
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 25USC607]

 
                            TITLE 25--INDIANS
 
                        CHAPTER 14--MISCELLANEOUS
 
                     SUBCHAPTER XVII--YAKIMA TRIBES
 
Sec. 607. Divestment of inheritance of non-members


(a) Procedure

    A person who is not an enrolled member of the Yakima Tribes with 
one-fourth degree or more blood of such tribes shall not be entitled to 
receive by devise or inheritance any interest in trust or restricted 
land within the Yakima Reservation or within the area ceded by the 
Treaty of June 9, 1855 (12 Stat. 1951), if, while the decedent's estate 
is pending before the Examiner of Inheritance, the Yakima Tribes pay to 
the Secretary of the Interior, on behalf of such person, the fair market 
value of such interest as determined by the Secretary of the Interior 
after appraisal. The interest for which payment is made shall be held by 
the Secretary in Trust for the Yakima Tribes.

(b) Time of election

    On request of the Yakima Tribes the Examiner of Inheritance shall 
keep an estate pending for not less than two years from the date of 
decedent's death.

(c) Interest of surviving spouse

    When a person who is prohibited by subsection (a) of this section 
from acquiring any interest by devise or inheritance is a surviving 
spouse of the decedent, a life estate in one-half of the interest 
acquired by the Yakima Tribes shall, on the request of such spouse, be 
reserved for that spouse and the value of such life estate so reserved 
shall be reflected in the Secretary's appraisal under subsection (a) of 
this section.

(Aug. 9, 1946, ch. 933, Sec. 7, 60 Stat. 969; Pub. L. 91-627, Sec. 1, 
Dec. 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 1874.)


                               Amendments

    1970--Pub. L. 91-627 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), 
substituted provisions authorizing the Yakima Tribes to pay to Secretary 
of the Interior the fair market value, as determined by the Secretary 
after appraisal, of any interest in trust or restricted land within the 
specified areas which a person not an enrolled member of the Yakima 
Tribes with one-fourth degree or more blood of such tribes was to 
receive by devise or inheritance, for provisions limiting the 
inheritance of trust land on the Yakima Reservation to enrolled members 
of the Yakima Tribes of one-fourth or more blood of such tribes and to 
surviving spouses who are enrolled members but possess less than one-
fourth degree of Yakima blood, with such surviving spouses authorized to 
inherit a life estate in not more than one-half the property, and added 
subsecs. (b) and (c).


                    Effective Date of 1970 Amendment

    Section 2 of Pub. L. 91-627 provided that: ``The provisions of 
section 7 of the Act of August 9, 1946, as amended by this Act [this 
section], shall apply to all estates pending before the Examiner of 
Inheritance on the date of this Act [Dec. 31, 1970], and to all future 
estates, but shall not apply to any estate heretofore closed.''
