Split Legal South Dakota Minors Forms For Free

Getting Help Filing Your South Dakota Divorce If you'd like to DIY your divorce, the state has information, instructions, and forms available online. You can also get forms from your court clerk.

South Dakota child custody laws don't prescribe a certain age when a child's preference may be considered. Judges have broad discretion when deciding how much weight to give the child's preference. In some South Dakota custody cases, judges have considered the well-reasoned preferences of children as young as 10.

Even for uncontested divorces, South Dakota law requires spouses to wait 60 days from the date you file the divorce paperwork until the judge can finalize the divorce. (S.D. Codified Laws §25-4-34.) The law doesn't require either spouse to attend a final divorce hearing for uncontested divorces.

The average cost for a divorce in South Dakota is $1,500, though this can vary depending on the complexity of the case and the attorneys involved. There are also certain fees that must be paid to the court, such as a filing fee and a service of process fee.

Under South Dakota law a divorce may be granted for any of these grounds: adultery, extreme cruelty (including bodily injury or grievous mental suffering), willful desertion, willful neglect, habitual intemperance, conviction of a felony, chronic mental illness or irreconcilable differences.

The average cost of a divorce per person in the state, including court and lawyer fees, is $8,595 ? the 12th lowest among all states. Nationwide, the average cost of a divorce per person is $9,969. If children are involved, the average cost of a divorce per person in South Dakota increases to $11,754.