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.
Probate in Minnehaha County
Probate Court Record
Minnehaha County Circuit Court
Minnehaha County · 2nd Judicial Circuit
Phone
Hours
Monday-Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Office
425 North Dakota Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD 57104
Website
E-filing
Filing in person
Walk-ins accepted
Self-represented filing
Allowed
How to file probate in Minnehaha County →
Verified October 16, 2026 · Source
Do I need a lawyer for probate in Minnehaha County? →Settling an estate in Minnehaha County →
Probate Firms Serving Minnehaha County
Serves families from its office on S Bur Oak Place in Sioux Falls. Handles probate and trust administration, representing fiduciaries and beneficiaries, drafting family settlement agreements, modifying or terminating trusts, and preparing estate tax returns and audits. Also plans farm and business successions and high-net-worth estate tax strategies.
Serves clients from offices in Watertown, Milbank, and Arlington. Handles probate and simpler alternatives to it, successor-trustee trust administration, ancillary probates of out-of-state estates, and guardianships and conservatorships, alongside wills, powers of attorney, and trusts. Bills estate work by the time spent on the file, not a percentage of assets.
Serves South Dakota clients from a Sioux Falls office, and clients elsewhere virtually. Guides personal representatives and beneficiaries through probate, estate and trust administration, and handles wills, trusts, Medicaid and special-needs planning, asset protection, and business succession. Attorney Lindsay M. Harris works with a probate and trust administration coordinator.
Serves eastern South Dakota from offices in Brookings and Watertown. Handles uncontested probate of a will, intestate administration, trust administration for successor trustees of revocable living trusts, business interests in probate, and estate administration for personal representatives who live outside South Dakota. The Brookings practice traces back more than 100 years.
Solo general practice in Mitchell. Administers probate and trust estates, handles guardianships and conservatorships, and drafts wills, revocable and irrevocable living trusts, and durable and health care powers of attorney, alongside business, municipal, zoning, and real estate work. James D. Taylor started the firm in 1987.
All 25 South Dakota probate firms serving Minnehaha 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.
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Revocable Living Trust
Create a revocable living trust to avoid probate, protect privacy, and control asset distribution.
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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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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 Does Probate Cost?
Probate on a $500,000 estate in South Dakota costs an estimated $23,735SDCL § 29A-3-719(a) (reasonable compensation; no statutory percentage for attorneys)Verified Sep 8, 2026View source. Attorney fees run 1.8%Modeled estimate under SDCL § 29A-3-719(a) (reasonable compensation; no statutory percentage for attorneys): the hours the statutory fee schedules imply, at the state's surveyed hourly rateVerified Sep 8, 2026View source to 2.8%Modeled estimate under SDCL § 29A-3-719(a) (reasonable compensation; no statutory percentage for attorneys): the hours the statutory fee schedules imply, at the state's surveyed hourly rateVerified Sep 8, 2026View source of the estate under a reasonable-compensation standard.
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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.
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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%SDCL § 29A-3-719(c) (5% on first $1K, 4% on $1K-$5K, 2.5% on amounts over $5K for personal property; real property court-determined as just and reasonable)Verified Sep 8, 2026View source.
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Do I Need Probate?
In South Dakota, estates valued at $100,000SDCL § 29A-3-1201Verified Sep 8, 2026View source or less skip probate with the Small Estate AffidavitSDCL § 29A-3-1201Verified Sep 8, 2026View source, 30 daysSDCL § 29A-3-1201Verified Sep 8, 2026View source after death.
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What Are the Creditor Claim Deadlines?
In South Dakota, creditors have 4 monthsSDCL § 29A-3-801Verified Sep 8, 2026View source from first publication of the creditor notice to present claims; late claims are barred.
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Can I Self-File Probate?
South Dakota has no statewide fill-in probate petition, so the opening petition is drafted as a legal pleading, and informal probate is availableSDCL § 29A-3-301Verified Sep 8, 2026View source.
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