South Dakota Codified Laws 55-18-1. Definitions
Terms used in this chapter mean:
(1) “Bind” or “bound,” to consent, receive notice or service of process, approve, agree, object, resist, waive, or demand for or as a person with the same binding and conclusive effect as if the person represented had;
Terms Used In South Dakota Codified Laws 55-18-1
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: includes natural persons, partnerships, associations, cooperative corporations, limited liability companies, and corporations. See South Dakota Codified Laws 2-14-2
- Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
(2) “Conflict of interest,” a situation in which a representative’s interest in the trust causes a significant likelihood that a reasonable person would disregard a representative’s duty to a represented beneficiary. A conflict of interest, however, excludes:
(a) Any adversity, conflict or opposed interests substantially unrelated to the representative’s interest in the trust;
(b) Any past situation which is not likely to re-occur; and
(c) Any conflict of interest which falls short of a material conflict of interest;
(3) “Co-representative,” more than one simultaneously acting representative of the same class pursuant to § 55-18-9, as when co-guardians are acting:
(4) “Conservator,” a person appointed pursuant to chapter 29A-5 or equivalent provisions of another jurisdiction‘s laws including a temporary conservator, a guardian ad litem, and a limited conservator;
(5) “Fiduciary,” a person defined by subdivision 21-22-1(3), except as used in § 55-18-17;
(6) “Guardian,” a person appointed pursuant to chapter 29A-5 or equivalent provisions of another jurisdiction’s laws including a temporary guardian and a limited guardian;
(7) “Incapacitated” or “incapacity,” lacking the capacity to meaningfully understand the matter in question because of a mental or physical impairment;
(8) “Interest,” a beneficial interest as defined by subdivision 55-1-24(1) but including the holder of a power of appointment, and any power to remove or replace a fiduciary or a representative;
(9) “Interested beneficiary,” a person who, on the date the person’s qualification is determined:
(a) Is a current distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal;
(b) Would be a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal if the interests of the current distributees terminated on that date;
(c) Would be a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal if the trust terminated on that date;
(d) Holds a power of appointment; or
(e) Would hold a power of appointment if the interests of the current distributees terminated on that date or the interests of the persons currently holding a power of appointment under this subdivision terminated on that date;
(10) “Knows” or “knowingly,” actual knowledge of the fact in question;
(11) “Minor,” any person who has not attained the age of eighteen. The term includes a minor with an incapacity;
(12) “Nonjudicial settlement,” an agreement, release, or other action whether or not approved by a court, which may include, without limitation:
(a) The interpretation or construction of the terms of a trust;
(b) The approval of any fiduciary’s report or accounting;
(c) Direction to any fiduciary to refrain from performing a particular act or the grant to a fiduciary of any necessary or desirable power;
(d) The resignation or appointment of any fiduciary;
(e) The determination of a fiduciary or a representative’s compensation;
(f) The transfer of a trust’s principal place of administration or situs;
(g) The liability of any fiduciary’s action or omission relating to a trust;
(h) Partial or final settlement agreements regarding a trust or its administration; or
(i) The modification, amendment, reformation, or termination of a trust;
(13) “Notice” or “notifies,” notice provided in accordance with § 55-2-24;
(14) “Notifier,” a person who is undertaking notice or proposing consent with regard to a matter concerning a trust;
(15) “Power of appointment,” a power defined by § 55-1-12;
(16) “Proceeding,” any judicial or nonjudicial trust proceeding, accounting, termination, modification, reformation, decanting, settlement, nonjudicial settlement, and any proceeding conducted pursuant to chapter 21-22 or title 29A which concerns a trust;
(17) “Protected person,” a person other than a minor for whom a guardian or conservator is appointed;
(18) “Reasonably available,” with respect to a person, that the person can be identified and located with the exercise of reasonable diligence;
(19) “Representative,” a person who may bind another person pursuant to § 55-18-9;
(20) “Trust,” an express inter vivos or testamentary trust; and
(21) “Uninterested beneficiary,” a beneficiary other than an interested beneficiary.
Source: SL 2017, ch 208, § 2; SL 2018, ch 275, § 31; SL 2019, ch 209, § 9; SL 2021, ch 207, § 3; SL 2023, ch 161, § 16.