White, Oscar, Estate of, 40 IBIA 306 (2005)

Docket No. IBIA 03-72 April 13, 2005

Steven J. White (Appellant), pro se, appealed from a January 27, 2003, order issued by Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Marcel S. Greenia, reopening the Estate of Oscar White (Decedent) (Probate No. IP TC 053 R 96-1). The order reopened Decedent's estate to recognize Appellant as an heir, but limited his inheritance to a life estate. For the reasons discussed below, the Board affirms Judge Greenia's order.

Decedent, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe of the Lake Traverse Reservation (Reservation), died intestate on September 5, 1995, possessing interests in trust property located on the Reservation. On May 9, 1997, ALJ Vernon J. Rausch issued an Order Determining Heirs, which found that Decedent had only one heir, a surviving son, Sylvan White. The order also found that Decedent's only other child, Everette, had died in 1953 without issue.

In a petition dated January 4, 2002, Appellant sought to reopen Decedent's estate, and provided information to show that Everette had not died until 1980, and was Appellant's father. Appellant sought to inherit a share of Decedent's estate as one of Everette's surviving sons. In response, Judge Greenia issued a Notice to Show Cause Why Estate Should Not Be Reopened to Add Heirs, dated November 15, 2002. Judge Greenia's order stated that "it appears that decedent's prior deceased son, Everette White, died on 07/25/1980, not in 1953, and was in fact survived by two children, namely: Steven Jay White [Appellant] and Everette Todd White." The Notice to Show Cause also stated that because Appellant and Everette Todd White were not members of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribe, 1/ their inheritance would be limited to a life estate in their share of Decedent's trust property located on the Reservation.

1/ Judge Greenia found that Appellant and Everett Todd White are enrolled members of the Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota.

On January 27, 2003, after finding that there were no timely valid objections to the Notice to Show Cause, Judge Greenia issued an order reopening Decedent's estate, which provided as follows:

Trust real property located on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Reservation including any income accrued therefrom after the decedent's death (if any) shall pass to:

Sylvan White, [enrollment number] son [date of birth] All**

Judge Greenia limited the 1/4 inheritance each of Appellant and Everette Todd White to a life estate based on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Act of October 19, 1984, Pub. L. No. 98-513, 98 Stat. 2411 (Sisseton-Wahpeton Act). As explained in Judge Rausch's May 9, 1997, Order Determining Heirs, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Act provides that heirs or devisees of trust real property located on the Reservation, who are not enrolled members of the...