A bill pertaining to the inheritance of trust or restricted land on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, North Dakota and South Dakota.
PL 96-274 (H.R.2102), enacted 06/17/1980

PUBLIC LAW 96-274—JUNE 17, 1980 
94 STAT. 537 
Public Law 96-274 
96th Congress 
An Act 
Pertaining to the inheritance of trust or restricted land on the Standing Rock Sioux 
Reservation, North Dakota and South Dakota. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled. That to the extent 
that the laws of descent and distribution of 
the State in which trust or 
restricted land is located on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 
North Dakota and South Dakota (hereinafter the "reservation") are 
inconsistent with this Act, the provisions of this Act shall govern the 
right to inherit such trust or restricted land. 
SEC. 2. Only the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota and 
South Dakota (hereinafter the "tribe") or persons who are (a) enrolled 
members of the tribe, (b) members of a federally recognized Indian 
tribe, or (c) otherwise recognized as Indians by the Secretary of the 
Interior (hereinafter the "Secretary") shall be entitled to receive by 
devise or descent any interest in trust or restricted land within the 
boundaries of the reservation as defined by the Act of March 2,1889 
(25 Stat. 888), except as provided in section 4 of 
this Act. 
SEC. 3. (a) Whenever any Indian dies possessed of any interest in 
trust or restricted land within the reservation and the trust or 
restricted land has not been devised by a will approved by the 
Secretary pursuant to section 2 of the Act of June 25,1910 (36 Stat. 
856), as amended (25 U.S.C. 373) and which is consistent with the 
provisions of section 2 of this Act, such interest shall descend to the 
following persons, subject to their being eligible heirs pursuant to 
section 2 of 
this Act: 
(1) one-half of the interest shall descend to the surviving spouse 
and the other one-half shall descend in equal shares to the 
children of the decedent and to the issue of any deceased child of 
the decedent by right of representation; 
(2) if there is no surviving spouse, the interest shall descend in 
equal shares to the children of the decedent and to the issue of 
any deceased child of the decedent by right of representation; 
(3) if there are no surviving children or issue of any child, the 
interest shall descend to the surviving spouse; 
(4) if there is no surviving spouse and no surviving children or 
issue of any child, the interest shall descend to the surviving 
parents or parent of 
the decedent; 
(5) if there is no surviving spouse, and no surviving children or 
issue of any child, and no surviving parent, the interest shall 
descend equally to the brothers and sisters of the decedent; and, 
(6) if there is no surviving spouse, no surviving children, or 
issue of any child, no surviving parent, and no surviving brothers 
or sisters, the interest shall escheat to the tribe. 
03) Any interest which descends in accordance with this section 
shall be subject to the right of a non-Indian surviving spouse as 
provided in section 4(a) of 
this Act. 
(c) As used in this section, the words "children" and "issue" include 
adopted children and children of unwed parents where the Secretary 
June 17, 1980 
[H.R. 2102] 
Standing 
Rock Sioux 
Reservation, 
N. Dak.-S. Dak. 
Inheritance 
of trust or 
restricted land. 
Eligible heirs. 
"Children" 
and "issue." 
94 STAT. 538 
PUBLIC LAW 96-274—JUNE 17, 1980 
Non-Indian 
surviving 
spouse. 
Tribal pay-
ment to 
Secretary. 
Life estate 
value reserved 
to a surviving 
spouse. 
determines that paternity has been acknowledged or established, 
except that (1) a child may not inherit by intestate succession from or 
through a parent whose parental rights with respect to said child 
have been terminated pursuant to lawful authority and (2) a parent 
may not inherit by intestate succession 
from 
or through a child with 
respect to which such parent's parental rights nave been so 
terminated. 
SEC. 4. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 2 of this Act, 
the non-Indian surviving spouse of an Indian decedent who dies 
possessed of anv interest in trust or restricted lands within the 
reservation shaU be entitled to take not more than an undivided one-
half interest in all such trust or restricted lands during his or her 
lifetime, but the remainder of 
such interest shall descend as provided 
in section 3 of 
this Act. 
(b) If a decedent has devised an interest in trust or restricted land 
located within the reservation to a person prohibited by section 2 
from acquiring an interest in such trust or restricted land and the 
consequence of such prohibition is that the interest in land would 
escheat to the tribe pursuant to section 3(aX6) of this Act, the devise 
shall be prohibited only if, while the estate is pending before the 
Secretary, the tribe pays to the Secretary on behalf of such devisee 
the fair market value of 
such interest as determined by the Secretary 
as of the date of the decedent's death. The value of any life estate 
reserved to a surviving spouse under the provisions of subsection (a) 
of 
this section shall be reflected in the Secretary's determination. The 
interest for which such payment is made by the tribe shall thereafter 
be held by the United States in trust for the tribe. 
SEC. 5. The provisions of this Act shall apply only to estates of 
decedents whose deaths occur on or after the date of enactment of 
this Act. 
Approved June 17, 1980. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 
HOUSE REPORT No. 96-743 (Comm. on Interior and Insular Affairs). 
SENATE REPORT No. 96-762 (Comm. on Indian Affairs). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 126 (1980): 
Mar. 3, considered and passed House. 
May 22, considered and passed Senate, amended, in lieu of S. 2102. 
June 9, House concurred in Senate amendments.