S.D. Codified Laws § 25-4-45.5

Consideration of domestic abuse and assault conviction in custody award

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Nickles v. Nickles (2015)

Most recently applied in Harwood v. Chamley (July 2023)

Source: SL 1997, ch 156, § 1; SL 2008, ch 122, § 1.

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

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.

In awarding custody involving a minor, the court shall consider:

(1) A conviction of domestic abuse as defined in subdivision 25-10-1(1); or

(2) A conviction of assault against a person as defined in subdivision 25-10-1(2), except against any person related by consanguinity, but not living in the same household; or

(3) A history of domestic abuse.

The conviction or history of domestic abuse creates a rebuttable presumption that awarding custody to the abusive parent is not in the best interest of the minor. A history of domestic abuse may only be proven by greater convincing force of the evidence.

Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.