Section PRP.04.55 — Escheat Of Certain Fractionated Interests

The following section is enacted under Section 2206 (c) of Title 25 of the United States Code - The Indian Land Consolidation Act - to take precedence over the escheat provisions of Section 2206 of Title 25 of the United States Code.

(a) No undivided interest in any tract of trust or restricted land within the Stockbridge-Munsee Indian Reservation or otherwise subject to the Tribe's jurisdiction shall descend by intestacy or devise but shall escheat to the Tribe if such interests represents 2 per cent or less of the total acreage in such tract and is incapable of earning to the respective heirs $100 in any one of the five years from the date of decedent's death, and is otherwise without significantly greater future potential value, Provided, that:

(b) in determining the future earning capacity of such interest the hearing examiner shall consider the presence of known or probable minerals and timber;

(1) in determining whether such interest is otherwise without significantly greater future potential value the hearing examiner shall consider, among other things, the geographic location of such property and its potential for commercial or other exploitation;

(2) where the fractional interest has earned to its owner less than $100 in any one of the five years before it is due to escheat, in absence of previously unexploited known or probable mineral reserves or standing timber, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that such interest is incapable of earning to the respective heirs $100 in any one of the five years from the date of decedent's death, and that the property is otherwise without significantly greater future potential value.

(c) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the devise of such a fractional interest to any other owner of an undivided fractional interest in such parcel or tract of trust or restricted land.

(d) Any beneficiary who, but for the provisions of this section, would have inherited such fractional interest, may assign such interest to any other owner of an undivided fractional interest in such trust or restricted land, such assignment to be made and filed with the hearing examiner within 60 days of the issuance of notice of intent to escheat the interest to the Tribe. The hearing examiner shall formally notify the beneficiary of their rights under this subsection at the time of the notice of intent to escheat and shall assist with the assignment process as needed.

(e) The Tribal Court Judge and the Federal Administrative Law Judge shall have the discretion to order any appropriate distribution of the decedent's estate as needed to reduce further fractionation so long as the distribution is fair and equitable.