A Small Estate
SDCL § 29A-3-1201 — an affidavit thirty days after the death for an estate up to $100,000, and sixty days for land up to fifty thousand dollars
- The whole estate, less liens, is worth no more than $100,000.
- Thirty days have passed since the death.
- No personal representative has been applied for or appointed.
- The person owed nothing to the Department of Social Services for nursing home or institutional care.
On an affidavit saying those things, anyone holding the person's property or owing them money pays or delivers it to the successor, and a transfer agent re-registers securities.
Land. Sixty days after the death, a successor may file an affidavit with the register of deeds, with a death certificate, for real property in the state worth no more than fifty thousand dollars, when no representative has been appointed.
A particular estate is a question for a licensed South Dakota attorney.
Sources for this section (2)
- SDCL § 29A-3-1201 — Collection of personal property by affidavit
- SDCL § 29A-3-1203 — Succession to real property by affidavit
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed South Dakota attorney.