A guardian may be appointed for an individual whose ability to respond to people, events, and environments is impaired to such an extent that the individual lacks the capacity to meet the essential requirements for his health, care, safety, habilitation, or therapeutic needs without the assistance or protection of a guardian. A guardian for a minor may be appointed under this part if the minor meets the requirements of this section without regard to age and the minor's need for guardianship will likely continue into his adult years.
S.D. Codified Laws § 29A-5-302
Appointment of guardian where capacity lacking to meet requirements for health, care, safety, habilitation, or therapeutic needs
Known as the South Dakota Guardianship and Conservatorship Act
The act spans §§ 29A-5-101 to 29A-5-510 (83 sections).
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case In Re the Guardianship & Conservatorship of Blare (1999)
Most recently applied in Bruggeman v. Ramos (March 2022)
Source: SL 1993, ch 213, § 30; SDCL 30-36-30; SL 1995, ch 167, § 181.
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.