Proceedings under this chapter and chapters 26-8A, 26-8B, and 26-8C shall be in the best interests of the child.
S.D. Codified Laws § 26-7A-5
Proceedings in best interest of child
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case State v. Harris (1993)
Most recently applied in Interest of N.K., Jr. and S.K. (October 2024)
Source: SDC 1939, § 43.0304; SL 1968, ch 164, § 4; SL 1991, ch 217, § 4B; SDCL, § 26-7-11; SL 1994, ch 213.
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.