Trust Management Reform: Probate of Indian Trust Estates

The Department of the Interior, Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA), is revising its regulations regarding hearings and appeals involving the probate of property and funds held in trust or restricted status for individual Indians and Alaska Natives. These revisions are meant to further the Secretary's trust responsibility to these individuals. The revisions make OHA's probate regulations consistent with those recently adopted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to accommodate BIA's re-assumption of responsibility for some probate cases. OHA's revisions will ensure that BIA and OHA apply the same standards and criteria for determining heirs and paying claims and coordinate their procedures to expedite the probate process for Indian decedents' estates. Because of this need for consistency, OHA is making the revisions immediately effective, although OHA is also requesting comments on these revisions and will consider them prior to issuing a final rule.