The Division of Probate and Estate Services works with the Office of Hearings and Appeals to handle the distribution of "trust assets" when a tribal member walks on. "Trust assets" include allotments, "fractionated interest in land," and Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts. Other than allotments created under an Act of Congress, or income earned on an allotment’s resources like timber or minerals, or through a lease arrangement paid to the BIA and placed in an Individual Indian Money Account, there are few assets subject to BID probate.

This process is also referred to as BIA Probate. 

Contact MILS

If you need additional assistance, please contact MILS at 231-947-0122.

In 2015, the Realty Officer from the Sault Ste Marie office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs shared some facts. In Michigan, there were about 210 special pieces of land, called allotments, that were still in a restricted status. This means they could not be sold or transferred without approval from the Department of the Interior. About 3800 people owned parts of these lands. These lands are found in two tribal areas, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, and in “public domain” areas (Ontonagon and Missaukee Counties). As of 2015, neither of these Tribes had passed a probate law under the federal AIPRA to consolidate the fractional interests. 

It was unknown how many people in Michigan held or hold IIM accounts or other trust assets.