25 C.F.R. § 115.002

What definitions do I need to know?

Read at: eCFRecfr.gov CornellLII GovInfogovinfo.gov CasesGoogle Scholar

As used in this part:

Account holder means a tribe or a person who owns the funds in a tribal or Individual Indian Money (IIM) account that is maintained by the Secretary.

Account means a record of trust funds that is maintained by the Secretary for the benefit of a tribe or a person.

Administratively restricted account means an IIM account that is placed on temporary hold by OTFM where an account holder's current address of record is unknown or where more documentation is needed to make a distribution from an account.

Adult means an individual who has reached 18 years of age, except when the individual's tribe has determined the age for adulthood to be older than 18 for access to tribal trust fund per capita proceeds.

Adult in need of assistance means an individual who has been determined to be “incapable of managing or administering his or her property, including his or her financial affairs” either (a) through a BIA administrative process that is based on a finding by a licensed medical professional or licensed mental health professional, or (b) by an order or judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction.

BIA means the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, or its authorized representative.

Bond means security for the performance of certain obligations or a guaranty of such performance as furnished by a third-party surety. As used in this part, bonds may include cash bonds, performance bonds, and surety bonds.

Court of competent jurisdiction means a federal or tribal court with jurisdiction; however, if there is no tribal court with jurisdiction, then a state court with jurisdiction.

Day means a calendar day unless otherwise specified.

Department means the Department of the Interior or its authorized representative.

Deposits mean receiving funds, ordinarily through a Federal Reserve Bank, for credit to a trust fund account.

Emancipated minor means a person under 18 years of age who is married or who is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be legally able to care for himself or herself.

Encumber or encumbrance means to attach trust assets held by the Secretary with a claim, lien, or charge that has been approved by the Secretary.

Encumbered account means a trust fund account where some portion of the proceeds are obligated to another party.

Estate account means an account for a deceased IIM account holder.

FOIA means the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552.

Guardian means a person who is legally responsible for the care and management of an individual and his or her estate. This definition includes, but is not limited to, conservator or guardian of the property. However, this definition does not apply to property subject to § 115.106 of this part.

Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts means an interest bearing account for trust funds held by the Secretary that belong to a person who has an interest in trust assets. These accounts are under the control and management of the Secretary. There are three types of IIM accounts: unrestricted, restricted, and estate accounts.

Legal disability means the lack of legal capability to perform an act which includes the ability to manage or administer his or her financial affairs as determined by a court of competent jurisdiction or another federal agency where the federal agency has determined that the adult requires a representative payee and there is no legal guardian to receive federal benefits on his or her behalf.

MSW means a Master of Social Work degree from an accredited college or university.

Minor means an individual who is not an adult as defined in this part.

Non-compos mentis means a person who has been determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind or incapable of managing his or her own affairs.

OST means the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians, Department of the Interior, or its authorized representative.

OTFM means the Office of Trust Funds Management, within the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians, Department of the Interior, or its authorized representative.

Privacy Act means the Federal Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a.

Restricted fee land(s) means land the title to which is held by an individual Indian or a tribe and which can only be alienated or encumbered by the owner with the approval of the Secretary because of limitations contained in the conveyance instrument pursuant to federal law.

Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior or an authorized representative; it also means a tribe or tribal organization if that entity is administering specific programs, functions, services or activities, previously administered by the Secretary of the Interior, but now authorized under a Self-Determination Act contract (pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 450f) or a Self-Governance compact (pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 558cc).

Special deposit account means a temporary account for the deposit of trust funds that cannot immediately be credited to the rightful account holders.

Supervised account means a restricted IIM account, from which all disbursements must be approved by the BIA, that is maintained for minors, emancipated minors, adults who are in need of assistance, adults who under legal disability, or adults who are non-compos mentis.

Tribal account or tribal trust account generally means a trust fund account for a federally recognized tribe that is maintained and held in trust by the Secretary.

Tribe means any Indian tribe, nation, band, pueblo, rancheria, colony, or community, including any Alaska Native Village or regional or village corporation as defined or established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which is federally recognized by the United States government for special programs and services provided by the Secretary to Indians because of their status as Indians. Tribe also means two or more tribes joined for any purpose, the joint assets of which include funds held in trust by the Secretary.

Trust account means a tribal account, an IIM account, or a special deposit account for trust funds maintained by the Secretary.

Trust assets mean trust lands, natural resources, trust funds, or other assets held by the federal government in trust for Indian tribes and individual Indians.

Trust funds means money derived from the sale or use of trust lands, restricted fee lands, or trust resources and any other money that the Secretary must accept into trust.

Trust land(s) means any tract or interest therein, that the United States holds in trust status for the benefit of a tribe or an individual Indian.

Trust Reform Act means the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994, Pub. L. 103-412, 108 Stat. 4239, 25 U.S.C. § 4001.

Trust resources means any element or matter directly derived from Indian trust property.

Unrestricted account means an IIM account in which an Indian account holder may determine the timing and amount of disbursements from the account.

Voluntary hold means a request by an individual Indian with an unrestricted IIM account to keep his or her trust funds in a trust account instead of having the trust funds automatically disbursed.

We or Us or Our means the Secretary as defined in this part.

You or Your means an IIM account holder.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 15 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 2003–2025 · leading case: Wolfchild v. United States, 96 Fed. Cl. 302 (Fed. Cl. 2010).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Wolfchild v. United States, 96 Fed. Cl. 302 (Fed. Cl. 2010). · cites it 4× “” 25 C.F.R. § 115.002 (emphasis added). The monies at issue ostensibly would fit under the heading of money derived from “restricted fee lands.”

Cathy Covington v. Dep't of the Interior, 2023 MSPB 5 (MSPB 2023). “” 25 C.F.R. § 115.002 . The term 638 contracts refers to contracts that are entered into under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, Pub.”

Wolfchild v. United States, 731 F.3d 1280 (Fed. Cir. 2013). · cites it 2× “The Claims Court ruled that the funds nevertheless fell within the purview of the ITAS because they were deposited and held in Treasury ac- counts that were sometimes referred to as “trust” ac- counts and an Interior regulation, 25 C.F.R. § 115.002 , defines “trust funds” to…”

Wolfchild v. United States, 62 Fed. Cl. 521 (Fed. Cl. 2004). “” 25 C.F.R. § 115.002 . The *548 monies held by the Department before 1980 for lineal descendants of the loyal Mdewak-anton certainly fall 'within that definition.”

Fletcher v. United States, 153 F. Supp. 3d 1354 (N.D. Okla. 2015). · cites it 2× “” 25 C.F.R. § 115.002 . Unless restricted in some way, an- account holder may freely withdraw funds from his or her IIM account.”

Godfrey v. United States, 131 Fed. Cl. 111 (Fed. Cl. 2017). “7, 2009 Cobell Settlement Agreement provides: Historical Accounting Class means those individual Indian beneficiaries (exclusive of those who prior to the filing of the Complaint on June 10, 1996 had filed actions on their own behalf stating a claim for a historical accounting)…”

El Paso Nat. Gas Co. v. United States, 390 F. Supp. 3d 1025 (D. Ariz. 2019). “" 25 C.F.R. § 115.002 (emphasis added); see also id.”

Est. of Bruner v. Bruner, 338 F.3d 1172 (10th Cir. 2003). “” 25 C.F.R. § 115.002 .) Leda and Bim agreed to help Daniel obtain the desired result.”

Warfield v. Frank-Hill (In re Frank-Hill), 300 B.R. 25 (Bankr. D. Ariz. 2003). · cites it 2× “An unrestricted account is defined as an IIM account in which an Indian account holder may determine the timing and amount of disbursements from the account.”

Goodeagle v. United States, 122 Fed. Cl. 292 (Fed. Cl. 2015). “25 C.F.R. § 115.002 . Allotments of Indian lands have been held in trust by the United States for nearly a century, and any revenues from the allotments have also been held in trust in IIM accounts, which later became an established feature of Indian law with the Indian…”

Chemehuevi Indian Tribe v. United States (Fed. Cl. 2020). “Indeed, the government correctly explains that 25 C.F.R. § 115.002 defines a “special deposit account” as “a temporary account for the deposit of trust funds that cannot immediately be credited to the rightful account holders” and that 25 C.”

Fletcher v. United States (Fed. Cl. 2020). “(citing 25 C.F.R. § 115.002 ). Individual headright owners may withdraw funds from their IIM accounts to access their money.”

Show all 15 citing cases →

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.