The following are excerpts from South Dakota’s intestacy laws. Please reference the full body of the South Dakota Uniform Probate Code at the South Dakota Legislature’s site for any changes to those laws that may not be reflected below.
You can also open the South Dakota Intestacy Evaluator™ to see the distribution of a South Dakota intestate estate based upon unique family and financial circumstances.
29A-2-101. Intestate estate
(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 individual or class to succeed to property of the decedent passing by intestate succession. If that individual or a member of that class survives the decedent, the share of the decedent’s intestate estate to which that individual or class would have succeeded passes as if that individual or all members of that class had disclaimed their intestate shares.
29A-2-102. Share of the spouse
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-half of any balance of the intestate estate, if one or more of the decedent’s surviving descendants are not descendants of the surviving spouse.
29A-2-103. Shares of heirs other than surviving spouse
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 descendants by representation;
(2) If there is no surviving descendant, to the decedent’s parents equally if both survive, or to the surviving parent;
(3) If there is no surviving descendant or parent, to the descendants of the decedent’s parents or either of them by representation;
(4) If there is no surviving descendant, parent, or descendant of a parent, but the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or descendants of grandparents, half of the estate passes to the decedent’s paternal grandparents equally if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent, or by representation to the descendants of the decedent’s paternal grandparents or either of them if both are deceased; and the other half passes to the decedent’s maternal relatives in the same manner; but if there is no surviving grandparent or descendant of a grandparent on either the paternal or the maternal side, the entire estate passes to the decedent’s relatives on the other side in the same manner as the half.
29A-2-104. Requirement that heir survive decedent for 120 hours
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 application would result in a taking of intestate estate by the state under 29A-2-105.
29A-2-105. No taker
If there is no taker under the provisions of this chapter, the intestate estate passes to the State of South Dakota as provided in 29A-3-914.
29A-2-106. Representation
(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 the decedent who failed to survive the decedent but who left descendants who survive the decedent. Each surviving child is allocated one share. The share of each child who failed to survive the decedent but who left descendants who survive the decedent is divided in the same manner, with subdivision repeating at each succeeding generation until the share is fully allocated among surviving descendants.
(b) If, under 29A-2-103(3) or (4), a decedent’s intestate estate or a part thereof passes “by representation” to the descendants of the decedent’s parents or either of them or to the descendants of the decedent’s paternal or maternal grandparents or either of them, the estate or part thereof is divided into as many equal shares as there are (i) children of the designated ancestor or ancestors who survived the decedent, if any, and (ii) children of the designated ancestor or ancestors who failed to survive the decedent but who left descendants who survive the decedent. Each surviving child is allocated one share. The share of each child who failed to survive the decedent but who left descendants who survive the decedent is divided in the same manner, with subdivision repeating at each succeeding generation until the share is fully allocated among surviving descendants.
29A-2-107. Kindred of half blood
Relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.
29A-2-108. Afterborn heirs
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.
29A-2-114. Parent and child relationships
(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 parent’s kindred is precluded unless that birth parent has openly treated the child as kindred, and has not refused to support the child.
(b) For purposes of intestate succession by, from, or through a person, an adopted individual is the child of that individual’s adopting parent or parents and not of that individual’s birth parents, except that:
(1) Adoption of a child by the spouse of a birth parent has no effect on (i) the relationship between the child and the birth parent whose spouse has adopted the child or (ii) the right of the child or a descendant of the child to inherit from or through the other birth parent; and
(2) Adoption of a child by a birth grandparent or a descendant of a birth grandparent of the child has no effect on the right of the child or a descendant of the child to inherit from or through either birth parent;
(c) The identity of the mother of an individual born out of wedlock is established by the birth of the child. The identity of the father may be established by the subsequent marriage of the parents, by a written acknowledgment by the father during the child’s lifetime, by a judicial determination of paternity during the father’s lifetime, or by a presentation of clear and convincing proof in the proceeding to settle the father’s estate.