Section PRP.04.54 — Restrictions On Inheritance Of Individual Trust/Restriction Lands By Non-Indians

(a) Non-Indians shall not be entitled to receive by devise or descent any interest in individual trust or restricted lands within the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation or otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of the Tribe provided that:

(1) if an Indian dies intestate, the surviving non-Indian spouse and/or children may elect to receive a life estate in as much of the trust or restricted lands as such person or persons would have been entitled to take in the absence of such restriction on eligibility for inheritance and the remainder shall vest in the Indians who would have been heirs in the absence of a qualified person taking a life estate;

(2) if an intestate Indian decedent has no heir to whom interests in trust or restricted lands may pass, such interests shall escheat to the Tribe, subject to any non-Indian spouse and/or children's rights as described in paragraph (1) of this section;

(3) if an Indian decedent has devised interests in trust or restricted lands to persons who are ineligible for such an inheritance by reason of a tribal ordinance enacted pursuant to this section, the devise shall be voided only if, while the estate is pending before the Secretary for probate, the Tribe acquires such interests by paying to the Secretary, on behalf of the devisees, the fair market value of such interests as determined by the Secretary as of the date of the decedent's death: Provided, That any non-Indian and/or children of such decedent who have been devised such interests may retain, at their option, a life estate in such interests.

(b) Any ineligible devisee shall also have the right to renounce their devise in favor of a person or persons who are eligible to inherit in accordance with Section PRP.04.14 (Renunciation of Succession) of this Probate Code.

(c) The right to receive a life estate under this section shall be limited to:

(1) a spouse and/or children who, if they had been eligible, would have inherited an ownership interest of 10 per cent or more in the tract of land; or

(2) a spouse and/or children who occupied the tract as a home at the time of the decedent's death.