Cardiff and Nantes have agreed to extend the deadline on the first instalment of the £15m transfer fee for Emiliano Sala until February 27.
The Bluebirds had been asked to make the first payment of €6m (£5.27m) to Nantes on February 20, but the clubs have agreed a delay of one week.
Sala died when the private plane bringing him to Cardiff crashed into the English Channel on January 21, just two days after his record move to the Premier League club was completed.
The 28-year-old’s body was recovered from the crash site after a lengthy search and his funeral – attended by both Cardiff and Nantes officials – took place in his native Argentina last Saturday.
Lincolnshire pilot David Ibbotson remains missing, presumed dead.
Nantes’ lawyers wrote to Cardiff on February 5 asking for the first of three annual payments for the player, as was agreed last month, to be paid within 10 working days.
Cardiff have made it clear they want to wait until the investigation into the crash is complete.
The Premier League club is querying “anomalies” in contract details, but chairman Mehmet Dalman has said they will be “honourable” with Nantes over the transfer fee if they are contractually obliged to play.
The situation is further complicated by Nantes owing Bordeaux 50 per cent of the fee because of a sell-on clause agreed when they bought Sala in 2015.
If the dispute is not resolved, it could end up in the hands of FIFA and its dispute resolution chamber, the body that arbitrates when players or clubs have a disagreement, or go straight to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.