Estate Settlement Cost
Menu

South Dakota court costs

South Dakota probate filing cost: $75

SDCL § 16-2-29(1) directs that the clerk of courts "shall charge and collect the following fees: (1) For the probate of an estate, seventy-five dollars". This is a clean statewide statutory probate filing fee of $75. The § 29A-3-1201 affidavit route requires no court filing.

$75 is the amount the statute states. Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.

What the statute charges

South Dakota states one statewide amount rather than a schedule of components, so there is no line-by-line breakdown to compute. The figure above is that amount. It is a court charge only, and it is not an estimate of the total cost of settling an estate.

South Dakota publishes no component breakdown for this cost.

The statute states one statewide amount rather than a schedule of parts, so there is nothing to itemise. The figure shown above is that amount, and the linked source is the text that sets it.

What the $75 is made of

South Dakota’s $75 figure is a single statutory charge, not a total assembled from parts. It is shown here with its own provision named, and with the neighbouring charges the South Dakota schedule prices separately — the ones a filer is most likely to add to it by mistake, or to be quoted alongside it.

  • $75Probate of an estate, SDCL s 16-2-29(1)

Added together, these come to $75 — the figure this page headlines. If any component changed in the source, the sum would no longer match, and the build withholds the total rather than publishing a number whose parts no longer add up.

Charges the $75 figure leaves out

These amounts appear in or beside the same South Dakota schedule, so a reader can easily mistake one for part of the fee. Each is held out of the figure above for the specific reason given, which is the difference between an honest total and an inflated one.

A fee for a different filing

Settled-record-to-Supreme-Court service, SDCL s 16-2-29(2)
a $50 charge for preparing and transmitting a settled record and remittitur to the Supreme Court — an appellate-record service, not the probate filing fee.
Other $25 case filings, SDCL s 16-2-29(3)
the $25 tier prices civil cases for jury/court trial, guardianship, adoption, and other proceedings listed in subdivision (3); none of them is the probate of an estate.
Family-law modification filings, SDCL s 16-2-29(4)
the $50 tier prices petitions and motions to modify final child-support, custody, visitation, and spousal-support orders — different proceedings from a probate.
Transcript, execution, and judgment-renewal services, SDCL s 16-2-29(5)
the $5 tier prices issuing a transcript or execution, docketing a judgment, and renewing a judgment — separate clerk services, not the probate filing fee.
Subpoena and will-safekeeping services, SDCL s 16-2-29(6)
the $2 tier prices issuing a civil subpoena and the safekeeping or filing of a will — separate clerk services, not the probate estate filing.
Reproduction of an authenticated certificate, SDCL s 16-2-29(7)
a $15 charge for reproducing an authenticated, exemplified, or double certificate of a record — a copy-reproduction service, not the probate filing fee.

What the South Dakota figure leaves out

Other costs: probate cost lines.

Filing-cost source

South Dakota record: 5/5 verified, 16 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction

Continue in South Dakota