How much does probate cost in South Dakota?
7 Aug 2026
South Dakota fixes no attorney fee and publishes an executor schedule that is a default, not an entitlement: 5% of the first $1,000.00 of personal property, 4% of the next $4,000.00 and 2.5% above $5,000.00 — allowed only where the will says nothing about pay. The court’s own charge is flat at $115.00.
The schedule’s base is the personal property accounted for, excluding personal property not ranked as assets — narrower than the gross estate. Real property is not in it: the court fixes a just and reasonable amount for that separately, except that real estate sold during the probate is treated as personal property and goes back into the percentage math. The court fee is two components collected at the filing of the first paper, $75.00 for the probate of an estate and $40.00 as a court automation surcharge that names probate proceedings by name.
S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-719, with §16-2-29 and §16-2-39 — South Dakota Codified Laws, published by the South Dakota Legislature · Verified 7 Aug 2026
Informational only, not legal advice. Figures verified on the date stamped. Details: /disclaimer/
Work it out on your own number
Two rows on this page compute. The executor schedule computes where the will is silent, and the court fee is the same $115.00 at every estate value.
| On the first $1,000.00 | 5% |
| On sums above $1,000.00 and not exceeding $5,000.00 | 4% |
| On all sums above $5,000.00 | 2.5% |
| On real property accounted for | Court-fixed |
| Court fee — probate of an estate, §16-2-29(1) | $75.00 |
| Court automation surcharge, §16-2-39 | $40.00 |
| Court fee, total at filing | $115.00 |
| Special or summary administration proceeding | $25.00 |
Worked through, on the personal property accounted for: $10,000.00 returns $335.00; $25,000.00 returns $710.00; $50,000.00 returns $1,335.00; $100,000.00 returns $2,585.00; $250,000.00 returns $6,335.00; $500,000.00 returns $12,585.00; and $1,000,000.00 returns $25,085.00. At the two step points the figures are $50.00 at $1,000.00 and $210.00 at $5,000.00.
The base is the personal property accounted for, excluding personal property not ranked as assets — not the gross estate. A house is outside it unless it is sold during the probate, in which case the proceeds come back in. Feeding a total estate value that includes real estate will overstate the South Dakota executor figure. The schedule is also conditional: it applies only where the will does not provide compensation, or there is no will.
What each part costs
Every row is one figure, one source, one date. Where South Dakota fixes no price, the row says so instead of guessing.
| Fee | Amount or formula | Set by | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney feeOrdinary services | No statutory rateSouth Dakota sets no rate. §29A-3-719(a) covers the personal representative, attorneys, accountants, appraisers and other agents in one sentence: all are entitled to reasonable compensation for services, which may include compensation for their own employees and reimbursement of costs advanced. Seven factors decide what is reasonable — the time and labour involved; the novelty and difficulty of the questions and the skill needed; whether taking the work precludes other employment; the fee customarily charged locally for similar services; the nature and value of the assets, the income earned and the responsibilities and potential liabilities assumed; the time limits the circumstances impose; and the experience, reputation, diligence and ability of the person doing the work. The percentage schedule in §29A-3-719(c) reaches the personal representative only and does not touch attorneys. | Agreement, reviewable by the court for reasonableness | S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-719(a), with §29A-3-721 Court may review the propriety of the employment and the reasonableness of the pay, and order refunds | 7 Aug 2026 |
| Executor or personal representativeCompensation for services | 5% / 4% / 2.5% of the personal property, where the will is silentA published schedule that applies only where the will does not provide compensation, or there is no will: 5 per cent of the first $1,000.00, 4 per cent of sums above $1,000.00 and not exceeding $5,000.00, and 2.5 per cent of all sums above $5,000.00. The statute says the representative may be allowed those commissions, so the schedule is the default the court works from rather than a fixed entitlement, and §29A-3-719(a)’s reasonable-compensation standard sits above it. Real property accounted for is court-fixed at a just and reasonable amount, except that real estate sold as part of the probate is treated as personal property. Where a will provides compensation and there is no contract with the decedent, the representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead. | Statute — a default schedule the court may adjust | S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-719(b) and (c) SL 1994 ch 232 §3-719; SL 1995 ch 167 §123; SL 1996 ch 187 | 7 Aug 2026 |
| Court filing feeProbate of an estate | $115.00 flatTwo components on one path, both collected at the filing of the first paper: $75.00 for the probate of an estate under §16-2-29(1), and a $40.00 unified judicial system court automation surcharge under §16-2-39, which applies to probate proceedings by name. The surcharge is taxable as a cost in the case under §16-2-40. Flat at every estate value. Special administration and summary administration proceedings are a separate $25.00 item rather than an addition. Reproducing an authenticated, exemplified or double certificate is $15.00, filing a will for safekeeping is $2.00, and true copies furnished for completion of the case are certified at no extra charge. | Statute — flat, plus a statutory surcharge | S.D. Codified Laws §16-2-29, with §16-2-39 and §16-2-40 Fees sit in title 16, the clerk of courts title, not the probate code · §16-2-29 amended SL 2026 ch 92 §1 | 7 Aug 2026 |
| Newspaper publicationNotice to creditors | Optional here, and capped when you do itPublication is optional here. The representative may publish notice to creditors but the law does not require it; if you publish, the newspaper sets the rate. Capped by statute on a published schedule. The law caps what a newspaper may charge for this notice and adjusts the cap each year; the paper bills within it — and the second and every later insertion is charged at 80 per cent of the capped rate, which matters because South Dakota runs three. The cap has two structures: papers with paid circulation under 9,000 are capped per line by type size at an eleven-pica column width, and papers at 9,000 or more are capped per column inch on a four-band circulation table. It rises every 1 July by the lesser of 2 per cent or the §10-13-38 index factor, and the adjusted figures are published in the South Dakota Register by 15 December for the following year, which is why no cents figure appears on this page. Choosing to publish runs the notice once a week for three successive weeks in a legal newspaper in the county and cuts the creditor window to four months from first publication. The paper must also post the notice on a statewide public-notice website, and its affidavit must state in plain terms what it charged. | The newspaper, under a statutory cap that escalates annually | S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-801, with §17-2-19, §17-2-20 and §17-2-1 §17-2-19 amended SL 2024 ch 70 §1 · current-year cap lives in the South Dakota Register | 7 Aug 2026 |
| BondPersonal representative bond | Not required unless the court requires it
|
No bond unless ordered; amount is a statutory floor | S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-604, with §29A-3-603 Both amended SL 2025 ch 90 §§3 and 4 · §29A-3-605 confirmed Reserved on the chapter list | 7 Aug 2026 |
The executor schedule is not a bill you are entitled to send. §29A-3-719(c) says the representative may be allowed those commissions, and only where the will is silent or there is no will. The schedule is what the law presumes reasonable, not what every estate pays — many settle below it, and the court can allow less.
How the South Dakota sources are linked. The ordinary sdlegislature.gov statute address returns a browser-support notice, so every source above uses the plain-rendering /api/Statutes/ form of the same section.
What can change the bill — allowances, waivers and one-off charges
- Court automation surcharge — $40.00, charged in every probate proceeding at the filing of the first paper and taxable as a cost in the case.
- Special or summary administration — $25.00 each, charged where that proceeding is opened rather than a full probate.
- Certificates and copies — $15.00 for reproducing an authenticated, exemplified or double certificate; $2.00 for filing a will for safekeeping. True copies needed to complete the case are certified at no extra charge for the certification.
- Later insertions of the notice — charged at 80 per cent of the capped rate for the second and every subsequent insertion, and South Dakota runs three.
- No fee is charged at all to the state, a foreign state or the federal government, or to their officers, boards, agencies, commissions or political subdivisions, for filing, docketing, issuing, recording, certifying or searching.
- These aren’t costs — they’re amounts the law protects for the family before creditors, and they change what an estate actually pays out. South Dakota’s homestead allowance under §29A-2-402 and family allowance under §29A-2-403 are named on the face of the real-property small-estate affidavit as grounds a successor may claim under; we print no figure for either because neither has a verified row.
S.D. Codified Laws §16-2-29, §16-2-39, §16-2-40, §17-2-20, §29A-3-1203 — South Dakota Codified Laws · Verified 7 Aug 2026
What changes YOUR number in South Dakota
- The schedule is a presumption, and the will outranks it
- The schedule is what the law presumes reasonable, not what every estate pays — many settle below it, and the court can allow less. It only reaches an estate at all where the will provides no compensation or there is no will. Where the will does set a figure and there is no contract with the decedent, the representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead; the right to all or part of the compensation may also be renounced and the renunciation filed with the court.
- The base is narrower than the estate
- Commissions run on the personal property accounted for, excluding personal property not ranked as assets. Real property is outside the percentages entirely and carries a just and reasonable amount fixed by the court — with one exception that can move a number a long way: real estate sold as part of the probate proceedings is considered personal property and goes into the percentage math.
- The court fee does not move with the estate, but it is not one number either
- $115.00 is a total: $75.00 under §16-2-29(1) and $40.00 under §16-2-39. Reading the fee section alone gives $75.00 and misses a third of the bill. The surcharge is collected from the person instituting the proceeding at the filing of the first paper and is taxed as a cost in the case.
- Publishing is a choice, and it is priced
- South Dakota is one of the few states where the probate notice section says may. Choosing to publish buys a four-month creditor bar running from first publication; not publishing leaves you on the written-notice duty to known and reasonably ascertainable creditors and nothing more. The price is capped rather than fixed, the cap escalates every 1 July, and later insertions run at 80 per cent — so the third insertion is cheaper than the first.
- No one can force a bond on you here
- Most states that start from no bond still let an interested person or a creditor demand one over a stated dollar figure. South Dakota does not: §29A-3-605 is Reserved. The only route to a bond is the court’s own best-interests conclusion, or a petition under §29A-3-604(c). Both bond sections were amended in 2025, so this is a live area.
- Two small-estate routes, and they do not share a test
- The personal-property affidavit runs at $100,000.00 after 30 days. The real-property affidavit runs at $50,000.00 of the decedent’s interest after 60 days, and is filed with the register of deeds rather than the court. Their valuation methods differ too: non-agricultural land is taken at the assessment roll for the year of death, agricultural land at date-of-death fair market value.
- One debt closes both routes completely
- Both affidavits require a statement that the decedent incurred no indebtedness to the Department of Social Services for medical assistance for nursing home or other medical institutional care. It is a bar on the face of the affidavit, not a claim to be settled later, and it removes the shortcut regardless of how small the estate is.
South Dakota has two simplified routes on two different bases
South Dakota has 2 simplified routes; the dollar test above covers the personal-property affidavit at $100,000.00; the other route turns on the decedent’s interest in South Dakota real property and runs at $50,000.00 on its own timetable.
- Route one, §29A-3-1201 — personal property. Thirty days after the death, a person claiming to be the successor presents an affidavit and anyone holding the decedent’s tangible personal property, or owing a debt, or holding an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock or chose in action, must pay or deliver. The value test is the entire estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at $100,000.00 or under. A transfer agent must change the registered ownership of shares on the affidavit alone.
- Route two, §29A-3-1203 — real property only. Sixty days after the death, and the ceiling is $50,000.00 of the decedent’s interest in all South Dakota real property. It is filed with the register of deeds in every county where the land lies, with a certified death certificate, and it is prima facie evidence of what it states.
- Route two values two classes of land differently: non-agricultural at the value shown on the assessment rolls for the year the decedent died, agricultural at fair market value on the date of death.
- Both routes require that no application or petition for the appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction.
- Signing route two makes you responsible for applying what you receive to liens, encumbrances, homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, funeral expenses, expenses of administration and creditor claims, and a false statement carries criminal penalties.
- A purchaser or lender who acquires an interest in good faith, for value and without actual notice takes free of estate claims and has no duty to inquire.
Any Department of Social Services debt for nursing home or institutional medical care closes both routes. Each affidavit must state that the decedent incurred none. It is a hard bar on the face of the form, whatever the estate is worth.
S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-1201 and §29A-3-1203 — South Dakota Codified Laws · Verified 7 Aug 2026
Check your own estate against the South Dakota routes →
Three tools, in the order most people need them
South Dakota probate cost questions
How much does an executor get paid in South Dakota?
South Dakota publishes a schedule, but it is a default rather than an entitlement. Section 29A-3-719(c) says the personal representative may be allowed commissions on the personal property accounted for at 5 per cent of the first 1,000 dollars, 4 per cent of the next 4,000 dollars and 2.5 per cent of everything above 5,000 dollars, and it applies only where the will does not provide compensation or there is no will. Real property is different: the court fixes a just and reasonable amount for it, except that real estate sold during the probate is treated as personal property and goes into the percentage math. Above all of that sits subsection (a), which entitles the representative to reasonable compensation judged on seven listed factors.
Does South Dakota set probate attorney fees by statute?
No. Section 29A-3-719(a) covers the personal representative, attorneys, accountants, appraisers and other agents in one sentence: all are entitled to reasonable compensation, tested on the same seven factors. The percentage schedule in subsection (c) reaches the personal representative only and does not touch attorneys. Any interested person can ask the court under section 29A-3-721 to review what an attorney was employed for and what was paid, and anyone who has received excessive compensation can be ordered to refund it.
What does it cost to file for probate in South Dakota?
115 dollars, whatever the estate is worth. Two components make it up: the 75 dollar probate-of-an-estate fee in section 16-2-29(1), and the 40 dollar court automation surcharge in section 16-2-39, which names probate proceedings expressly. Both are collected when the first paper is filed, and the surcharge is taxable as a cost in the case. A special administration or a summary administration proceeding is a separate 25 dollar item, not an addition to the 75.
Does an executor have to post a bond in South Dakota?
Usually not. Section 29A-3-603 says no bond is required unless the court concludes that one is in the best interests of the estate. Where a bond is ordered and no amount is set, you file a sworn estimate of the personal estate plus the income expected from the personal and real estate over the next year, and the bond must be for not less than that estimate. The amount can be reduced by estate assets deposited with a South Dakota financial institution in a way that prevents unauthorised disposition. South Dakota has no interested-party demand gate at all: section 29A-3-605 is Reserved.
What is the small estate limit in South Dakota?
There are two limits, because there are two routes. The personal-property affidavit under section 29A-3-1201 runs at 100,000 dollars for the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, after a 30-day wait. Real property has its own affidavit under section 29A-3-1203 at 50,000 dollars of the decedent’s interest in South Dakota real property, after a 60-day wait, filed with the register of deeds in every county where the land sits. Both are barred outright if the decedent owed the Department of Social Services for nursing home or other institutional medical care.
Sources & verification
Every figure on this page was checked against the official source on the date shown. The South Dakota Legislature’s ordinary statute address returns a browser-support notice, so each link below uses the plain-rendering form of the same section.
- Attorney fee — S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-719(a) and §29A-3-721 sdlegislature.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · the (c) percentage schedule is expressly limited to the personal representative · annual statutory re-check
- Executor compensation — S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-719(b) and (c) sdlegislature.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · SL 1994 ch 232 §3-719; SL 1995 ch 167 §123; SL 1996 ch 187 · annual statutory re-check
- Court filing fee — S.D. Codified Laws §16-2-29, with §16-2-39 and §16-2-40 sdlegislature.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · §16-2-29 carries a 2026-session amendment, SL 2026 ch 92 §1 — the most recently amended fee section on this site · priority re-check
- Publication — S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-801, with §17-2-19, §17-2-20 and §17-2-1 sdlegislature.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · the capped cents figures are deliberately not printed here: they escalate every 1 July and the current year’s figures are published in the South Dakota Register by 15 December · re-check 15 December 2026
- Bond — S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-604 and §29A-3-603 sdlegislature.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · both amended SL 2025 ch 90 §§3 and 4 · §29A-3-605 read as Reserved on the chapter list, which is why no demand gate is shown · priority re-check
- Small estate, personal property — S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-1201 sdlegislature.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · SL 2022 ch 88 §1 is the most recent touch · annual statutory re-check
- Small estate, real property — S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-1203 sdlegislature.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · enacted SL 2022 ch 89 §1 · county variance flagged: the non-agricultural value test runs off the county assessment roll for the year of death
Researched and verified by John Terra · Methodology
This page is information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws and fee schedules change; every figure here was verified on the date stamped beside it. For advice about your own situation, consult an attorney licensed in South Dakota. Full terms: /disclaimer/ · Privacy
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