South Dakota Codified Laws 55-19-1. Definitions
Terms used in this chapter mean:
(1) “Account,” any arrangement under a terms-of-service agreement in which a custodian carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of the user or provides goods or services to the user;
Terms Used In South Dakota Codified Laws 55-19-1
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
- Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Electronic communication: has the meaning set forth in 18 U. See South Dakota Codified Laws 55-19-1
- Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- 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
- Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
- Property: includes property, real and personal. See South Dakota Codified Laws 2-14-2
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(2) “Agent,” any attorney-in-fact granted authority under a power of attorney pursuant to chapter 59-12 or nondurable power of attorney pursuant to chapter 59-2;
(3) “Carries,” engages in the transmission of an electronic communication;
(4) “Catalogue of electronic communications,” information that identifies each person with whom a user has had an electronic communication, the time and date of the communication, and the electronic address of the person;
(5) “Conservator,” any person appointed by a court to manage the estate of a living individual or protected person, including a limited conservator;
(6) “Content of an electronic communication,” information concerning the substance or meaning of the communication that has been sent or received by a user; is in electronic storage by a custodian providing an electronic communication service to the public or is carried or maintained by a custodian providing a remote computing service to the public; and is not readily accessible to the public;
(7) “Court,” a court of competent jurisdiction;
(8) “Custodian,” any person who carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of a user;
(9) “Designated recipient,” any person chosen by the user of an online tool to administer digital assets of the user;
(10) “Digital asset,” any electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. The term does not include an underlying asset or liability unless the asset or liability is itself an electronic record;
(11) “Electronic,” relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities;
(12) “Electronic communication,” has the meaning set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 2510(12), as of January 1, 2017;
(13) “Electronic-communication service,” any custodian who provides to a user the ability to send or receive an electronic communication;
(14) “Fiduciary,” any person who is an original, additional, or successor personal representative, conservator, agent, or trustee;
(15) “Information,” data, text, images, videos, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, databases, or similar intelligence of any nature;
(16) “Online tool,” any electronic service provided by a custodian that allows the user, in an agreement distinct from the terms-of-service agreement between the custodian and user, to provide directions for disclosure or nondisclosure of digital assets to a third person;
(17) “Person,” any individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or other legal entity;
(18) “Personal representative,” any executor, administrator, special administrator, or any person who performs substantially the same function under the law governing that person’s status other than this chapter;
(19) “Power of attorney,” any record that grants an agent authority to act in the place of a principal;
(20) “Principal,” any individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney;
(21) “Protected person,” any individual for whom a conservator has been appointed, including an individual for whom an application for the appointment of a conservator is pending;
(22) “Record,” information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;
(23) “Remote-computing service,” any custodian who provides to the public computer processing services or the storage of digital assets by means of an electronic communications system as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2510(14), as of January 1, 2017;
(24) “Terms-of-service agreement,” any agreement that controls the relationship between a user and a custodian;
(25) “Trustee,” any fiduciary, including a successor trustee, with legal title to property under an agreement or declaration that creates a beneficial interest in another;
(26) “User,” any person who has an account with a custodian;
(27) “Will,” includes a codicil, testamentary instrument that only appoints an executor, and instrument that revokes or revises a testamentary instrument.
Source: SL 2017, ch 209, § 1; SL 2020, ch 214, § 52.