Probate Litigation Attorneys in South Dakota

18 probate litigation firms in South Dakota, by county and firm type.

Firm listings are for informational purposes only. SimplyTrust does not endorse or recommend any specific firm or attorney. Contact firms directly to discuss your situation and verify their current practice areas and availability.

18 firms

FirmRapid City, SD

Anker Law Group, P.C.

Since 1984

Serves Rapid City, Box Elder, and Pennington County from West Omaha Street. Handles probate and estate administration end to end — opening the estate, valuing property and business interests, transferring assets to heirs, paying debts, and filing final tax returns — plus will contests and trust litigation. The first consultation is free.

PracticesEstate PlanningProbateProbate LitigationTrustsWills

Office: 1301 West Omaha Street, Suite 207Rapid City, SD 57701
Phone: (605) 718-7050

Free consultation

Solo PracticeRapid City, SD

Aspen Legacy Planning

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.

PracticesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateProbate Litigationand 10 more

Office: 770 Sheridan Lake RoadRapid City, SD 57702
Phone: (605) 610-4016

Virtual consultations

FirmRapid City, SD

Bangs McCullen Law Firm

Offices in Rapid City and Sioux Falls. Handles formal and informal probate of estates and will contests. On the planning side the firm drafts wills, powers of attorney and South Dakota perpetuity trusts, including generation-skipping transfer tax planning, private trust company formation and trust change-of-situs work.

PracticesEstate PlanningProbateProbate LitigationTax Planningand 2 more

Office: 333 West Boulevard, Suite 400Rapid City, SD 57701
Phone: (605) 343-1040

FirmRapid City, SD

Beardsley, Jensen & Lee

Since 1997

Serves Rapid City and Pennington County from Beach Drive. Works with personal representatives and beneficiaries through probate of an estate and litigates estate disputes, alongside wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, powers of attorney, and business, farm, and ranch succession plans. Consultations are complimentary and offered in person or by phone.

PracticesEstate PlanningProbateProbate LitigationBusiness Successionand 2 more

Office: 4200 Beach Drive, Suite 3Rapid City, SD 57702
Phone: (605) 777-7466

Free consultationVirtual consultations

FirmSioux Falls, SD

Boyce Law Firm, L.L.P.

Since 1878 · Serves the whole state

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.

PracticesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateProbate Litigationand 5 more

Office: 300 S. Main AvenueSioux Falls, SD 57104
Phone: (605) 336-2424

Virtual consultations

FirmSioux Falls, SD

Brende & Meadors, LLP

Since 1995

Serves the Sioux Falls area from its office on S Phillips Avenue. Handles probate and estate administration and will disputes, alongside wills, trusts, asset titling, and powers of attorney. Founded in Sioux Falls in 1995.

PracticesEstate PlanningProbateProbate LitigationTrustsWills

Office: 2900 S Phillips Avenue, Suite 100Sioux Falls, SD 57105
Phone: (605) 333-0070

FirmRapid City, SD

Costello, Porter, Hill, Heisterkamp, Bushnell & Carpenter, LLP

Since 1889

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.

PracticesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateProbate Litigationand 6 more

Office: 704 Saint Joseph Street, PO Box 290Rapid City, SD 57701
Phone: (605) 343-2410

FirmSioux Falls, SD

Cutler Law Firm, LLP

Practices from Sioux Falls. Takes probate from appointment of the personal representative to closing the estate, assists trustees with trust administration and trustee removal or appointment, and handles guardianships, conservatorships, trust and estate litigation and will contests. Its attorneys are licensed in six states, from South Dakota to Kansas.

PracticesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateProbate Litigationand 7 more

Office: 140 N. Phillips Ave, 4th FloorSioux Falls, SD 57104
Phone: (605) 335-4950

Solo PracticeAberdeen, SD

Fischbach Law Office

Serves 1 county

Serves Aberdeen and Brown County from its office on 2nd Avenue SE. Takes executors through probate from opening the estate to final distribution, assists trustees in funding and administering revocable and irrevocable trusts, counsels beneficiaries on their interests in estates, and handles trust and estate litigation. Attorney Victor Fischbach established his private practice in 2000.

PracticesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateProbate Litigationand 5 more

Office: 14 2nd Ave SE, PO Box 1456Aberdeen, SD 57402
Phone: (605) 225-1000

FirmCanton, SD

Frieberg, Nelson & Ask, L.L.P.

Since 1895 · Serves 2 counties

Serves Lincoln and Union counties from offices in Canton and Beresford. Handles probate administration, will contests and probate litigation, determination of heirs, title transfers and creditor representation, plus guardianships, conservatorships, and federal estate and gift tax returns. The Beresford practice traces to a law office opened in 1895.

PracticesEstate PlanningProbateProbate LitigationElder Lawand 6 more

Office: 206 East 5th Street, PO Box 38Canton, SD 57013
Phone: (605) 987-2686

FirmRapid City, SD

Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLP

Serves Rapid City and western South Dakota, with a second office in Pierre. Assists personal representatives and trustees through probate and estate administration, advocates for heirs and beneficiaries, and handles contested estate and trust litigation, irrevocable trust decanting, reformation and modification, and Medicaid and long-term care planning.

PracticesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateProbate Litigationand 5 more

Office: 506 6th StreetRapid City, SD 57701
Phone: (605) 342-1078

FirmYankton, SD

Kennedy Pier Loftus Reynolds & Brandt, LLP

Since 1977

Six attorneys practicing from Yankton and Hartington, Nebraska. Handles probate of estates from a few thousand dollars to several million, trust administration for family-member trustees, and estate and trust litigation for trustees, executors, and beneficiaries, plus guardianships and conservatorships. Its attorneys are licensed in South Dakota and Nebraska.

PracticesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateProbate Litigationand 4 more

Office: 322 Walnut StreetYankton, SD 57078
Phone: (605) 665-3000

Solo PracticeHuron, SD

Pilcher Law Firm, Prof. LLC

Serves the whole state

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.

PracticesTrust AdministrationProbateProbate LitigationTrust LitigationGuardianship

Office: 79 Third Avenue SEHuron, SD 57350
Phone: (605) 554-1661

Solo PracticeSioux Falls, SD

Prosperity Law Firm, PLLC

Serves Sioux Falls and clients throughout South Dakota and Minnesota from an office on S. Grand Arbor Court. Handles probate and estate administration, guardianship and conservatorship petitions, and disputes over wills, trusts, and estate administration, including fiduciary misconduct claims. Offers a free consultation for estate administration and probate matters.

PracticesEstate PlanningProbateProbate LitigationTrust Litigationand 4 more

Office: 7520 S. Grand Arbor Court, Suite 140Sioux Falls, SD 57108
Phone: (605) 401-6257

Free consultation

FirmSioux Falls, SD

Redstone Law Firm LLP

Serves clients throughout South Dakota from its main office on 57th Street in Sioux Falls, with a second location in Pierre. Handles probate and trust administration, and represents clients in will and trust contests, fiduciary-duty claims against trustees or executors, and beneficiary disputes. Formerly Murphy, Goldammer & Prendergast, LLP until December 2015.

PracticesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateProbate Litigationand 3 more

Office: 1300 W 57th Street, Suite 101Sioux Falls, SD 57108
Phone: (605) 331-2975

FirmSioux Falls, SD

Reiter Law Firm

Serves the whole state

Serves clients throughout South Dakota from its office in Sioux Falls. Litigates will contests, probate disputes, claims against estates, cases involving personal representatives, trust contests, beneficiary disputes, and breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims against trustees. The firm does not draft wills.

PracticesProbate LitigationTrust Litigation

Office: 5032 S. Bur Oak Place, Suite 205Sioux Falls, SD 57108
Phone: (605) 800-8825

FirmWatertown, SD

Schoenbeck & Erickson, P.C.

Litigates estate and trust disputes from Watertown, including contested estate plans and joint accounts that were wrongfully changed. Won a unanimous South Dakota Supreme Court ruling for one of the Redlin Family Trusts in 2024 and a Codington County jury verdict for the Estate of Dennis Schmeling. The firm limits its practice to litigation, with no will or trust drafting among its practice areas.

PracticesProbate LitigationTrust Litigation

Office: 1200 Mickelson Drive, Suite 310Watertown, SD 57201
Phone: (605) 886-0010

Solo PracticeSpearfish, SD

Wilde Law Offices, Prof. LLC

Serves the whole state

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.

PracticesEstate PlanningTrust AdministrationProbateProbate Litigationand 7 more

Office: 210 West Grant StreetSpearfish, SD 57783
Phone: (605) 717-2020

Estate planning attorneys in South Dakota average $311 an hour for wills and estates work. A flat-fee package runs $933 to $1,866 for a simple individual will and $3,580 to $5,370 for a basic revocable trust. An online service prices the same documents in the tens to low hundreds of dollars; the South Dakota will cost calculator sets the two side by side.

In South Dakota, estates valued at $100,000 or less skip probate with the Small Estate Affidavit, 30 days after death. That route is a form rather than a court case, and most families handle it without an attorney. Above the line, formal probate generally benefits from counsel for the procedural work, even when nothing is contested. The South Dakota probate calculator estimates the cost by estate value.

In South Dakota, the situations where counsel is typically worth the cost are: a blended family with children from a prior relationship; a business, rental property or significant investment assets; a dependent with special needs, who needs a special-needs trust to keep benefits; substantial property in more than one state. Where none of these apply, an online or self-help document is often enough.

South Dakota splits the two: probate attorney fees of typically 1.8% to 2.8% of the estate, but the executor's compensation follows a statutory schedule, about $12,585 on a $500,000 estate. That makes the executor's share predictable, which helps when a family member serves and is unsure what to charge.

Filter the directory by county and by the practice area you need, and look for experience with your situation; a board certification in estate planning, trust or probate law is a strong signal. Most South Dakota estate planning attorneys offer an initial consultation, some free and some for a flat fee. Ask up front whether the firm bills by the hour or by package, and what your situation is expected to cost.

Probate Litigation Attorneys in South Dakota

South Dakota attorneys average $311 an hour for wills and estates work. A basic will from an attorney runs $933–$1,866; online services cost $30–$300.

South Dakota sets executor compensation by statute — about $12,585 on a $500,000 estate, roughly 2.5%, even though the attorney's fee isn't fixed. That's the predictable cost component on probate here.

Worth knowing: estates under $100,000 can use South Dakota's simplified affidavit instead of formal probate. If your situation is straightforward and the estate fits, you may not need an attorney at all.

SimplyTrust Editorial·Updated October 15, 2026

Legal Sources

Data sourced from South Dakota statutes and official state code. How we research.

Forms for Planning and Settling an Estate in South Dakota

Free South Dakota forms for planning an estate or settling one: a will, trust, powers of attorney, TOD deed, and the probate forms an executor files.

$12/month

Revocable Living Trust

Create a revocable living trust to avoid probate, protect privacy, and control asset distribution.

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Free

Last Will and Testament

In South Dakota, a will is signed before 2 witnesses, and a self-proving affidavit signed with it lets the court admit it without witness testimony.

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All South Dakota forms

Tools for Planning and Settling an Estate in South Dakota

Free calculators and checklists for planning or settling an estate in South Dakota: will and trust costs, probate, executor pay, and inheritance taxes.

How Much Does Probate Cost?

Probate on a $500,000 estate in South Dakota costs an estimated $23,735. Attorney fees run 1.8% to 2.8% of the estate under a reasonable-compensation standard.

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Who Inherits Without a Will?

Without a will in South Dakota, a surviving spouse takes the entire estate when every child of either spouse is a child of both, and descendants divide what passes to them per stirpes.

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What Are the Creditor Claim Deadlines?

In South Dakota, creditors have 4 months from first publication of the creditor notice to present claims; late claims are barred.

Check Deadlines

How Do I Settle an Estate?

Settling an estate in South Dakota: the personal representative files the estate inventory within 180 days of appointment; creditors have 4 months to present claims; a simple estate closes in 4 months to 6 months.

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How Much Can an Executor Charge?

South Dakota sets executor compensation by statute — about $12,585 on a $500,000 estate, roughly 2.5%.

Use Calculator

All South Dakota tools