Common South Dakota Probate Mistakes to Avoid

Treating the $100,000 figure as the only test, and signing the affidavit for a parent whose nursing-home stay was paid by medical assistance.

Adding up only the bank accounts and the car, deciding the estate is under $100,000, and signing the affidavit while the decedent also owned land in their own name.

Working from a guide for another state that gives 30 days, or not knowing that South Dakota requires a separate notice to the Department of Social Services at all.

Running the newspaper notice and assuming every creditor, including the hospital and credit card companies the family knows about, is barred four months later.

Paying credit cards or a relative's loan first because they call most often, or ranking the last-illness hospital bill ahead of other debts because another state does.

Finding a signed transfer-on-death deed in a parent's desk drawer and treating the house as already the beneficiary's.

Letting land sit in a parent's name for years on the assumption that probate can be opened whenever someone needs to sell.