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S.D. Codified Laws § 34-25-13.3

Unmarried mother's surname shown on birth certificate unless paternity acknowledged

Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Keegan v. Gudahl (1994)

Most recently applied in Block v. Bartelt (June 1998)

Source: SL 1972, ch 194, § 13; SL 1993, ch 253, § 4.

How often courts cite this section

19801990199810
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.

If the mother was not married at the time of conception or birth, or at any time between conception and birth, the mother's surname shall be shown on the birth certificate as the legal surname of the child at the time of birth unless an affidavit of acknowledgment of paternity signed by both parents is received.

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