South Dakota: Will Revocation and Revival Requirements

South Dakota combines the ordinary Uniform Probate Code revocation and revival rules
with a written harmless-error provision. Section 29A-2-507 supplies the usual later-
will and physical-act routes; § 29A-2-503 can validate a noncompliant written
revocation or revival on clear and convincing proof of intent.

Requirements one by one

Later will, codicil, or harmless-error writing

A subsequent will may revoke the earlier will or a part expressly or by
inconsistency. Section 29A-1-201(52) includes a codicil and an instrument used to
revoke or amend another will within the definition of "will."

When the later will does not expressly revoke, a complete disposition of the estate
creates a replacement presumption. An incomplete disposition creates a supplement
presumption, leaving both wills operative where they are consistent. Clear and
convincing evidence is required to rebut either presumption.

Section 29A-2-503 also allows a noncompliant document or writing to constitute a
partial or complete revocation if clear and convincing evidence proves the decedent's
intent. The statute makes that a proof route, not automatic effect for every note.

Physical act, another person's act, and partial revocation

The statutory acts are burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, and destroying the
will or any part. A testator's own act requires intent and purpose to revoke. Another
individual may perform the act only in the testator's conscious presence and by the
testator's direction.

Partial revocation is express under the later-will and physical-act routes, and
§ 29A-2-503 separately reaches partial written revocation. Section 29A-2-507 states
no witness requirement for a directed act or separate electronic-record method.

Revival after a later will is revoked

If the later will wholly revoked the earlier will and is then revoked by physical act,
the earlier will revives only when circumstances or the testator's contemporary or
later statements show intent for it to take effect again.

If the later will only partly revoked the earlier will, revoking the later will by
physical act restores the revoked part unless the same kinds of evidence show that
the testator did not want restoration. If another later will revokes the revoking
will, the latest will's terms control the extent of revival.

Section 29A-2-503 adds another route: a document or writing that missed execution
requirements may constitute a partial or complete revival on clear and convincing
proof. The current statute does not extend that route to a standalone recording.

Divorce, relatives, separation, and remarriage

Section 29A-2-804 applies unless the governing instrument expressly says otherwise,
a court order controls, or a qualifying marital-estate contract provides otherwise.
Divorce or annulment revokes revocable dispositions and property appointments,
powers of appointment, and fiduciary or representative nominations involving the
former spouse or a qualifying former-spouse relative.

The revoked provisions operate as if the former spouse and relatives disclaimed them;
revoked fiduciary nominations operate as if they died immediately before the divorce
or annulment. Remarriage to the former spouse or nullification revives provisions
revoked solely by the section. A separation decree that leaves the marriage intact is
not divorce for this rule.

Section 29A-2-508 supplies the broader baseline: other changed circumstances do not
revoke a will or part except under the stated statutory exceptions. Separate omitted-
heir consequences are outside this survey.

What trips people up

• The act need not touch the text. Section 29A-2-507 says the revocatory act may
  qualify whether or not it touched any words on the will.
• Harmless error is limited to a document or writing. The clear-and-convincing
  route does not state that an oral statement or standalone recording can revoke or
  revive a will.
• Whole and partial revival use opposite defaults. A wholly revoked earlier will
  returns only on shown intent; a partly revoked provision returns unless contrary
  intent is shown.

Common questions

Can an improperly witnessed note revoke or revive a South Dakota will?

Potentially. Section 29A-2-503 requires a document or writing and clear and convincing
evidence that the decedent intended a partial or complete revocation or revival.

Does divorce revoke only provisions for the former spouse?

No. Section 29A-2-804 can also reach qualifying former-spouse relatives and nominations
to serve in fiduciary or representative roles, subject to its stated exceptions.

Statutes and sources

• SDCL § 29A-1-201(19), (52) — defines governing instrument and includes codicils
  and revocation/amendment instruments within "will." Official
  text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• SDCL § 29A-2-503 — clear-and-convincing harmless-error treatment for a written
  will, revocation, alteration, or revival. Official
  text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• SDCL § 29A-2-507 — later-will and physical-act routes, partial revocation,
  directed acts, intent, and replacement/supplement presumptions. Official
  text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• SDCL § 29A-2-508 — changes of circumstances generally do not revoke a will or
  part. Official text
  (accessed 2026-08-01).
• SDCL § 29A-2-509 — whole, partial, physical-act, and later-will revival rules.
  Official text (accessed
  2026-08-01).
• SDCL § 29A-2-804(a), (b), (d)–(f) — divorce/annulment scope, former-spouse-
  relative effects, exceptions, construction, remarriage/nullification revival, and
  other changes of circumstances. Official
  text (accessed 2026-08-01).