Progress 04/01/24 to 03/31/25

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this grant project is landowners who own undividedinterests in federal allotments where the land can be used for agriculture. Specifically, we are working with those who have interests in allotments with many co-owners. Because there are so many co-owners of the same allotment and more are added with each generation, it is imperative that the interest holders work to consolidate their interests and reduce further fractionization. Most of the clients of this project own agricultural or grazing lands primarily in the midwest and western regions of the country. Changes/Problems:One of the roadblocks in this process is finding enough legal contractors who are able to write wills that comply with AIPRA. Even though there are many attorneys who practice in the field of estate planning - not all are informed about the differences in how to probate undivided interests. With this information, ILTF has been working with other contractors to develop a course that teaches about AIPRA and the federal probate process. This course could then be used to teach attorneys but also train tribal court advocates, and others about the probate process. The foundation is aware that there is a lack of knowledge among landowners about their rights and responsibilities. If every landowner had the same basic knowledge this would increase their ability to better advocate for themselves and to get the correct services. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The clients are usually contacted through the legal contractors that ILTF partners with. For the legal aid services, they participate in outreach in various tribal communities and community events. They have been making contacts with various tribal government leaders to introduce themselves and the services that they provide to members. Most of the outreach that has been successful has been through face to face contact or getting established in the community, though that does take time and effort. The law school clinics operate similarly in substance but receive clients in different methods. One clinic usesword of mouth, or referralsfrom past clients. Generally, every semester they have a list of clients that they intend to work with. They also take "walk-in" clients and add them to their list. The other clinic reaches out to tribal governmentsto ascertain clients. They work with these client tribes to provide education around estate planning and also estate planning services. Contractors report sending information leaflets to tribal employees for them to pass information along to their members. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?ILTF is working on developing a probate course that would teach various different classes of people about probate and estate planning services. One group, attorneys, would be taught about AIPRA and how to write wills that comply with the law and regulations. This would increase the number of attorneys in each state that landowners might have access to do some planning around their estate and property. Another group would be individuals that work in tribal government to teach them about the specifics of the probate process from writing the will to how the probate gets adjudicated in OHA systems. This would increase the tribe's knowledge of the importance of will making and how this tool can be used to combat fractionation within their lands.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During this reporting period, ILTF provided technical assistance to 199 individuals for issues regarding land management, which included estate planning services and information about landowner rights and education. In this reporting period, ILTF and its contractors were able to produce 117 wills and 135 additional estate planning documents. Theseservices are important as they allow the current interest holder to determine how the interest will be passed to future generations or for them to consolidate or gift their undivided interests within their lifetime. These services impacted roughly 9,757 acres of land that could potentially be used for agricultural production and/or grazing activities. However, because much of the land in allotments is owned in undivided interest form, with each tract having multiple co-owners it is hard for that land to be put to use unless a majority of the interest holders agree. This often leaves much of the agricultural land unused or underdeveloped. This work impacted 1,405 shares in various allotments. These actions helped landowners to understand how to consolidate their interests in a way that will lessen further fractionization.

Publications

Progress 04/01/23 to 03/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The project's target audience is native american landowners who own an interest in a federal allotment, specifically in land that is used for ranching,farming and/or agriculture production. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?ILTF would like to develop new programs to expand will writing capacity. Program staff would like to host a CLE on writing wills that comply with the American Indian Probate Reform Act, which is crucial to understanding whent trying to reach the target audience of American Indian Landowners. Staff hopes that this program would function as a "how-to" for lawyers in the future to refer to when they are writing wills for native landowners. ILTF would also like to host a native will writing seminar for attorneys based out of the two law schools (AZ and OK) which would allow further expansion of the will writing program. ILTF is the planning stages for these types of event to occur. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Currently, ILTF relies on its legal partners to establish contact with local native communities and tribes to get the word out about thier estate planning services. However, program staff would like to put some of the information about the legal contractors that we work with in the estate planning program on the website so that when someone is searching for information regarding indian wills that the person can be directed to a trusted legal contractor. ILTF also disseminated information to communities of interest by holding financial literacy informational sessions prior to a will writing clinic with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. In this event, people were able to hear from BIA officials and the legal contractors about the estate planning procress. This allowed them to understand the importance of estate planning and its internal process before meeting with students from USD Law School to draw up their estate plans. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?ILTF has recently signed two new legal providers to the estate planning program. This will expand operations for our program to Washington state. ILTF has also been in contact with several state bar associations and hasbeen advertising the estate planning program with members of the state bar'sTrust and Probate sections. This has allowed ILTF to advertise the program to attorneys that already conduct estate planning work but would be opening them up to a new clientele of native american landowners. Part of this plan to increase the number of wills written for native landowners is to increase the amount of attorneys available.This will ensure that legal contractors are not over booked and are able to walk landowners through the estate planning process. Program staff are also brainstorming new ways to educate landowners on the importance of estate plans and also how to increase education around the topic of landownership and estate plans. ILTF may do this through webinars or through in person meetings. ILTF staff are also coming up with ways to engage people via social media about the programs/ opportunities that we offer.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? ILTF and its legal contractors continue to engage in estae planning with native landowners with emphasis on those that have agricultural land. Currently Native Landowners in Arizona, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington have access to estate planning services through ILTF's partnerships. ILTF has been in the process of recruiting more legal contractorsas to increase the number of wills and estate plans being written.This allows for consoldiation of fractionized interests which will help landowners make better use of their land. The Foundation is speaking with several other legal contractors about the potential to collaborateand provide estate planning services to Native Landowners. During the last reporting period, legal contractors worked were able to create 147wills and 165additional estate planning documents. This helped consolidate 1,888 interests which affects approximately 13,500acres of agricultural land. This consolidation of interests helps landowners reduce the number of co-owners on a federally alloted tract of land. With excessive ownership interest in these allotments, decisions on how to use the land are often difficult to make as a percentage of co-owners must agree and sign off on the decision. Because of this unique situation, agricultural land is often not used to its full potential. With consolidation of interests, co-owners are able to reach decisions whichallows for more farming, ranching and agricultural production. ILTF also partnered with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the University of South Dakota Law School to provide an estate planning clinic as well as three financial literacy sessions. The law schol clinic was able to help write 31 wills for Rosebud landowners.

Publications

Progress 04/01/22 to 03/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is native landowners especially landowners who have ag or farming land. The subcontractors that we work with to conduct the estate planningwork exclusively with native landowners. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As a part of this project, ILTF also does landowner trainings which speak on various topics to landowners and tribal land staff. Most of these trainings are informational sessions designed to educate landowners on their individual landowner rights. For this reporting period, we had approximately 511 participants who participated in training webinarsand estate planning activities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?For the estate planning portion of the project, ILTF relies on the outreach conducted by the legal contractors who are doing the estate planning. Many of our legal contractors will send notices of estate planning clinics geared towards native landowners to tribes and tribal organizations that meet their specific clientele. Legal contractors will also post flyers in communities that they will be traveling to in areas where native landowners might be reached. Though many of the clients that the legal contractors see to conduct estate planning, information about wills is often communicated through word of mouth from previous clients. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?ILTF and legal contractors will continue to engage in outreach as this is the best way to meet the native landowners and explain to them the benefits and reasons why they should have a will. Legal contractors associated with law schools will also have specific field clinics so that they can reach their target audience in the communities where they reside and help them conduct estate planning, as many of their clients are elderly.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During this reporting period, ILTF partnered with various legal firms to conduct estate planning. In this period, legal contractors completed and executed 159 wills and additional estate planning documents. Many of these wills will affect how undivided interest in agricultural or farming land is passed down and consolidated. Farmers and Ag producers will hopefully be able to consolidate their land holdings. This consolidation may allow more Natives to be able to use their land for farming and ag production.

Publications