More on South Dakota

The rest of what we have written about South Dakota. Every figure is quoted from South Dakota’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.

Changing your name back in South Dakota

Whether you can get your former name back in the divorce itself — and what it costs in South Dakota if you miss that moment.

A name going back to what it was An identity card with a photo and a name line, and an arrow curving back over the card to show the name being restored.
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The federal half is the same everywhere

Social Security, the passport, and the order to do them in are identical in all fifty states and are on the main name-change page. This page is the part that is South Dakota-specific.

Restore it in the divorceYesSDCL 25-4-47
After the decree is finalYes separate statutory name-change petition
Newspaper publicationRequired SDCL 21-37-4
Background checkNo Nothing in SDCL ch. 21-37 requires fingerprints, a criminal history record, or a…
Separate petition fee$72.00Confirmed from an official schedule.
CourtCircuit Court (county of the… SDCL 21-37-2
What do you need?
Restoring your name in the divorceIf the decree is already finalThe separate name-change petitionWhat catches people out in South…Sources for this pageEvery state
6 sections on this page. Pick one, or show everything.
The short version5 points · tap one to jump to it
  1. Restoring your name in the divorce — South Dakota restores a former name through the divorce itself, under SDCL 25-4-47.
  2. If the decree is already final
  3. The separate name-change petition — This is the route if the divorce route is closed to you, or if you want a name that is not a former one.
  4. What catches people out in South Dakota — The $72.00 total is itemized in the UJS Schedule of Court Costs as a $25.00 filing fee plus a $40.00 court automation surcharge plus a $7.00 law library fee.
  5. Every state
In this subject 6

Restoring your name in the divorce

South Dakota restores a former name through the divorce itself, under SDCL 25-4-47.

“Whenever a decree of divorce is granted, the trial court may, in its discretion or upon the application of either party by the terms of the decree, restore to the woman her maiden name or the name she legally bore prior to her marriage to the husband in the divorce suit. All decrees of divorce previously entered restoring to the divorced woman her former name under this section are declared legal and valid and effective from their date of entry.”

How much choice the judge has: discretionary – the statute says the court ‘may, in its discretion or upon the application of either party’ restore the name; it is not phrased as mandatory on request

Who may ask: either party

Ask in the divorce — but missing it is not fatal

The statutory restoration in South Dakota has to be requested while the case is open. It is still much the cheapest moment to do it. But there is a way back afterwards, set out in the next section.

If the decree is already final

SDCL 25-4-47 works only through the terms of the divorce decree (‘by the terms of the decree’), so if the restoration was not put in the decree the ordinary route is a fresh change-of-name petition in circuit court under ch. 21-37, with the six-month county residency requirement and the four-week newspaper publication. South Dakota has no statute specifically authorizing a post-decree motion to add a name restoration to an already-final divorce decree; a motion to amend the decree would rest on the general civil rules rather than on a name-change statute, so this JSON does not assert one.

Authority: SDCL ch. 21-37 (21-37-1 through 21-37-5)

The separate name-change petition

This is the route if the divorce route is closed to you, or if you want a name that is not a former one.

  • Statute: SDCL 21-37-1, 21-37-2, 21-37-3, 21-37-4, 21-37-5; victim exception at SDCL 21-37-5.2
  • Court: Circuit Court (county of the petitioner’s residence)
  • Filing fee: $72.00 (schedule dated 2026-07-01)
  • Residency: SDCL 21-37-2: ‘Any person who has been a bona fide resident of any county of this state for a period of six months next preceding the filing of the petition’ may change their name. The petition is filed with the clerk of courts in that county and must state the six-month bona fide residency (SDCL 21-37-3).
  • Publication: SDCL 21-37-4: the petitioner must give notice of the hearing ‘stating the time and place and object thereof with the old and proposed names of the petitioner, by publishing the notice once each week for four successive weeks in any legal newspaper of the county of petitioner’s residence.’ The UJS self-help instructions (Form UJS-024) confirm publication once each week for four successive weeks and warn that the newspaper’s charge is separate from and additional to the court filing fee; no statewide publication cost figure is published, so none is given here.
  • Background check: Nothing in SDCL ch. 21-37 requires fingerprints, a criminal history record, or a background check, and the UJS adult name change instructions (Form UJS-024) do not mention one. The court must simply find under SDCL 21-37-5 that ‘there exists proper and reasonable cause for changing the name of the petitioner.’
  • Hearing: required

Official forms

What catches people out in South Dakota

SDCL 25-4-47 is still written in gendered terms – it authorizes restoring ‘to the woman her maiden name.’ On its face it does not cover a husband who took his wife’s surname; such a person would use the ch. 21-37 name-change petition instead.
SDCL 25-4-47 operates ‘by the terms of the decree,’ so the restoration has to be in the divorce decree itself. Ask for it before the decree is signed; there is no cheap statutory do-over afterward.
The separate ch. 21-37 petition requires six months of bona fide residence in the specific county where you file – not just six months in South Dakota.
Publication runs once a week for four successive weeks in a legal newspaper, so budget several weeks of calendar time plus the newspaper’s own bill on top of the $72 court cost.
The publication/open-court exception in SDCL 21-37-5.2 is limited to victims of human trafficking and adult victims of domestic abuse who show a ‘particularized need’; a plain post-divorce restoration with no safety issue does not qualify.
Worth knowing

SDCL 21-37-5.2 (enacted 2020, amended 2022) is a genuine safety exemption: the court ‘may grant an order changing the name of a person without publication of notice or a hearing in open court’ for an adult victim of domestic abuse, or a victim of human trafficking, who shows ‘a particularized need for a change of name to protect’ them from the perpetrator, plus a best-interests finding and a finding that the change is not for purposes of fraud. The court may also order the entire petition and order sealed, and may seal an original birth certificate replaced under SDCL 34-25-16.8; the sealed records ‘shall only be opened by a court order based upon showing good cause or at the petitioner’s request.’

The $72.00 total is itemized in the UJS Schedule of Court Costs as a $25.00 filing fee plus a $40.00 court automation surcharge plus a $7.00 law library fee. Quoting only the ‘$25 filing fee’ understates what the clerk actually collects.

South Dakota’s adult name change is a circuit court matter statewide – there is no separate probate or county court route.

SDCL 21-37-1 expressly provides that a name change ‘shall in no manner affect or alter any pending action or legal proceeding, nor any right, title, or interest whatsoever’ – it does not wipe out debts or obligations.

Sources for this page

Found an error? Tell us — it goes on the corrections page with the date and how long it was live.

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Sources last checked30 August 2026
Page published30 August 2026
What this means. This is when the sources on this page were last read against their originals — statutes, court rules, official schedules — taken from the date this page was built from its sources. It is not the date the page was last edited. Adding a link or fixing a typo does not move it; re-reading the statute does. Law changes without notice, so treat anything time-sensitive as needing a fresh check. Where we get something wrong we publish it at thecusp.app/corrections with the date, what changed, and how long the error was live.