Title 29A — UNIFORM PROBATE CODE

(a) Any part of a decedent's estate not effectively disposed of by will or otherwise passes by intestate succession to the decedent's heirs as prescribed in this code, except as modified by the decedent's will. (b) A decedent by will may expressly exclude or limit the right of an…

The intestate share of a decedent's surviving spouse is: (1) The entire intestate estate if: (i) No descendant of the decedent survives the decedent; or (ii) All of the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse; (2) The first $100,000, plus one…

Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the decedent's surviving spouse under § 29A-2-102 , or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes in the following order to the individuals designated below who survive the decedent: (1) To the decedent's de…

An individual who fails to survive the decedent by 120 hours is deemed to have predeceased the decedent for purposes of homestead allowance, exempt property, and intestate succession, and the decedent's heirs are determined accordingly. This section is not to be applied if its ap…

If there is no taker under the provisions of this chapter, the intestate estate passes to the State of South Dakota as provided in §

(a) If, under § 29A-2-103(1), a decedent's intestate share or a part thereof passes "by representation" to the decedent's descendants, the estate or part thereof is divided into as many equal shares as there are (i) surviving children of the decedent, if any, and (ii) children of…

Relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-107.

An individual is treated as living at that time if the individual was conceived prior to a decedent's death, born within ten months of a decedent's death, and survived one hundred twenty hours or more after birth. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-108; SL 2007, ch 247 , § 3.

(a) If an individual dies intestate as to all or a portion of that individual's estate, property the decedent gave during the decedent's lifetime to an individual who, at the decedent's death, is an heir is treated as an advancement against the heir's intestate share only if (i) …

A debt owed to a decedent is not charged against the intestate share of any individual except the debtor. If the debtor fails to survive the decedent, the debt is not taken into account in computing the intestate share of the debtor's descendants. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-11…

No individual is disqualified to take as an heir because that individual or another individual through whom that individual claims is or has been an alien. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-111.

Dower and curtesy are abolished. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-112.

An individual who is related to the decedent through two lines of relationship is entitled to only a single share based on the relationship that would entitle the individual to the larger share. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-113.

(a) For purposes of intestate succession by, from, or through a person, and except as provided in subsection (b), an individual born out of wedlock is the child of that individual's birth parents. However, inheritance from or through the child by a birth parent or that birth pare…

In this Part: (1) As used in sections other than § 29A-2-205 , "decedent's nonprobate transfers to others" means the amounts that are included in the augmented estate under §

(a) The surviving spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled in this State has a right of election, under the limitations and conditions stated in this Part, to take an elective - share amount equal to the value of the elective - share percentage of the augmented estate, determined …

Subject to § 29A-2-208 , the value of the augmented estate, to the extent provided in §§ 29A-2-204 , 29A-2-205 , 29A-2-206 , and 29A-2-207 , consists of the sum of the values of all property, whether real or personal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, wherever situate…

The value of the augmented estate includes the value of the decedent's probate estate, reduced by funeral and administration expenses, homestead allowance, family allowances, exempt property, and enforceable claims. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-204.

The value of the augmented estate includes the value of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, not included under § 29A-2-204 , of any of the following types, in the amount provided respectively for each type of transfer: (1) Property owned by the decedent immediately bef…

Excluding property passing to the surviving spouse under the federal Social Security System, the value of the augmented estate includes the value of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to the decedent's surviving spouse, which consist of all property that passed outside probate a…

(a) Except to the extent included in the augmented estate under § 29A-2-204 or 29A-2-206 , the value of the augmented estate includes the value of: (1) Property that was owned by the decedent's surviving spouse at the decedent's death, including: (i) The surviving spouse's fracti…

(a) The value of any property is excluded from the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others (i) to the extent the decedent received adequate and full consideration in money or money's worth for a transfer of the property or (ii) if the property was transferred with the written j…

(a) In a proceeding for an elective share, the following are applied first to satisfy the elective - share amount and to reduce or eliminate any contributions due from the decedent's probate estate and recipients of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others: (1) Amounts inclu…

(a) Only original recipients of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, and the donees of the recipients of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, to the extent the donees have the property or its proceeds, are liable to make a proportional contribution toward sati…

(a) Unless the time for filing an election is extended under subsection (b), the election must be made by filing in the court and mailing or delivering to the personal representative, if any, a petition for the elective share within nine months after the date of the decedent's de…

The right of election may be exercised either by the surviving spouse or by the surviving spouse's conservator or agent under the authority of a power of attorney, or if the surviving spouse dies prior to the expiration of the time for making an election under § 29A-2-211 , by th…

(a) The right of election of a surviving spouse and the rights of the surviving spouse to homestead allowance, exempt property, and family allowance, or any of them, may be waived, wholly or partially, before or after marriage, by a written contract, agreement, or waiver signed b…

(a) Although under § 29A-2-205 a payment, item of property, or other benefit is included in the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, a payor or other third party is not liable for having made a payment or transferred an item of property or other benefit to a beneficiary des…

(a) A testator's surviving spouse who married the testator after the execution of the testator's will is entitled to receive, as an intestate share, no less than the value of the share of the estate the surviving spouse would have received if the testator had died intestate, unle…

(a) A child born to or adopted by the testator after the execution of the will who is neither mentioned nor provided for in the will is entitled to receive a share in the estate as follows: (1) If the testator had no child living when the will was executed, the omitted after - bo…

This part applies to the estate of a decedent who dies domiciled in this state. Rights to homestead allowance, exempt property, and family allowance for a decedent who dies not domiciled in this state are governed by the law of the decedent's domicile at death. Source: SL 1995, c…

(a) A decedent's surviving spouse or minor children are entitled to a homestead allowance as provided in chapter 43-31 . In addition to the homestead allowance, the decedent's surviving spouse is entitled to the property and cash described as exempt property in chapter 43-45 . If…

(a) In addition to the homestead allowance and exempt property, the decedent's surviving spouse and minor children whom the decedent was obligated to support and the children who were in fact being supported by the decedent shall be allowed a reasonable family allowance in money …

An individual eighteen or more years of age who is of sound mind may make a will. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-501.

(a) A will is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting. (b) A will not valid as a holographic will must be: (1) In writing; (2) Signed by the testator or in the testator's name …

Although a document or writing added upon a document was not executed in compliance with § 29A-2-502 , the document or writing is treated as if it had been executed in compliance with that section if the proponent of the document or writing establishes by clear and convincing evi…

(a) An individual generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will. (b) The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-505.

A written will is valid if executed in compliance with § 29A-2-502 or 29A-2-503 or if its execution complies with the law at the time of execution of the jurisdiction where the will is executed, or of the law of the jurisdiction where at the time of execution or at the time of de…

(a) A will or any part thereof is revoked: (1) By executing a subsequent will that revokes the previous will or part expressly or by inconsistency; or (2) By performing a revocatory act on the will, if the testator performed the act with the intent and for the purpose of revoking…

Except as provided in §§ 29A-2-803 and 29A-2-804 , a change of circumstances does not revoke a will or any part of it. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-508.

(a) If a subsequent will that wholly revoked a previous will is thereafter revoked by a revocatory act under § 29A-2-507(a)(2), the previous will is revived only if it is evident from the circumstances of the revocation of the subsequent will or from the testator's contemporary o…

A writing in existence when a will is executed may be incorporated by reference if the language of the will manifests this intent and describes the writing sufficiently to permit its identification. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-510.

(a) A will may validly devise property to the trustee of a trust established or to be established (i) during the testator's lifetime by the testator, by the testator and some other person, or by some other person, including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, although the …

A will may dispose of property by reference to acts and events that have significance apart from their effect upon the dispositions made by the will, whether they occur before or after the execution of the will or before or after the testator's death. The execution or revocation …

Whether or not the provisions relating to holographic wills apply, a will may refer to a written statement or list to dispose of items of tangible personal property not otherwise specifically disposed of by the will, other than money. To be admissible under this section as eviden…

A contract to make a will or devise, or not to revoke a will or devise, or to die intestate, if executed on or after July 1, 1995, may be established only by (i) provisions of a will stating material provisions of the contract, (ii) an express reference in a will to a contract an…

A will may be deposited by the testator or the testator's agent with any court for safekeeping. The will must be sealed and kept confidential. During the testator's lifetime, a deposited will must be delivered only to the testator or to a person authorized in writing signed by th…

After the death of a testator and on request of an interested person, a person having custody of a will of the testator shall deliver it with reasonable promptness to an appropriate court or to a person able to secure its probate. A person who willfully fails to deliver a will is…

A provision in a will purporting to penalize an interested person for contesting the will or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate is unenforceable if probable cause exists for instituting proceedings. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-517.

In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the rules of construction in this part control the construction of a will. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 2-601.