PRIA Logo™
Title 25, IndiansRelease 119-110

§372a Heirs by Adoption

Title 25 › CHAPTER 10 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION; HEIRS OF ALLOTTEE › § 372a

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

An adopted person will not be named an heir in probate cases handled by the Department of the Interior unless the adoption meets certain rules. The adoption must come from a State or Indian court, or be a written adoption approved and recorded by the agency superintendent, or follow a tribal adoption process that the Department recognizes and is recorded by the tribe. Adoptions the Department already recognized before the law took effect also count. An adoption done by Indian custom before that date can be made official if both people are alive and the adoptive parent asks to record it and the adopted person agrees (or the superintendent agrees for a minor). The rule does not apply to estates of the Five Civilized Tribes, the Osage Tribe in Oklahoma, or to Indians who died before the law took effect.

Full Legal Text

Title 25, §372a

Indians, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

In probate matters under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, no person shall be recognized as an heir of a deceased Indian by virtue of an adoption—
(1)Unless such adoption shall have been—
(a)by a judgment or decree of a State court;
(b)by a judgment or decree of an Indian court;
(c)by a written adoption approved by the superintendent of the agency having jurisdiction over the tribe of which either the adopted child or the adoptive parent is a member, and duly recorded in a book kept by the superintendent for that purpose; or
(d)by an adoption in accordance with a procedure established by the tribal authority, recognized by the Department of the Interior, of the tribe either of the adopted child or the adoptive parent, and duly recorded in a book kept by the tribe for that purpose; or
(2)Unless such adoption shall have been recognized by the Department of the Interior prior to the effective date of this section or in the distribution of the estate of an Indian who has died prior to that date: Provided, That an adoption by Indian custom made prior to the effective date of this section may be made valid by recordation with the superintendent if both the adopted child and the adoptive parent are still living, if the adoptive parent requests that the adoption be recorded, and if the adopted child is an adult and makes such a request or the superintendent on behalf of a minor child approves of the recordation.
This section shall not apply with respect to the distribution of the estates of Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes or the Osage Tribe in the State of Oklahoma, or with respect to the distribution of estates of Indians who have died prior to the effective date of this section.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

For

Effective Date

of this section, referred to in text, see

Effective Date

note set out below. Codification First and second paragraphs of this section are from section 1 and 2, respectively, of act July 8, 1940.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Act
July 8, 1940, ch. 555, § 3, 54 Stat. 746, provided that: “This Act shall become effective six months after the date of its approval [
July 8, 1940].”

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

For

Transfer of Functions

of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

25 U.S.C. § 372a

Title 25, Indians

Last Updated

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110