American Indian Probate Regulations

The Department of the Interior (Department) is finalizing updates to its regulations governing probate of property that the United States holds in trust or restricted status for American Indians, in an effort to continually improve the services the Department provides to individual Indians and Tribes. These updates allow the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) to adjudicate probate cases more efficiently by, among other things, establishing an expedited process for small, funds-only estates, reorganizing the purchase-at-probate process so that estates may be closed more quickly, and specifying which reasons justify reopening of closed probate estates. The revisions also enhance OHA's processing by adding certainty as to how estates should be distributed when certain circumstances arise that are not addressed in the statute, and improve notification to interested parties by, among other things, requiring posting of probate notices on a devoted OHA web page.