modify fees charged by the clerk of courts for certain copies of court records.

Court fees and free copy certifications

South Dakota court clerks charge $15 to reproduce an authenticated, exemplified, or double certificate of a record on file. Qualifying copies needed to complete a case have no extra certification fee. These must be true and correct copies supplied by the attorney of record or a qualified personal representative. Covered matters include guardianship, conservatorship, adoption, life-estate termination, trusts, probate, inheritance tax, and divorce. The law also sets court-service fees: $75 for estate probate and $50 for preparing and sending a settled record to the Supreme Court, including its remittitur. A $25 fee applies to civil trial cases; guardianship, conservatorship, adoption, and life-estate termination cases; and inheritance-tax determinations involving property transferred in contemplation of death. It also applies to default quiet-title and garnishment cases, corporate dissolutions, foreclosures, special and summary estate administration, appeals of government actions to circuit court, and matters not otherwise covered. Petitions and motions to change final child support, custody, visitation, or spousal support orders cost $50 each. Title 28 assistance recipients do not pay this fee when seeking a child-support change. Clerks charge $5 each to issue a judgment transcript, file and docket one, issue and docket an execution, commission, or writ, file a special execution, or renew a judgment under § 15-16-33. Issuing a civil subpoena and safekeeping or filing a will each cost $2. Government bodies and officers pay no clerk fees in proceedings started by the state or a political subdivision. Federal law enforcement and investigative agencies pay no record-search fees under federal law. Actions under §§ 22-19A-8, 22-19A-12, 25-10-3, and 25-10-6 have no filing fee.