Protective orders in South Dakota.

The five relationships, and the twelve-month clock

South Dakota puts the eligibility list in its own section, separate from the definition of abuse. There are five categories:

Two things to take from that. Siblings are expressly included, which many states leave out, and so are sibling relationships created by adoption or marriage. And you qualify if you are expecting a child with the other person — there does not have to be a child yet.

The category to watch is the second one. A significant romantic relationship counts if it is current or ended within the past twelve months. If it ended longer ago than that and none of the other four applies, check your dates before filing and ask an advocate about the separate stalking protection scheme at chapter 22-19A.

What counts as domestic abuse

Note the third limb: the infliction of fear of imminent physical harm. Nothing has to have been done to you physically.

The section also provides that a violation of s. 25-10-13, of chapter 22-19A (stalking), or a crime of violence as defined in s. 22-1-2(9), is domestic abuse when committed between people in one of those relationships.

The temporary order, and the hearing clock

A temporary protection order can be made without the other person present and lasts thirty days.

The hearing follows within thirty days, unless continued for good cause.

Personal service at least five days before. If the respondent has not been served in time, expect the hearing to move — that is a common reason for a continuance and it is not a sign anything has gone wrong.

The standard, the relief, and five years

The court must find domestic abuse on a preponderance of the evidence. It may then:

— restrain any party from committing acts of domestic abuse;

— exclude the abusing party from a shared dwelling or from your residence;

— award temporary custody or establish temporary visitation for minor children;

— establish temporary support for minor children or a spouse;

— order the abusing party to obtain counseling; and

— order other relief as the court deems necessary for the protection of the person protected.

Where minor children reside with either party, the court must order the restrained person to receive parenting instruction approved by the Department of Social Services.

That final catch-all is worth using. If something specific would make you safer and it is not on the list, it falls within "other relief as the court deems necessary" — but only if you ask.

Five years is among the longest standard ceilings in the country. It is a ceiling, not a default, and the length you get has a great deal to do with what you ask for and why.

Class 1 misdemeanour, and two routes to a felony

There are two separate ways it becomes a Class 6 felony, and they work quite differently.

First, by what was done. Where the violation also amounts to a violation of s. 22-18-1, s. 22-18-1.1 or s. 22-19A-1 — the assault and stalking provisions — it is a Class 6 felony on the first occasion, with no prior record needed.

Second, by repetition. Where a person has two or more prior convictions or guilty pleas under this section or s. 22-19A-16, a third or subsequent offense is a Class 6 felony — provided the conduct occurred after the date of the second conviction and within ten years of the current offense.

That sequencing requirement matters: the later conduct must come after the second conviction, not merely after the second incident. Convictions, not events, are what the count is built on — another reason that reporting a violation and seeing it through is worth the trouble.

The things that are different here

Five years is the ceiling for relief — long by national standards.

Siblings are covered, including step-siblings and siblings by adoption.

Expecting a child counts, not only having one.

The romantic relationship category has a twelve-month clock. Check your dates.

Fear of imminent harm is enough — nothing physical need have happened.

An assault or stalking breach is a felony on the first occasion, without any prior record.

Parenting instruction is mandatory where minor children reside with either party.

SDCL § 25-10-24 — “Surrender of weapon by defendant”

“The court may require the defendant to surrender any dangerous weapon or any concealed pistol permit issued under 23-7 in the defendant’s possession to local law enforcement.”

That is the whole section, and every word of it is worth weighing:

• “May.” Discretionary. Nothing happens automatically. You have to ask for this expressly, and it is not on the standard checklist of things people think to request.
• “Any dangerous weapon” — broader than firearms.
• The concealed pistol permit too. The court can take the permit directly, rather than waiting for the permitting authority to act.
• To local law enforcement — not to a friend or relative.

The statute sets no deadline, so the timing is whatever the judge writes into the order. Ask for a specific handover time and ask for it on the face of the order, because a surrender term with no date is very hard to enforce. Violating a term of a protection order is a Class 1 misdemeanor under SDCL § 25-10-13.

What South Dakota does not have

There is no possession prohibition. Section 25-10-24 lets a court take weapons; it does not make possession itself unlawful. South Dakota’s possession bans at SDCL §§ 22-14-15, 22-14-15.1 and 22-14-15.2 reach prior violent-crime, drug and domestic violence convictions — the domestic violence misdemeanor bar running one year — and none of them reaches a protection order.

On concealed carry: SDCL § 23-7-7.1 disqualifies applicants who are prohibited under 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g) and 922(n), which captures a qualifying protection order by reference to federal law rather than through any South Dakota clause of its own. Section 23-7-64 provides for automatic revocation when a permit holder becomes prohibited. South Dakota is a permitless-carry state, so the practical weight of the permit rules is limited — which is another reason to use § 25-10-24 and have the court take the weapons themselves.

And the federal prohibition at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) applies here as everywhere, to a final order made after a hearing the respondent had notice of and could attend. Ask for the credible-threat finding.

An order from one state works in all of them

This is federal law and it does not change at a state line. An order issued by one state, tribe or territory must be enforced by every other as if that state had issued it. And you do not have to register it in the new state first — registration is optional, not a precondition to enforcement.

The same section also says the enforcing state must not tell the restrained person that the order has been registered there unless the protected person asks it to, and must not publish anything online that would be likely to reveal the protected person’s identity or location.