Hanic v. Bureau of Indian Affairs: Does a Federal Court Have Jurisdiction Over a Native American’s Probate Dispute?

Whether you noticed because you love to go to the Hard Rock down in   Broward or because you have an affinity for Native American art – you may have noticed that the South Florida landscape has several reservations. Did you know that reservations are technically a foreign country? How does that alter the probate? You may want to see what a Federal Court had to say about the issue in a recent case out of Montana.

Foreign Probate

• West Palm Beach probate courts do not have blanket authority over all the property a person owned; usually it is limited to property within the state of Florida.
• Do you know what to do with that vacation condominium in Spain?
• You will likely have to open an ancillary probate wherever that property is located, that locale’s probate court will oversee it all for you don’t worry!
• Did you know under United Stated federal law Native American reservations are treated as the same as a foreign country?
• Bet you never realized you technically were a world traveler when you drove down from West Palm Beach to Miami for the HEAT game!
• You technically passed at least two separate nations!
• Next time your loved ones want an international vacation take them down to the Hard Rock!

Federal Probate Case Deals with Native American Probate Dispute

• In general courts like to stay clear of areas that they have no business in, and Native American affairs have been an interesting field where courts are sometimes willing and sometimes unwilling to extend their expertise.
• In a case decided April 23, 2015 the court was asked to resolve a dispute between a Native American seeking probate of his Mother’s estate and the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is seeking to prevent settlement of the issue for a number of reasons.
• In the end the Court dismissed the entire action holding that there is no jurisdiction for the man to bring a case into Federal Court.
• In the end the Court actually told the Plaintiff that his claim was moot meaning that it had already essentially been settled.
• How would you feel if a court told you that your probate issue was already resolved while you still had not received your inheritance?
• Palm Beach probate litigators know that getting a court to hear you out can be difficult and that powerful parties often rely on procedural barriers like jurisdiction to frustrate collection of a large inheritance.

Want to learn more? Check out the entire case online by clicking here.