Title 21, JUDICIAL REMEDIES

The trustor, a fiduciary, or a beneficiary of any trust under court supervision may at any time petition the court for its action as to any matter relevant to the administration of the trust, including particularly the requiring of special reports from a fiduciary, the exercise o…

Within one hundred twenty days after the expiration of each year from the commencement of court supervision over a trust, the trustee shall file a verified report showing in detail its receipts, disbursements, and acts during the year. The trustee may at its election make its ann…

When the trust estate has been disposed of or the provisions of the instrument creating the trust have been complied with, the trustee must file his final report duly verified by him and which may by reference incorporate thereinto previous reports made and which, supplementing s…

If any objection is made to any report or petition filed by a fiduciary or beneficiary, the objection shall be filed in writing and be made at or prior to the hearing on the report or petition. If the initial hearing does not resolve all objections, the court shall adjourn the he…

Notice of all hearings on all reports of the trustee and on all petitions filed shall be given as provided in this chapter. The court shall fix the time and place of the hearing. Notice of the time and place of the hearing, along with the nature of the hearing, shall be given as …

The notice provided by § 21-22-17 shall be served upon fiduciaries, beneficiaries, and attorneys of record, except as otherwise provided in chapter 55-18 . Notice shall be served personally, by mail, postage prepaid, addressed to each person at the last known post office address …

When the number of persons to be served is large and the expense of service provided by § 21-22-18 would be burdensome, the court may, if it deems advisable, order, in lieu of service as provided in § 21-22-18 , that such notice be published once each week for three successive we…

This chapter applies to all trusts if any part of the trust estate has its situs within this state or if the trustee or a beneficiary resides in this state, except as otherwise specifically provided by statute or rule of court, the intent being to exclude therefrom such trusts as…

Proof of the service of notices or other papers in the manner provided by this chapter shall be made by affidavit of the person making the same, such affidavit to be filed in the office of the clerk of courts. Source: Supreme Court Rule, Part 3, Rule 12, September, 1923; Supreme …

If all beneficiaries of the trust join in a petition or report, or signify in writing their approval thereof, the notice required by § 21-22-17 may be dispensed with and the hearing may be had at any time. Source: Supreme Court Rule adopted November 4, 1941; Supreme Court Rule ad…

At all hearings the court shall take testimony in the same manner as at hearings on other proceedings and shall examine all reports and accounts filed, regardless of whether or not objections are made thereto, and shall also consider and pass upon all acts of a fiduciary, regardl…

No order approving a report or account of the trustee in whole or in part shall be made by the court until it shall have made a detailed examination of the items and satisfied itself sufficiently to render its own judgment thereon, that the report is in all things true and comple…

If the report or account or other proceeding is of such length as to require assistance for the court, the court may in its discretion appoint a disinterested referee or employ an accountant or investigator at the expense of the trust to examine the same and report to the court t…

Upon any such examinations or hearings on reports the court, or the referee or the accountant or agent whom it may appoint, may require the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents and other evidence and make such inquiry and investigations as are necessary to pass…

Any fiduciary who fails or neglects to comply with the provisions of this chapter is subject to removal by the court and is liable to any beneficiary for all damages sustained by the beneficiary resulting from such noncompliance and shall also forfeit all right to compensation as…

All decrees of any court of this state made prior to January 1, 2010, settling accounts of trustees or distributing in whole or in part trust estates are hereby legalized, cured, and validated, notwithstanding any defects, omissions, or irregularities in the form of the petition,…

The privacy of those who have established a court trust or other trust shall be protected in any court proceeding concerning the trust. Upon the filing of any petition, the instrument on which the trust is based, briefs, and the entire court file including a trust's inventory, st…

The Unified Judicial System shall provide remote online access to the court file to the attorney of record for a court trust or other trust, as indicated in the court record, through a secured online portal. Source: SL 2026, ch 247 (Supreme Court Rule 26-06), eff. July 1, 2026.

Within thirty days after entering upon his or her duties, any trustee under a court trust shall, if a resident of this state or if any of the trust estate has its situs in this state, file in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county specified in § 21-22-5 an inv…

An accounting by a trustee of a court supervised trust and the final approval thereof by a court, whether or not such accounting is contested, is conclusive against all persons in any way interested in the trust, and the trustee, absent fraud, intentional misrepresentation, or ma…

A proceeding brought pursuant to this chapter is considered an action for purposes of title 15. Unless specifically provided to the contrary in this chapter or unless inconsistent with its provisions, the rules of civil procedure, including the rules concerning vacation of orders…

Notwithstanding the application of the principles of conflict of laws to the terms of a transaction involving a trust, whether a purchase of property by, or a sale of property to, a trust administered by a qualified person in South Dakota, as defined in § 55-3-41 , the laws of th…

With the papers required by § 21-22-3 the trustee shall also file, if not a resident of this state, an appointment of a resident of this state as his agent for the service of process and of all papers relative to the administration of such trust. Source: Supreme Court Rule, Part …

The papers provided in §§ 21-22-3 and 21-22-4 shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county where the trust estate or some part thereof has its situs, or if none of the trust estate has its situs in this state, in a county where a beneficiary reside…

Immediately upon the filing of the papers required by §§ 21-22-3 and 21-22-4 , supervision by the court shall be deemed to commence. Source: Supreme Court Rule 239, 1939; SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.2603.

At any time after the filing of the papers required by §§ 21-22-3 and 21-22-4 a fiduciary, the trustor, or any beneficiary under such court trust, if the fiduciary, trustor, or beneficiary considers court supervision unnecessary or impractical and involving unnecessary burden and…

Notice of entry as required by § 15-26A-6 shall require only that notice that an order has been entered has been served. Absent a court order to the contrary, there is no requirement that the order be attached to the notice of entry. Source: SL 2002, ch 100 , § 7.

At any time during the existence of the trust, after supervision has been dispensed with pursuant to § 21-22-7 , any fiduciary, trustor, or beneficiary may petition for a resumption of the supervision in which event the court shall, upon notice as provided pursuant to this chapte…

Any fiduciary, trustor, or beneficiary of any other trust may, if the trustee is a resident of this state or if any of the trust estate has its situs in this state, at any time petition the circuit court, the county where such petition is to be filed to be determined the same as …