Realty

Land Status Descriptions

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• Allotment: Allotments, or allotted land, are trust or restricted fee parcels of land held by a tribal member. A product of the allotment era, allotments can be highly fractionated. Meaning there could be many landowners—at times hundreds—on one parcel of land, making it difficult to manage or use the land.
• Tribal Assignment: Tribal Land Assignment means any tribal land which, through the written consent of the Tribal Council, is designated for the use by an enrolled Tribal members. Assignment is a legal term whereby an individual, the “assignor,” transfers rights of use for the property to another known as the “assignee.”
• Fee: Fee Simple, is a common law in which a person has absolute ownership. The owner may put it virtually to any use—sell it, give it away, rent or lease it, mortgage it, or bequeath it.
• Life Lease: A life lease can be for the life of the tenant or for a specific term (e.g. 50 years), or no specified termination date. Under a life lease, the assignee and tenant agree to terms of occupancy.
• Special Lease: Special lease means any Lease that is custom designed internal agreement between the “assignor” and “assignee”. The agreement is “Special”.
• Tribal Fee: Tribal Fee is reservation land no longer in trust or subject to restriction. It usually refers to reservation land owned by non-Indians. Sometimes a tribe, or individual tribal members, has land in fee.
• Tribal Lease: A Tribal land lease is a contract between an Indian landowner (either the tribe or individual allottee) and a Tribal member lessee.
• Tribal Trust: Trust land is territory, whereby one party agrees to hold title to the property for the benefit of another party. Placing tribal land into a trust is the process where the Department of the Interior (BIA) acquires the title to a land and holds it for the benefit of a tribe or individual tribal members.