South Dakota § 29A-1-107 - Evidence as to death or status.

§ 29A-1-107. Evidence as to death or status.

In addition to the rules of evidence in courts of general jurisdiction, the following rules relating to a determination of death and status apply:

(1)    Death occurs when an individual is determined to be dead under § 34-25-18.1.

(2)    A certified or authenticated copy of a death certificate issued by an official or agency of the place where the death occurred is prima facie proof of the fact, place, date, time of death, and identity of the decedent.

(3)    A certified or authenticated copy of any record or report of a governmental agency, domestic or foreign, that an individual is dead, alive, or an absentee is prima facie proof of the status and of the dates, circumstances, and places disclosed by the record or report.

(4)    In the absence of prima facie proof of death, the fact of death may be established by other competent evidence, including circumstantial evidence.

(5)    An absentee who has not been seen or heard from for a continuous period of five years, and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained after diligent search or inquiry, is presumed to be dead and is presumed to have died at the end of the period.

(6)    A document described in paragraph (2) or (3) that states a time of death 120 hours or more after the time of death of another individual is prima facie proof that the individual survived the other individual by 120 hours.

Source: SL 1995, ch 167, § 1-107.