Title 29A — UNIFORM PROBATE CODE

This title shall be known and may be cited as the South Dakota Uniform Probate Code. The code consists of chapters 29A-1 to 29A-6 , inclusive. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 1-101.

The South Dakota Uniform Probate Code shall be liberally construed and applied to promote simplification, clarification, and efficiency in the law of decedent's estates, guardianship and conservatorship, and multiple-party accounts and other nonprobate transfers. Source: SL 1995,…

Unless displaced by the particular provisions of this code, the principles of law and equity supplement its provisions. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 1-103.

The provisions of §§ 55-3-24 to 55-3-44 , inclusive, are applicable to actions or proceedings relating to estates supervised or administered under Title 29A. Source: SL 2000, ch 229 , § 21.

If any provision of this code or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the code which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provis…

If fraud has been perpetrated in connection with any proceeding or in any statement filed under this code or if fraud is used to avoid or circumvent the provisions or purposes of this code, any person injured thereby may obtain appropriate relief against the perpetrator of the fr…

In addition to the rules of evidence in courts of general jurisdiction, the following rules relating to a determination of death and status apply: (1) Death occurs when an individual is determined to be dead under §

For the purpose of granting consent or approval with regard to the acts or accounts of a personal representative or trustee, and for purposes of consenting to modification or termination of a trust or to deviation from its terms, the sole holder or all co - holders of a presently…

Subject to additional definitions contained in the subsequent chapters that are applicable to specific chapters, parts, or sections, and unless the context otherwise requires, in this code: (1) "Absentee" means an individual who has disappeared, who has been forcibly detained eit…

Except as otherwise provided in this code, this code applies to and the court has jurisdiction over (1) the estates of decedents and absentees domiciled in this state, (2) the property of nonresident decedents located in this state or property coming into the control of a fiducia…

If a proceeding under this code could be maintained in more than one county in this state, the court of the county in which the proceeding is first commenced has the exclusive right to proceed unless that court determines that venue is properly in another court. Source: SL 1995, …

Unless specifically provided to the contrary in this code or unless inconsistent with its provisions, the rules of civil procedure, including the rules concerning vacation of orders and appellate review, govern formal proceedings under this code. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 1-304…

The clerk of court shall maintain a record of each document relating to a decedent's estate or guardianship or conservatorship which may be filed with the court under this code, including petitions and applications, demands for notices, and of any orders or responses relating the…

(a) If duly demanded, a party is entitled to trial by jury in a formal testacy proceeding and any proceeding in which any controverted question of fact arises as to which any party has a constitutional right to trial by jury. (b) If there is no right to trial by jury under subsec…

The acts and orders which this code specifies as performable by the clerk of court may be performed either by a judge of the court or by the clerk. Source: SL 1995, ch 167 , § 1-307. 29A-1-308, 29A-1-309. Reserved

Except as otherwise specifically provided in this code, every document filed with the court under this code including applications, petitions, and demands for notice, shall be deemed to include an oath, affirmation, or statement to the effect that its representations are true as …

A judge or clerk of courts may fix a time and place for hearing on any guardianship petition, conservatorship petition, petition for testacy, appointment, or other probate matter pursuant to Title 29A as well as for any petitions relating to the administration of trust estates un…

A person, including a guardian ad litem, conservator, or other fiduciary, may waive notice by a writing signed by the person or the person's attorney and filed in the proceeding. An individual for whom a guardianship or conservatorship is sought, or for whom a guardian or conserv…

(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…