South Dakota Affidavit of Confirmation and Survivorship

This affidavit of confirmation completes a South Dakota transfer on death deed that was made by two joint owner transferors. A designated beneficiary named in the deed swears the affidavit after the death of the last surviving joint owner, and the recorded instrument documents both deaths at once: the first death, at which the property belonged to the surviving transferor by right of survivorship, and the second death, at which the deed took effect and the property passed to the beneficiaries named in it.

One affidavit, two deaths in the record

Under SDCL 29A-6-417, a transfer on death deed made by joint tenants operates in two stages. While one transferor survives the other, the property belongs to the surviving joint owner with right of survivorship, and the deed transfers nothing. When the last surviving joint owner dies, the deed becomes effective, and the beneficiaries take whatever interest the deed describes. A married couple who recorded one TOD deed together, each later dying without probate of the real estate, presents exactly this pattern in the title records.

South Dakota then requires a recording step. Under SDCL 29A-6-427, the transfer of the deceased owner's property must be recorded with the register of deeds of the county where the property is located by filing an affidavit of confirmation executed by a designated beneficiary to whom the transfer is made. This form carries the survivorship statements alongside the statutory confirmation content, so the death of the first joint owner, the termination of that owner's interest, and the transfer at the second death all reach the record in a single instrument, supported by the certified death certificates it describes.

What SDCL 29A-6-427 puts in the affidavit

The statute lists the required contents, and the form collects each one in a numbered section: the name and address of every designated beneficiary who survived the deceased owner or that was in existence on the date of death; the contingent beneficiary or anti-lapse taker where a named beneficiary died first; the date of death; the legal description of the property; the name of any designated beneficiary who did not survive; and the statement that notice of the death was given to the South Dakota Department of Social Services to satisfy any public welfare and assistance liens under Title 28. The layout follows the optional statutory form in SDCL 29A-6-432, which accepts a document containing substantially all of the same information.

The affidavit travels with attachments. SDCL 29A-6-427 requires a certified copy of the death certificate for the deceased owner and for each deceased designated beneficiary, and this survivorship arrangement adds the certificate for the predeceased joint owner, so the record shows the whole chain from the joint tenancy to the beneficiaries.

Sworn before an officer, then recorded

An affidavit of confirmation is verified, so the affiant signs before a notary public or other officer authorized to administer oaths, and the certificate on the form is the sworn jurat rather than the acknowledgment found on deeds. The affidavit then goes to the register of deeds of the county where the property is located, where SDCL 29A-6-428 directs an index reference in the record of deeds connecting it to the recorded transfer on death deed. The statewide recording fee under SDCL 7-9-15 is thirty dollars for a document of up to fifty pages. Because the affidavit is not a deed or contract for deed, the Certificate of Real Estate Value requirement in SDCL 7-9-7 does not attach to it.

A title record that carries the whole story

After recording, the county land records show the transfer on death deed, the index reference to the affidavit, the survivorship passage at the first death, and the transfer to the beneficiaries at the second, each element resting on the statute that governs it. Under SDCL 29A-6-416 the beneficiaries take subject to mortgages, liens, and other interests existing at the transferor's death, and SDCL 29A-6-425 protects a later purchaser or lender for value who relies on the recorded affidavit in good faith.

This package contains the fillable affidavit of confirmation and survivorship form, a completed example showing one filled-in version with a Minnehaha County fact pattern, and a guide that walks through every section, the attachments, and the recording process. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.