Glossary of Indian land tenure terms


		Alienate Chain of title Checkerboarding Escheat Fee simple Fee-to-trust conversion Forced fee patents Fractionated land Indian landowner Interest Intestate Joint tenancy with the right of survivorship Land in trust or federal trust land Land Rights Life Estate Off-reservation trust land Ownership in severalty Patents-in-fee Probate Restricted fee lands Remainder interest Tenancy in common Testamentary disposition Testate Tribally-owned land Trust patents Trust-to-fee conversion Undivided interest Usufruct









	Alienate The transfer of a right or ownership of property to somebody. Chain of title A report of the ownership history from the government allotment or patent to the current owners is referred to as a chain of title. Checkerboarding Since the General Allotment Act allowed for a significant amount of land to pass out of tribal or individual Indian hands, lands within reservation boundaries may be in a variety of types of ownership—tribal, individual Indian, non-Indian, as well as a mix of trust and fee lands. Thus, the pattern of mixed ownership resembles a checkerboard. Checkerboarding seriously impairs the ability of tribes or individual Indians to use land to their own advantage for farming, ranching, as a home site or for development. It also hampers access to lands that the tribe does own and uses in traditional ways. Furthermore, serious questions of jurisdiction occur on reservations as different types of owners fall under different governing authorities. Escheat Escheat is the reversion of the property of a deceased person to the government when there are no legal heirs. In the Indian Land Consolidation Act of 1983, the government proposed that seemingly insignificant fractional interests in allotted land—no more than 2 percent of the total acreage in an allotted tract earning less than $100 in the year prior to the owner’s death—be reverted to the tribal government regardless of whether the Indian owner had a will describing his or her legal heirs. This was called “forced escheat”. The Supreme Court found this type of escheat a violation of the Federal Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. Fee Simple The most basic form of ownership. The owner holds title and control of the property. The owner may make decisions about the most common land use or sale without government oversight. In Indian country, however, whether the owner of fee simple land is Indian or non-Indian is a factor in deciding who has jurisdiction over the land. Due to the checkerboarding of Indian reservations, different governing authorities - such as county, state, federal, and tribal governments – may claim the authority to regulate, tax, or perform various activities within reservation borders based on whether a piece of land is Indian or non-Indian owned. These different claims to jurisdictional authority often conflict. The case law relevant to jurisdiction on these lands is complex and on some points inconsistent and unsettled. Fee-to-Trust Conversion Original allotted trust lands that were transferred to fee status by the allottee or the BIA under the “forced fee” patent era can be returned to trust status in a fee-to-trust conversion if still owned by an Indian. Or, tribes or individual Indians can initiate the process on fee lands they already own or lands they acquire. This process usually takes more than a year and often requires an individual Indian to either declare him or herself legally “incompetent” to manage his or her lands or show other compelling reasons for reestablishing the trust relationship. Forced Fee Patents A forced fee patent is a trust-to-fee conversion without the request, consent, or knowledge of the landowner. This conversion was allowed by the Burke Act of 1906. Since land that was once in trust became taxable after the issuance of the forced fee patent by the Secretary of the Interior, 27,000,000 acres of allotments were lost through tax foreclosure sales. This was particularly the case with Indians who were serving in the military who were unaware that their land status had changed and taxes were due. Fractionated land Fractionated land is an allotment owned by more than one owner. The fractionation of land was caused by the way the General Allotment Act dictated how lands would pass from one generation to another. After an Indian allottee died, the ownership of the lands would be given to his or her heirs but the land parcel would remain intact. As these owners died, the ownership in the land would again be divided among their relatives, thus compounding over and over the number of ownership interests in a parcel of land. These single pieces of land often have hundreds of owners, which makes it difficult for any one of the owners to use the land (i.e. for farming or building a home). By law, a majority of owners must agree to a particular use of land. Indian Landowner Any tribe or individual Indian who owns an interest in Indian land in trust or resticted status is a landowner. Interest When used with respect to Indian land, an interest is an ownership right to the surface estate of Indian land that is unlimited or uncertain in duration. This includes life estates. Intestate Leaving no legally valid will. Joint tenancy with the right of survivorship If you own land with someone else as joint tenants with the right of survivorship, your right to the land lasts as long as you live. As each joint tenant dies, the surviving joint tenants get the share of the deceased joint tenant. Eventually, the last surviving joint tenant owns the entire interest in the land, and only that person can decide who gets the land after that remaining tenant dies. This is a means used to reduce fractionation, since all interests in the land are consolidated with each successive death of a tenant. However, it limits the ability to pass on an estate exclusively to the surviving tenant. Land in Trust or Federal Trust Land Indian-owned land, the title to which is held in trust and protected by the federal government. Indian people and tribes have use of the land, but ultimate control of the land remains with the federal government. Land rights Although we often speak of people “owning land”, in an American legal context it is more correct to say that people have obtained rights to inhabit and use land. American jurisprudence has slowly evolved to consider property as not the physical object but as a “bundle of rights” composed as legal relationships such as the “right to sell” or “right to devise”. Usually, these rights or legal relations have economic or sale value if they are allowed to be transferred. Although native people may treat and use the land differently, the concept that people inhabit but do not own the land is also found in Native American culture. “Some of our chiefs make the claim that the land belongs to us. It is not what the Great Spirit told me. He told me that the land belongs to him, that no people owns the land…” (Kanekuk, Kickapoo Prophet) In American law, the rights to inhabit and use land can be gained by conquest, decree, sale, lease, easement, escheat, patent, or by other agreement. The rights held by one individual may be conveyed to one or more other individuals. The rights to the surface of the earth may be held by different individuals than those who have the rights to the space above (super-surface) and the material below the surface (subsurface) of the earth. Furthermore, the rights to the surface, subsurface, and super-surface may each be shared by many individuals. Most rights are conveyed by a written instrument which evidences a transaction in which any interest in land is created, alienated, mortgaged, or assigned. Life Estate If you own a life estate in land, your right to the land lasts as long as you live, but you cannot decide who will get the land when you pass away. Off-Reservation Trust Land Off-reservation trust land is land outside the boundaries of reservations that is protected by the federal government for Indian use. For example, these pieces of land could be religious sites or pieces allotted to individuals out of the public domain. Ownership in severalty Rights to land that are owned by one individual. Patents-in-Fee The word “patent” means the title deed by which the federal government conveys or transfers land to people. “In fee” refers to the fee simple ownership in land. The term “patent-in-fee” describes the title document issued by the U.S. Federal Government to terminate the trust created by the trust patent issued to the allottee. The patent-in-fee operates to vest fee simple ownership in an allottee or their heirs. Probate Probate laws are legal rules by which property is transferred from a deceased property owner to his or her heirs and/or beneficiaries. Under the General Allotment Act, a tribe’s traditional rules of descent and property transfer were replaced by the probate laws of the territory or state in which the tribal member resided or where the property was located. This is still the case where an Indian landowner dies without having written a will or where there is no tribal probate code. The Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) is responsible for the probate of trust property owned by deceased Native Americans and examines federal law, federal regulations, tribal law, and state law to determine the heirs and/or beneficiaries, the validity of wills, and the validity of claims. If an Indian dies after making out a legally valid will, then that document decides who the beneficiaries are (or who gets what during probate) once the OHA legally certifies the validity of that will. If the deceased does not have a will, but the tribe has a probate code of its own, the property of the deceased is transferred to heirs according to that tribal probate code. (The Indian Law Consolidation Act of 1983 allowed any Indian tribe to adopt a tribal probate code to govern descent and distribution of trust or restricted lands within the tribe’s reservation or lands subject to the jurisdiction of the tribe.) These codes are meant to reduce fractionation on Indian land, keep Indian land in Indian ownership, and maintain tribal sovereignty. However, if the deceased does not have a legally valid will, and the individual does not belong to a tribe with a tribal probate code, then the administrative law judges of the Department of Interior will determine who are the beneficiaries and/or heirs of the deceased. The judge will apply the probate laws of the state in which the property is located. This usually means that the deceased Indian’s trust land will fractionate among his or her heirs. The process for probate is this: After the BIA is notified of a death, the Agency or Field Office compiles a “probate package” which consists of family information including family history, marriage, divorce, or death certificates, adoptions in or out of the family, will(s), and any other information necessary to administer the estate. OHA reviews and verifies the information and accomplishes the necessary follow-up work. This may include contacting heirs for additional documents such as birth certificates, divorce decrees, etc. After the file is ready, OHA schedules the case for hearing, sends out notices of hearing, and conducts one or more hearings to properly administer the estate. At the hearing, the administrative law judge receives testimony on all relevant questions and issues to determine the nature and location of the deceased’s trust property and identifies the heirs and beneficiaries. If the deceased wrote a will, the judge will either approve or disapprove the will. If there is not a will, the judge will determine the heirs and the estate will be divided among them based on the information submitted at the hearing. If there are no claims or appeals against the estate, the estate is closed 60 days after the date of the final notice of decision. The agency has an additional 15-day period before they can begin the process of closing out the estate in their books. Thus, it takes at least 75 days for the agency to pay out the estate. However, due to the sometimes overwhelming backlog of probates on many reservations, the process may take much longer. After the estate is closed out, the BIA Probate Office then processes the paperwork to pay out and distribute the estate and forwards this to the local Office of Trust Funds Management (OTFM). OTFM will then forward the entire package to Albuquerque OTFM for encoding and payment. Restricted Fee Lands The ownership of these lands is the same as fee simple land except that there are specific government-imposed restrictions on use and/or disposition. The title of the land is held by the individual Indian or tribe but may only be alienated or encumbered by the owner with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Remainder Interest If you own a remainder interest in land, your right to the land begins when the person owning the life estate in the land dies. If an Indian has the remainder interest, the land stays in trust. To prevent Indian lands from passing out of trust, non-Indian heirs will only receive a life estate in Indian lands. Because a non-Indian heir owns less than the full interest, a “remainder interest” is created, and this remainder interest must go to an Indian. If there are no such heirs, the remainder may be purchased by any Indian co-owner of the parcel. If no offer is made to purchase the parcel, the remainder interest passes to the tribe. The rules are applicable to both testate (with a will) and intestate (no will) Indian estates. Tenancy in common Tenancy in common is the most common form of ownership of rights held in trust for Native Americans. Tenants in common have unity of possession, which means that every owner has an equal right with their co-owners to the land as long as they live. A tenant in common has an undivided interest in the whole property as if they were the sole owner, and can transfer their interest by gift, sale or will. A tenant in common can also decide who will own their interest when they pass away. Testamentary Disposition Property bequeathed or set out in a will. Testate Having made a legally valid will. Testate succession is the transfer of property according to a legally valid will. Tribally-Owned Land Land that is owned by a group of Indians recognized by the federal government as an Indian tribe. Trust Patents Individual Indian allottees were issued documents called “trust patents” to verify that their land was held in trust by the government. Trust-to-Fee Conversion The conversion of lands held in trust by the U.S. Government to fee simple status. With the passage of the Burke Act in 1906, Indian lands held in trust were converted to fee status if the Secretary of the Interior determined that the Indian landowner was competent. Today, trust lands can be converted to fee status in 30 days. Only individual Indian landowners can request a trust-to-fee conversion. Undivided Interest A share of the ownership interest in a parcel of trust land is referred to as an undivided interest. The number of interests grows with the division among heirs of these interests according to state or tribal probate laws. The income derived from the parcel is divided according to the percentage of the total interest held by an individual. Usufruct The legal right to use or profit from another's property.


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