Check eligibility for vessel documentation and preferred-mortgage status

Key facts

Human involvement

Yellow · Close supervision

How AI is used

From the ownership papers, record the owner type, the net tonnage if stated, whether a foreign documentation is mentioned, and whether the mortgage covers the whole vessel. Decide nothing.

What the lawyer must review

A certificate of documentation may be issued under 46 USC section 12103 only if the vessel is wholly owned by eligible owners, is at least 5 net tons, and is not documented under the laws of a foreign country. Eligible owners include a United States citizen, an association, trust, joint venture, or other entity whose members are citizens and which can hold title, a partnership whose general partners are citizens and whose controlling interest is owned by citizens, a corporation incorporated under United States or state law whose chief executive and board chair are citizens and whose noncitizen directors are no more than a minority of the number needed for a quorum, the United States Government, and the government of a State. The Secretary may issue a temporary certificate before measurement. A preferred mortgage under section 31322 includes the whole of the vessel, is filed in substantial compliance with section 31321, and covers a documented vessel or a vessel for which a documentation application is filed in substantial compliance with chapter 121. Section 31321 was not opened. Subsection (a)(4) limits mortgagees of certain fishery-endorsement vessels. Open it before you apply it.

Written for / version

United States versionUS