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.
Probate in Brown County
Probate Court Record
Brown County Circuit Court
Brown County · 5th Judicial Circuit
Phone
Hours
Monday-Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Office
101 Southeast 1st Avenue, Aberdeen, SD 57402-1087
Website
E-filing
Filing in person
Walk-ins accepted
Self-represented filing
Allowed
How to file probate in Brown County →
Verified October 16, 2026 · Source
Do I need a lawyer for probate in Brown County? →Settling an estate in Brown County →
Trust Administration Firms Serving Brown County
Serves Watertown and northeast South Dakota from an office on South Broadway. Handles administration of trusts and estates, probate matters, wills and trusts, guardianships, and farm family succession planning. Partner Nancy Oviatt, at the firm since 1988, concentrates on estate planning and trust and estate administration.
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.
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 families, farmers and ranchers throughout South Dakota from Sioux Falls, with a second office in Grand Forks, North Dakota since a July 2026 merger. Takes executors and trustees through probate and trust administration, from notices to heirs and creditors to tax returns and retitling deeds. Also drafts living trusts, wills and Medicaid plans, licensed in five states.
All 9 South Dakota trust administration firms serving Brown 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.
$12/month
Revocable Living Trust
Create a revocable living trust to avoid probate, protect privacy, and control asset distribution.
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Free
Pour-Over Will
In South Dakota, a pour-over will is signed before 2SDCL 29A-2-502Verified Oct 19, 2026View source witnesses and moves anything left outside the trust into it through probate.
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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 Do I Settle a Trust?
Settling a trust in South Dakota happens outside court: the trustee acts under the state's trust statuteSDCL § 55-1-1 et seq.Verified Oct 17, 2026View source, notifies the beneficiaries within 60 daysSDCL 55-2-13Verified Sep 15, 2026View source, then pays the debts and distributes under the trust's terms.
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What's Fair Trustee Compensation?
In South Dakota, trustee compensation follows "reasonable compensation" (UTC § 708 or equivalent)SDCL § 55-3-14Verified Sep 18, 2026View source unless the trust instrument sets a different amount.
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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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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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How Does Step-Up in Basis Work?
Inherited assets in South Dakota take a basis reset to fair market value on the date of death26 USC § 1014Verified Sep 15, 2026View source, and the gain on a later sale faces no state capital gains taxSDCL Title 10 (Taxation) — chapter list contains no individual income tax chapter (ch. 10-43 "Income Tax On Banks And Financial Corporations" is the only income tax; chs. 10-40/10-40A/10-41 inheritance and estate tax are repealed)Verified Sep 15, 2026View source.
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