designated representative.
Agencies may not pay interment expenses when an immediate family member, residing with the employee, dies while the employee is stationed OCONUS.
Agencies must furnish transportation, if requested by the employee, when an immediate family member, residing with the employee, dies while in transit to or from the employee's duty station OCONUS. Agencies must follow § 303-70.301 for transportation expenses and furnish mortuary services only if the conditions in § 303-70.300 are met.
Agencies must pay transportation costs to return the deceased employee's baggage from an official TDY station to their official station or residence. However, agencies may not pay insurance of, or reimbursement for, loss or damage to baggage.
Agencies must only transport Government property and the employee's personal property, including professional books, papers, and equipment (PBP&E).
Agencies must pay costs associated with returning the POV from the TDY location to the employee's permanent official station, but only if the agency had authorized the use of the employee's POV at the TDY location as more advantageous to the Government than other means of transportation.
Agencies must return the immediate family, baggage, privately owned vehicle (POV), and household goods to the former residence, or transport them to the new official station CONUS, or to an alternate destination, if the immediate family chooses to continue relocation (see § 303-70.501). Travel and transportation must begin within one year from the date of the employee's death. A one-year extension may be granted if requested by the immediate family prior to the expiration of the one-year limit. The agency head or designated representative may approve the immediate family's relocation.
If the immediate family chooses to continue the relocation, agencies must continue payment of relocation expenses, provided the immediate family was included on the employee's relocation travel orders. (See § 303-70.502.)
When the immediate family chooses to continue the relocation, the following expenses must be authorized:
(a) Travel to the new duty station or alternate destination as approved by the agency.
(b) Shipment of household goods not to exceed 18,000 pounds net weight to the new duty station, or to an alternate destination selected by the immediate family and approved by the agency.
(c) Storage of household goods not to exceed 60 days with an additional 90 days extension, if approved by the agency, not to exceed a total of 150 days.
(d) Reimbursement of real estate expenses incident to the relocation, unless relocation is to the former actual residence.
(e) Temporary quarters subsistence expense (TQSE) not to exceed 60 days, to be paid using the TQSE payment method authorized in chapter 302-6 of this subtitle. The rate used for the TQSE will be the applicable per diem rate in effect for the locality of the TQ and will use the multiplier for an unaccompanied spouse or domestic partner, and immediate family, if the TQSE was originally authorized in the relocation travel orders.
(f) Shipment of one POV to the new duty station, or to an alternate destination selected by the immediate family and approved by the agency, if the POV shipment was originally authorized in the relocation travel orders.
Agencies must provide transportation for the employee's immediate family, baggage, and household goods from the current official station to the former actual residence or an alternate destination. However, the employee must have died as a result of disease or injury incurred while performing official duties:
(a) In an overseas location where the employee was performing such official duties;
(b) Within the area of responsibility of the Commander of the United States Central Command; and
(c) In direct support of or directly related to a military operation, including a contingency operation (as defined in 10 U.S.C. 101(a)(13)) or an operation in response to an emergency declared by the President.
When the immediate family selects to relocate to the former actual residence or alternate destination as approved by the agency, agencies must authorize the following expenses:
(a) Transportation of the immediate family;
(b) Transportation of household goods of the immediate family, including transporting, packing, crating, draying, and unpacking, not to exceed 18,000 pounds net weight; and
(c) Storage of household goods moved pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, not to exceed 60 days with an additional 90 days extension, if approved by the agency, not to exceed a total of 150 days.
Agencies must pay costs associated with returning the POV from the following:
(a) TDY location to the employee's permanent official station, if the agency had authorized the use of the employees POV at the TDY location as more advantageous to the Government than other means of transportation; or
(b) Official station OCONUS to the employee's former actual residence or alternate destination as approved by the agency, if the agency had determined that the use of the employee's POV was required in accordance with part 302-9 of this subtitle.
Agencies must provide transportation for the employee's immediate family, baggage, and household goods to an alternate residential destination if the head of the agency (or a designee) determines that the employee died as a result of personal injury sustained while in the performance of the employee's duties, and the employee was—
(a) A law enforcement officer as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5541;
(b) An employee in or under the Federal Bureau of Investigation who is not described in paragraph (a) of this section; or
(c) A Customs and Border Protection officer as defined in 5 U.S.C. 8331(31).
If the place where the immediate family will reside is different from the place where the immediate family resided at the time of the employee's death, and within the United States, then the agency must approve the following expenses:
(a) Transportation of the immediate family;
(b) Moving the household goods of the immediate family, including transporting, packing, crating, draying, and unpacking, not to exceed 18,000 pounds net weight;
(c) Storage of household goods moved pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, not to exceed 60 days with an additional 90 days extension, if approved by the agency, not to exceed a total of 150 days; and
(d) Transportation of one privately owned motor vehicle.
Agencies must pay cost associated with returning the POV from the following:
(a) TDY location to the employee's permanent official station if the agency had authorized the use of the employee's POV at the TDY location as being advantageous to the Government; or
(b) Official station OCONUS to the employee's former actual residence or alternate destination as approved by the agency, if the agency determined that the use of the employee's POV was required in accordance with part 302-9 of this subtitle.
Receipts are required for all claims of $75 or higher for reimbursement under this part.