S.D. Codified Laws § 29A-2-603

This is the official text of S.D. Codified Laws § 29A-2-603, part of South Dakota’s Codified Laws — part of the compiled statutory law of South Dakota, published by the state as "Codified Laws." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Anti-lapse--Deceased devisee--Class gifts

Official statutory text

(a) If an individual named as a devisee in a will dies before the will was executed, or dies after the will was executed and before the testator, the devise fails unless (i) the devisee is a grandparent, a descendant of a grandparent, a stepchild, or a descendant of the stepchild of the testator and (ii) the devisee left descendants who survive the testator. Those descendants take by representation the property to which the devisee would have been entitled had the devisee survived the testator.

(b) If a devise is made in the form of a class gift and a devisee (member of the class) dies before the will was executed, or dies after the will was executed and before the testator, the share of the devisee fails, passes to the surviving members of the class, or passes to the surviving descendants of any deceased members of the class, as the case may be, unless (i) the devisee is a grandparent, a descendant of a grandparent, a stepchild, or a descendant of a stepchild of the testator and (ii) the devisee left descendants who survive the testator. Those descendants take by representation the property to which the devisee would have been entitled had the devisee survived the testator.

(c) For purposes of this section:

(1) "Class gift" excludes a devise to "issue," "descendants," or "heirs of the body," the disposition of which is controlled by § 29A-2-708 , and excludes a devise to "heirs," "next of kin," "relatives," "family," or a class described by language of similar import, the disposition of which is controlled by § 29A-2-711 .

(2) "Devise" excludes a future interest in trust, the disposition of which is controlled by § 29A-2-707 , and "devisee" excludes a beneficiary thereof.

Source: SL 1995, ch 167, § 2-603.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.