Transfer on death deed in South Dakota

South Dakota at a glance

TOD deed for real estate

Yes

Name in South Dakota law

Transfer on death deed (South Dakota Real Property Transfer on Death Act)

Law

SDCL §§ 29A-6-401 to 29A-6-435

Notary

Required

Witnesses

None

When to record

Before the death

Where to record

Register of deeds of the county where the property is located

After-death document

Affidavit of confirmation (optional form: Affidavit of Confirmation and Survivorship for Transfer on Death Deed)

Notice to heirs

Not required

Official form

Yes

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Making a valid TOD deed in South Dakota

• What the law does. A recorded transfer on death deed passes the owner's South Dakota real property to named beneficiaries at death and stays revocable during life.
• Signing. The owner signs. The deed must have the formalities of a recordable deed; it is acknowledged (the statutory form ends with an acknowledgment; an unacknowledged deed can be recorded only if proved by a subscribing witness). No witnesses are required. Capacity is the same as for a will. Owners who join must sign; the form asks for marital status.
• Recording. Must be recorded before the owner's death or it is not effective. No deadline after signing. The act applies to deeds executed, acknowledged and recorded after July 1, 2014.
• Payment, delivery, acceptance. Effective without notice, delivery, acceptance, or payment.
• Form. Optional statutory forms: TOD deed (§ 29A-6-430), revocation (§ 29A-6-431), affidavit of confirmation (§ 29A-6-432).

Changing it, and who you can name

• Revoking or changing. Revoke with a later TOD deed, an instrument of revocation, or an inter vivos deed that expressly revokes it, acknowledged after the original and recorded before death in the county where the deed is recorded. A deed of joint owners is revoked only by all living joint owners. Destroying the recorded deed does not revoke it. The act lists no will as a way to revoke. Agents may revoke only if expressly authorized.
• Beneficiaries. Any person, including trusts and entities, with contingent beneficiaries allowed. A beneficiary must survive the owner by 120 hours unless the deed waives or changes that. The act is subject to South Dakota's anti-lapse statute (SDCL 29A-2-603): if a beneficiary who is the owner's grandparent, a descendant of a grandparent, a stepchild or a stepchild's descendant dies first leaving descendants who survive the owner, those descendants take the share. Otherwise a lapsed share of a co-beneficiary goes to the others. Equal shares as tenants in common unless stated otherwise.

After the owner dies

• Document. Affidavit of confirmation (optional form: Affidavit of Confirmation and Survivorship for Transfer on Death Deed)
• Where. Register of deeds of the county where the property is located
• Steps. A beneficiary signs a sworn affidavit of confirmation, attaches certified death certificates for the owner (and any beneficiary who died first), and records it. It lists surviving beneficiaries, anyone taking as contingent beneficiary or under the anti-lapse statute, date of death and legal description, and states that notice of the death was given to the South Dakota Department of Social Services. On the optional statutory form the affiant also swears DSS has determined no assistance was provided or any reimbursement has been satisfied. False statements are a crime.

Debts, Medicaid and the spouse

• Creditors and Medicaid. The beneficiary is liable for the owner's debts only up to the value of the property received (subject to homestead and legal exemptions) and only if other property in the owner's name is insufficient. Creditors or the personal representative must sue within six months after death; for Medicaid recovery, the Department of Social Services has the shorter of two years after death or six months after written notice of the death. Multiple TOD beneficiaries are jointly and severally liable with contribution rights.
• Surviving spouse. The transfer is subject to South Dakota's elective share and revocation-by-divorce rules.

Good to know in South Dakota

• A good-faith buyer or lender from the beneficiary after death takes free of estate and creditor claims (SDCL 29A-6-425).
• Joint owners: survivors keep the property; the TOD deed takes effect only when the last joint owner dies (SDCL 29A-6-417).
• TOD deeds are exempt from the transfer fee under SDCL 43-4-22(18) per the statutory form.

Official pages

• South Dakota TOD deed form
• South Dakota statute
• No TOD deed or other plan? How South Dakota handles a small estate without probate →

Sources

• SDCL 29A-6-401 to 435 (SD Legislature) (read October 28, 2026)
• SDCL 29A-6-427 affidavit of confirmation (read October 28, 2026)
• SDCL 29A-6-421 creditor/DSS time limits (read October 28, 2026)
• SDCL 29A-6-430 optional TOD deed form (read October 28, 2026)
• SDCL 43-25-26 (read October 28, 2026)
• SDCL 29A-6 (SD Legislature, full chapter) and 29A-2-603 (read October 28, 2026)

Legal information from the official sources above, not legal advice. A TOD deed can affect Medicaid, taxes, creditors and co-owners; for a decision about your own property, ask the county recorder, a legal aid office or a lawyer. How we check: methodology.