How it works. Pick the state and whether the document is financial or healthcare. You get the signing steps in order (official form, notary, witnesses, the agent's acknowledgment, recording for real estate), each marked required, optional or not confirmed, with the official link.
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South Dakota: financial power of attorney
2 steps required
- Recommended or optionalStatutory formStart from the official form: Statutory form power of attorney (SDCL 59-12-41). Section 59-12-41 sets out the statutory form. Have a lawyer review it before anyone signs. Open the official form
- RequiredNotarySign in front of a notary, who completes an acknowledgment. Any signature is acknowledged before a notary or other official authorized to take acknowledgments.
"Any signature under this section shall be acknowledged before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments."
- Not requiredWitnessesThe execution section doesn't require witnesses.
"A power of attorney shall be signed by the principal"
- Not requiredAgent's acknowledgmentNo signed acceptance is required before acting. An agent accepts by acting or other conduct showing acceptance.
"a person accepts appointment as an agent under a power of attorney by exercising authority"
- Recommended or optionalRecording for real estateRecording is allowed but not required. When a power of attorney is to be recorded with the register of deeds, the recording rules of 43-28-23 and 7-9-1 apply.
"apply to any power of attorney that is to be recorded with the register of deeds."
- RequiredDurable after incapacityInclude durable wording if it should keep working after incapacity. South Dakota's version isn't durable unless the document says so.
"if the power of attorney is not durable"
Official sources: Session Laws 2020, chapter 214 (SB 148), An Act to adopt the Uniform Power of Attorney Act (South Dakota Legislature)
Print this page to take to the signing.
On the day
The principal signs in front of the notary and any witnesses, after the notary checks ID. If the principal is in a hospital or care home, see notarizing a power of attorney in a hospital; for medical decisions, see signing a healthcare proxy. For every state on one page, see power of attorney requirements by state.
Signing in New Jersey? MCC Solutions provides mobile notarization, hospital notarization and remote online notarization for New Jersey signers. Elsewhere, a local notary can help.
General information, not legal advice; we are not lawyers. Checked November 2026 against the official pages linked in each checklist. Signing rules change, and a power of attorney gives someone real control over money or medical decisions: have a lawyer prepare or review it. A notary identifies the signer and completes the certificate; a notary doesn't draft the document or explain what it does.
Questions about the checklist
Which state's rules apply?
Pick the state whose law the document is made under, usually where the principal lives and signs. When the principal lives in one state and the property or the bank is in another, ask a lawyer which state's form and signing rules to follow.
What do the labels mean?
Required is a stated condition on the official page. Your choice of two means a notary or witnesses will do. Recommended or optional means the law doesn't demand it but it helps in practice. Not confirmed means no official page we opened said, so nothing is guessed.
Can the agent be a witness or the notary?
Where our sources list witness rules, the agent is barred (Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania), and some also bar relatives, heirs or caregivers (Arizona, Illinois, Washington). Pennsylvania and Iowa say the agent can't take the acknowledgment.
Is this a power of attorney form?
No. The checklist tells you how a document is signed, and links the state's official form where one exists. Have a lawyer prepare or review the power of attorney itself.
Does the checklist save what I choose?
No. The page reads your choices from the address bar and builds the list on the server. Nothing is stored, and it works without JavaScript.