Free South Dakota Living Will

In South Dakota, the living will is the Living Will Declaration, a document of its own, apart from the healthcare power of attorney.

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A competent adult may at any time execute a declaration governing the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. may make a living will declaration in South Dakota.

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The state whose law the document is prepared under. In Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Oregon, treatment instructions are part of the healthcare power of attorney; those state pages lead there.

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Yes. South Dakota prints the form in the statute. The document prepared here is that form text with your entries in its blanks and your choices marked where the form has you initial them; the agent parts are omitted.

The declarant signs it in the presence of 2 adult witnesses, or acknowledges it before a notary public instead. A declarant who cannot sign may have another adult sign at the declarant's direction and in the declarant's presence.

When you can no longer make your own treatment decisions and your condition is one the statute names: terminal condition. South Dakota defines that term in the statute, and the document prints the definition it uses.

Yes, with a separate election. South Dakota lets the declaration direct that artificially provided nutrition and hydration be withheld or withdrawn, and requires that choice to be stated specifically; the document carries the election with an initials line. "The term does not include the provision of appropriate care to maintain comfort, hygiene and human dignity, the oral administration of food and water, or the administration of any medication or other medical procedure deemed necessary to alleviate pain" (§ 34-12D-1(4)); "If the declaration does not.

South Dakota recognizes these ways to revoke it: at any time and in any manner without regard to the declarant's mental or physical condition.

The Living Will in South Dakota

South Dakota treats the living will as a document of its own: the statute calls it the Living Will Declaration and gives it its own signing rule, apart from the healthcare power of attorney. The document is that declaration alone; naming an agent is the healthcare power of attorney's work.

South Dakota prints the form in the statute; in the statute's words, “A declaration may, but need not, be in the following form”. The document reproduces the form's text with the entries in its blanks and the elections marked where the form has the declarant initial them.

South Dakota names one condition in which the declaration operates: terminal condition. It applies only once the declarant can no longer make treatment decisions.

Signing in South Dakota takes the declarant's signature before 2 adult witnesses, or a notary acknowledgment in place of the witnesses. Another adult may sign for a declarant who cannot, at the declarant's direction and in the declarant's presence.

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(5)·Updated September 27, 2026

SimplyTrust Editorial

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

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Free South Dakota Living Will

In South Dakota, the living will is the Living Will Declaration, a document of its own, apart from the healthcare power of attorney.

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The Living Will in South Dakota

South Dakota names one condition in which the declaration operates: terminal condition. It applies only once the declarant can no longer make treatment decisions.

Free South Dakota Living Will

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