A backlog in probate court at the Bureau of Indian Affairs has some Native Americans waiting months, years or generations for their cases to be decided.
The Department of the Interior, which houses the bureau, is responsible for distributing estates after a tribal member who has trust assets dies. The hearing and decision process for these estates regularly takes months, but if wills or heirs are contested or undecided before a tribal member dies, the case must be reviewed by the BIA — more complex cases like this can take years.
Going into fiscal 2024, there were over 32,000 probate cases stuck at the bureau, according to a Congressional Research Service report. At a House Appropriations Committee hearing in May, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that number had already ballooned to 48,000 unresolved probate cases.