Native Americans and Estate Planning

The Seattle University School of Law has recently announced the opening of its Institute for Indian Estate Planning & Probate.

The Institute for Indian Estate Planning & Probate has a three-fold mission. First, it will assist Indian people in making informed decisions about their property by providing free and reduced-cost estate planning services to individuals. Second, it will provide estate planning and probate training to tribes, government officials and the legal community. Third, it will serve as a clearinghouse for Indian estate planning information.

The Institute is a project of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that recognized the need for a unified, comprehensive and efficient approach to estate planning in Indian Country. Estate planning gives Indian land owners the ability to reconsolidate and manage their land. The need is particularly pressing given the passage of the American Indian Probate Reform Act in November 2004 and the announcement in April 2005 that the Bureau of Indian Affairs would no longer be drafting or storing wills for tribal members.