South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, Reemployment Assistance Division
South Dakota · Unemployment
dlr.sd.gov/ra/default.aspxState Unemployment Benefits in South Dakota
The South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation administers Reemployment Assistance, the state's unemployment program. Benefits are payable week by week only to a claimant who is able to work, available for work, and files a weekly request, so a claim ends at death. Survivors contact Reemployment Assistance Customer Service to report the death and ask about any payment owed for weeks before it.
Steps to take when someone dies
State Unemployment Benefits in South Dakota: key facts
What South Dakota says4
- Reporting a death
A claimant's death is reported by calling Reemployment Assistance Customer Service, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. The line handles survivor and estate inquiries, including any payment owed for weeks of eligibility before the death.1
SDCL 61-6-68 requires the department each month to match its reemployment assistance recipient list against Department of Health vital statistics death records and the Social Security Administration master death file.2
- Benefits at and after the death
SDCL 61-6-1 makes benefits payable for a week only if the claimant made a claim for that week and was able to work and available for work.3
The claimant handbook requires a weekly request for payment for each week claimed. Weeks after the date of death cannot be certified, so no benefits accrue for them.4
- Who may claim a final payment
SDCL 61-6-48 voids any assignment, pledge, or encumbrance of a right to benefits, so an executor cannot take an assignment of a pending claim.5
- Overpayments
Under SDCL 61-6-41, any amount paid as benefits to which the claimant was not entitled is an overpayment the department may require to be repaid.6
SDCL 61-6-45 lets the secretary cancel and waive an overpayment only on certification that the claimant has died and reasonable efforts have been made to recover it from the claimant's estate.7
Death does not extinguish an overpayment: under SDCL 61-6-45 the claimant's estate is the department's route to recovery before a write-off.7
Governing law: SDCL 61-6-1 (weekly eligibility); 61-6-41, 61-6-45 (overpayments and recovery from the estate); 61-6-48 (assignment void); 61-6-68 (death-record matching)
Not in South Dakota's published guidance3
- A rule for paying a final benefit to a survivor or estate
- A death-reporting form or deceased-claimant page
- The documents to send
South Dakota unemployment benefits
South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, Reemployment Assistance Division
Tools for Settling an Estate in South Dakota
Free tools for settling an estate in South Dakota: whether probate is needed, executor and trustee pay, creditor deadlines, and inheritance taxes.
How Do I Settle an Estate?
Settling an estate in South Dakota: the personal representative files the estate inventory within 180 daysSDCL 29A-3-706Verified Sep 15, 2026View source of appointment; creditors have 4 monthsSDCL §§ 29A-3-801, 29A-3-803, 29A-3-805Verified Oct 19, 2026View source to present claims; a simple estate closes in 4 months to 6 months.
Do I Have to File Tax Returns for Someone Who Died?
South Dakota has no state income tax, so only the federal final Form 1040 is due for the decedentNo enabling statute (SDCL Title 10 contains no individual income tax chapter); S.D. Const. Art. XI, §§ 2, 13, 14; SD DOR, dor.sd.gov/individuals/taxes/Verified Sep 20, 2026View source; a federal estate tax return (Form 706) is required only for estates above $15,000,00026 USC 2001(c), 2010; P.L. 119-21 §70106Verified Sep 15, 2026View source.
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