Any provision contained in any note, bond, mortgage, or other evidence of debt that provides for payment of attorneys' fees in case of default of payment or foreclosure is against public policy and void, except as authorized by specific statute.
S.D. Codified Laws § 15-17-39
Evidence of debt for attorneys' fees upon default or foreclosure against public policy--Exception
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Credit Collection Services, Inc. v. Pesicka (2006)
Most recently applied in Credit Collection Services, Inc. v. Pesicka (August 2006)
Source: SL 1992, ch 148, § 4; SL 1993, ch 165.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.