Insolvent Probate Estate Claim-Payment Priority in South Dakota

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Five claim classes

Under § 29A-3-805(a), the first two classes are administration costs and reasonable funeral expenses. The third class covers debts and taxes preferred by federal law, while the fourth covers debts and taxes preferred under other South Dakota laws. Every other claim is fifth. Under § 29A-3-807(a), the representative provides for allowances and unresolved claims before paying allowed claims in this order.

Allowances outside the ladder

Under § 29A-2-402(b), homestead allowance and exempt property have priority over all claims. The family allowance has priority over claims too, but follows those two allowances under § 29A-2-403(d).

Secured claims

Under § 29A-3-809, surrendering security permits payment based on the full allowed amount; otherwise the creditor's payment basis is the allowed amount minus the security's value, determined by the statutory methods.

What trips people up

Under § 29A-3-805(b), a claim already due is not preferred over another claim of the same class that has not yet matured. Section 29A-3-807(b) permits earlier payment of a valid unbarred claim, but can make the representative personally liable if the specified early-payment or fault conditions injure another allowed claimant.

Common questions

Does this statute put last-sickness bills with funeral expenses? Section 29A-3-805(a)(2) names reasonable funeral expenses, but its five-class list does not name last-sickness expenses as a separate class.

Do allowances consume the general-claim class? No. Sections 29A-2-402(b) and 29A-2-403(d) give the specified allowances priority over claims, apart from the five claim classes.

Statutes and sources

• S.D. Codified Laws §§ 29A-3-805, -807, -809, and 29A-2-402–403. Verbatim official text, section URLs, and access dates appear in the source fields above.