Serves Rapid City and western South Dakota from Sheridan Lake Road. Handles estate administration and probate for executors, trust administration for trustees, conservatorships and guardianships, and estate and fiduciary litigation such as will interpretation, undue influence, trustee-beneficiary disputes, and fiduciary removal. Consultations are offered in person, by phone, or by video.
Probate in Butte County
Probate Court Record
Butte County Circuit Court
Butte County · 4th Judicial Circuit
Phone
Hours
Monday-Friday 7:30 AM-5:00 PM
Office
839 5th Avenue, Belle Fourche, SD 57717
Website
E-filing
Filing in person
Walk-ins accepted
Self-represented filing
Allowed
How to file probate in Butte County →
Verified October 16, 2026 · Source
Do I need a lawyer for probate in Butte County? →Settling an estate in Butte County →
Guardianship Firms Serving Butte County
Practices from offices in Rapid City and Spearfish. Handles simple and complex probates, trust administration, and contested trust and estate litigation for trustees, personal representatives, and beneficiaries, along with guardianships and conservatorships. Drafts wills and trusts under South Dakota trust law, including living, asset protection, generation-skipping, and dynasty trusts.
Serves Spearfish and the surrounding area, as it has since 1972. Handles probate and the administration of wills and trusts, guardianships and conservatorships, and succession planning that integrates business and estate planning. Its attorneys are licensed in South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.
Serves Sioux Falls and southeast South Dakota from its downtown Sioux Falls office. Handles probate and estate administration, trust administration, guardianships and conservatorships, contested estate matters, and special-needs and charitable planning. Founded in Sioux Falls by Frank L. Boyce in 1878.
Serves clients across South Dakota from its office in Huron. Attorney Aaron Pilcher handles formal and informal probate, trust administration, small estate affidavits, and guardianships, and litigates trust, probate, and fiduciary disputes. Also serves businesses as outside general counsel and registered agent.
Serves Lawrence, Meade, Butte and Pennington counties and the rest of South Dakota from Spearfish, and takes probate matters in North Dakota and Wyoming. Handles testate and intestate probate, estate and trust administration, contested wills and trust disputes, and guardianship and conservatorship petitions, including for out-of-state families. Attorney Dylan Wilde is also a licensed CPA.
All 8 South Dakota guardianship firms serving Butte County →
Forms for Planning and Settling an Estate in South Dakota
Free South Dakota forms to plan or settle an estate: a will, trust, powers of attorney, TOD deed and the probate forms. Prepare each form for South Dakota.
Free
Last Will and Testament
In South Dakota, a will is signed before 2SDCL 29A-2-502Verified Oct 19, 2026View source witnesses, and a self-proving affidavit signed with it lets the court admit it without witness testimonySDCL 29A-2-502Verified Oct 19, 2026View source.
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Free
Healthcare Power of Attorney
South Dakota allows a choice for a healthcare power of attorney: 2SDCL § 34-12D-3 (living will form; no statutory healthcare proxy form)Verified Oct 15, 2026View source witnesses or a notary.
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Free
Financial Power of Attorney
South Dakota requires explicit durability language for a power of attorney to survive incapacitySDCL § 59-12-3, § 59-12-4, § 59-12-5, § 59-12-6, § 59-12-8, § 59-12-23, § 59-12-41Verified Oct 21, 2026View source, and it is signed before a notarySDCL § 59-12-3, § 59-12-4, § 59-12-5, § 59-12-6, § 59-12-8, § 59-12-23, § 59-12-41Verified Sep 20, 2026View source.
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Tools for Planning and Settling an Estate in South Dakota
Free calculators and checklists to plan or settle an estate in South Dakota: will and trust costs, probate, executor pay and taxes. Run each tool.
How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?
In South Dakota, four years at a public university cost about $69,440NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 330.20, public 4-year in-state tuition, fees, room and board, academic year 2022-23Verified Oct 17, 2026View source and the cost of living is 11% below the U.S. averageBEA Regional Price Parities, all items, by state, 2024Verified Oct 17, 2026View source; no state estate or inheritance tax appliesNo state estate or inheritance tax. Inheritance tax constitutionally prohibited (S.D. Const. Art. XI, § 15, initiated measure approved Nov. 7, 2000, eff. July 1, 2001: "No tax may be levied on any inheritance, and the Legislature may not enact any law imposing such a tax."). Both the inheritance tax (SDCL ch. 10-40, ch. 10-41) and the estate tax (SDCL ch. 10-40A) were repealed outright by 2014 SL ch. 59 (HB 1057), signed February 12, 2014 — a true repeal, leaving no dormant levy. SD DOR: "South Dakota does not have an inheritance tax... There is also no estate tax."Verified Sep 15, 2026View source.
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What Does Estate Planning Actually Cost?
An attorney-prepared revocable trust in South Dakota runs $3,580Estimate: 10 hours at $358, Clio's South Dakota Trusts rate; Compare Lawyer Rates, 2025 dataVerified Oct 15, 2026View source to $5,370Estimate: 15 hours at $358, Clio's South Dakota Trusts rate; Compare Lawyer Rates, 2025 dataVerified Oct 15, 2026View source and a simple will $933Estimate: 3 hours at $311, Clio's South Dakota Wills and Estates rate; Compare Lawyer Rates, 2025 dataVerified Oct 15, 2026View source to $1,866Estimate: 6 hours at $311, Clio's South Dakota Wills and Estates rate; Compare Lawyer Rates, 2025 dataVerified Oct 15, 2026View source, against $0 to $549 up front plus a subscription with an online service.
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Who Inherits Without a Will?
Without a will in South Dakota, a surviving spouse takes the entire estateSDCL § 29A-2-102Verified Oct 21, 2026View source when every child of either spouse is a child of both, and descendants divide what passes to them per stirpesSDCL § 29A-2-106; § 29A-2-709Verified Oct 21, 2026View source.
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