# South Dakota — Will execution requirements by state: witnesses, notarization, holographic and electronic wills

For South Dakota, witnesses required is Signed in the conscious presence of the testator by two or more individuals; holographic wills is A will is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting; statute citation is S.D. Codified Laws § 29A-2-502, recorded from its source on 2026-09-02.

- **State:** South Dakota
- **Witnesses required:** Signed in the conscious presence of the testator by two or more individuals _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Holographic wills:** A will is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Statute citation:** S.D. Codified Laws § 29A-2-502 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Statute citation:** S.D. Codified Laws § 29A-2-504 _(per sdlegislature.gov — a different platform or surface from the one above)_
- **Self-proving affidavit:** A will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self - proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses _(per sdlegislature.gov, not stated by the source above)_

## What the source says

> (3) Signed in the conscious presence of the testator by two or more individuals who, in the conscious presence of the testator, witnessed either the signing of the will or the testator's acknowledgment of that signature.

## Where each value comes from

This source states these in separate places, so each value is shown with the passage that states it.

### Holographic wills

> (a) A will is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting.

## The source states this two ways

The same publisher states this differently in more than one place. Each version is reproduced with the page it came from.

### Statute citation

sdlegislature.gov says statute citation is **S.D. Codified Laws § 29A-2-502**, as of 2026-09-02.

> (3) Signed in the conscious presence of the testator by two or more individuals who, in the conscious presence of the testator, witnessed either the signing of the will or the testator's acknowledgment of that signature.

Source: https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/29A-2-502.html

sdlegislature.gov says statute citation is **S.D. Codified Laws § 29A-2-504**, as of 2026-09-02.

> (a) A will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self - proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in which execution occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, in substantially the following form:

Source: https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/29A-2-504.html


## Source

- https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/29A-2-502.html
- https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/29A-2-504.html

Last verified: 2026-09-02. Review by: 2028-02-24.
Part of [Will execution requirements by state: witnesses, notarization, holographic and electronic wills](https://referencesource.org/will-execution-requirements-by-state/).