South Dakota Uniform Probate Code

This act establishes a comprehensive framework governing the administration of decedents' estates, along with related matters of family protection and probate court procedure. It sets out rules for intestate succession — defining who inherits when there is no valid will, how shares pass to a surviving spouse and other kindred, and how representation, advancements, half-blood relatives, afterborn heirs, and parent-child relationships affect those shares — and it abolishes older common-law entitlements such as dower and curtesy. It also fixes the jurisdictional and procedural machinery for probate matters, including venue and transfer, notice and waiver, pleadings, standards of proof, and appointment of guardians ad litem, and it provides protections for surviving family members through exempt property and a discretionary family allowance.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.