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. The revisions make OHA's probate regulations consistent with those published on January 22, 2001, 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 that they coordinate their procedures to expedite the probate process for Indian decedents' estates. This final rule reflects comments OHA received on the interim rule it published on June 18, 2001.