Your state's pack. New issues arrive periodically on Mondays. Bookmark it. I built this for the South Dakota T&E solo who knows the UPC cold but still loses an afternoon a week tracking the moving DSS Medicaid pieces.
For licensed attorneys. This pack is general legal information and professional commentary for practicing attorneys — it is not legal advice, does not apply to any specific matter, and creates no attorney-client relationship. Verify every authority against the cited primary source before relying on it with a client. Published by Mike Moss, a Utah-admitted attorney, as an AI-enablement information product; it is not an offer of legal services and is not a representation that the author is admitted to practice in your jurisdiction.
Three developments I think actually matter to a South Dakota T&E solo. Each has a read that lands on your practice specifically — and each comes with a reachable citation so you can verify it yourself before you use it with a client.
Under SDCL § 28-6-23, medical assistance for a recipient 55+ (or any nursing-facility inpatient) is a debt to DSS; South Dakota is an expanded-recovery state that can reach interests passing outside probate, deferred where a spouse or a child under 21 or blind/disabled survives.
This is the structural fact a SD Medicaid plan is built around. Because recovery is expanded, a recorded TOD deed or other non-probate transfer is not automatically safe — irrevocable-trust and lookback planning carry the weight.
SDCL § 28-6-23 · sdlegislature.gov · dss.sd.gov
South Dakota enacted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act (SDCL ch. 29A-6, § 29A-6-401 et seq.), effective July 1, 2014; owners may name a beneficiary by recorded, revocable, nontestamentary deed.
The TOD deed is a real probate-avoidance tool here — but pair it with the expanded-recovery analysis above, because avoiding probate does not by itself defeat DSS recovery.
Maximum CSRA is $162,660 (minimum $32,532); the 300%-FBR institutional income cap is $2,982/mo; South Dakota applies the lower $752,000 home-equity limit.
Two places this lands: community-spouse protection math and clients near the equity line. Flag the OBBBA flat $1,000,000 equity cap (eff. Jan 1, 2028) now.
42 U.S.C. § 1396p · CMS 2026 Standards (medicaid.gov)
Decisions that bind a South Dakota practitioner — the Supreme Court of South Dakota, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, and the Eighth Circuit — read for what actually changes how you draft, advise, and plan. Trusts and estates broadly, not Medicaid alone: wills and capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, trust construction, and estate recovery. One read, the holding, and the official cite.
A wealthy rancher presented his fiancée a prenuptial agreement the day before their wedding; she signed it shortly before the ceremony, waiving her elective-share and other spousal death rights. After he died with a roughly $26 million estate, she petitioned for an elective share. The South Dakota Supreme Court affirmed denial. On voluntariness, it deferred to the trial court’s credibility findings — including the drafting attorney’s testimony that he reviewed each paragraph with the parties — and held the day-before timing did not make the signing involuntary. On unconscionability under SDCL 29A-2-213(b)(2), it held the agreement adequately provided for her (up to roughly $5.2 million plus a home titled in her name) and that an itemized exhibit estimating the husband’s net worth gave “a fair and reasonable disclosure.” Omitting about 8% of the assets did not defeat the disclosure, and a valuation disclaimer flagging litigation risk in his businesses sufficed; the court did not reach the remaining factors.
When you draft or attack an elective-share waiver, the battleground is the asset schedule, not the calendar. A last-minute prenup can hold up in South Dakota if the disclosure reasonably approximates net worth and the agreement actually provides for the spouse — and a good-faith valuation disclaimer can cover known volatility even where specific items are omitted. Document the paragraph-by-paragraph review, attach a complete and honest net-worth exhibit, and give the disadvantaged party real provision, because those are what the court weighs.
In re Estate of Webb, 2026 S.D. 2 (S.D. Jan. 14, 2026) · official opinion — ujs.sd.gov
This week in South Dakota for the T&E solo with Medicaid-planning clients: what the State Bar of South Dakota, the circuit courts, and DSS put in front of you.
The State Bar CLE calendar, the Real Property/Probate & Trust committee, and the DSS notices all publish on different schedules. This is that sift, already done, with the link on each item.