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S.D. Codified Laws § 29A-3-906

Distribution in kind--Valuation--Method

Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case In Re the Estate of Laue (2010)

Most recently applied in Estate of Mack (February 2025)

Source: SL 1994, ch 232, § 3-906.

How often courts cite this section

200820102020202510
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.

(a) Unless a contrary intention is indicated by the will, the distributable assets of a decedent's estate shall be distributed in kind to the extent possible through application of the following provisions:

(1) A specific devisee is entitled to distribution of the thing devised, and a spouse or child who has selected particular assets of an estate as provided in § 29A-2-402 shall receive the items selected.

(2) Any homestead or family allowance or devise of a stated sum of money may be satisfied in kind provided:

(i) The person entitled to the payment has not demanded payment in cash;

(ii) The property distributed in kind is valued at fair market value as of the date of its distribution; and

(iii) No residuary devisee has requested that the asset in question remain a part of the residue of the estate.

(3) The residuary estate shall be distributed in any equitable manner.

(4) For purposes of facilitating distribution, the personal representative may ascertain the value of the assets as of the time of the proposed distribution in any reasonable manner, including the employment of qualified appraisers, even if the assets may have been previously appraised.

(b) After the probable charges against the estate are known, the personal representative may mail or deliver a proposal for distribution to all persons who have a right to object to the proposed distribution. The right of any distributee to object to the proposed distribution on the basis of the kind or value of asset to be received, if not waived earlier in writing, terminates if the distributee fails to object in writing within fourteen days after the mailing or delivery of the proposal but only if the proposal informed the distributee of the right to object and of the applicable time limit.

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