South Dakota § 59-12-1 - Definitions.

§ 59-12-1. Definitions.

Terms used in this chapter mean:

(1)    "Agent," a person granted authority to act for a principal under a power of attorney, whether denominated an agent, attorney-in-fact, or otherwise. The term includes an original agent, co-agent, successor agent, and a person to whom an agent's authority is delegated;

(2)    "Durable," not terminated by the principal's incapacity;

(3)    "Electronic," relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities;

(4)    "Good faith," honesty in fact;

(5)    "Incapacity," inability of an individual to manage property, business, or financial affairs because the individual:

(a)    Has an impairment or other deficit in the ability to receive and evaluate information or to make or communicate any decision even with the use of technological assistance; or

(b)    Is:

(i)    Missing or has disappeared;

(ii)    Detained, including incarcerated in a penal system; or

(iii)    Outside the United States and unable to return;

(6)    "Person," an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity;

(7)    "Power of attorney," a writing or other record that grants authority to an agent to act in the place of the principal, whether or not the term, power of attorney, is used;

(8)    "Presently exercisable general or limited power of appointment," regarding property or an interest in property that is subject to a power of appointment, a power to vest absolute ownership in a principal individually, a principal's estate, a principal's creditors, or the creditors of a principal's estate. The term includes a power of appointment not exercisable until the occurrence of a specified event, the satisfaction of an ascertainable standard, or the passage of a specified period only after the occurrence of the specified event, the satisfaction of the ascertainable standard, or the passage of the specified period. The term does not include a power exercisable in a fiduciary capacity or only by will;

(9)    "Principal," an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney;

(10)    "Property," anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal, legal or equitable, or any interest or right in the subject;

(11)    "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;

(12)    "Sign," with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:

(a)    To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or

(b)    To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic sound, symbol, or process;

(13)    "State," a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;

(14)    "Stocks and bonds," stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and any other type of securities and financial instrument, whether held directly, indirectly, or in any other manner. The term does not include commodity futures contracts and call or put options on stocks or stock indexes.

Source: SL 2020, ch 214, § 1.