Get Answers to Your Highest Priority South Dakota Legal Questions

Yes. Your motorcycle is allowed to use a full traffic lane and no other vehicle can deprive you of the full use of a lane.

Yes. South Dakota does accept a motorcycle endorsement from another state.

If you are hurt in an accident, one of the first things that may happen is that the other party's insurance company may call you and ask you about what happened in the accident, and about your injuries. What you say to an insurance company can and will be used against you. Often a person just injured in a car accident in particular, does not feel the full brunt of his injuries until a day or two later. However, he/she may have told the insurance company that he was "not hurt" or "not badly hurt" a few hours after the accident. Without question the most common mistake people make after an accident has occurred is in speaking to the other side's insurance professional without a lawyer -a professional of his/her own- on his/her side. We strongly recommend that you do not speak to the other party's insurance company without having retained a lawyer.

The next most common mistake injured persons make after an accident has occurred is not seeking treatment quickly enough. It is very important for your case to have an objective track record showing that you have been injured. Therefore, it is crucial if you have been injured that you get to a doctor or another medical professional as soon as you can, after the accident. Further, it is crucial that you do not create a "gap in treatment" by missing your doctor's appointments in the weeks and months following your accident, as these are things that can be used against you by insurance adjusters and defense counsel in your case. While not indicative of the extent of your injuries, not treating soon after your accident, or missing treatment sessions creates an argument that either you were not badly injured at the time of the accident, or you were healed fairly soon after the accident.

A divorce action may be started in the county where either party lives, but the defendant has the right to change the place of the trial to the county where the defendant resides.

Yes.  Watertown has a implemented a local texting-while-driving ban.  A proposed statewide ban failed in the South Dakota Legislature earlier in 2013.

Yes.  Vermillion has a implemented a local texting-while-driving ban.  A proposed statewide ban failed in the South Dakota Legislature earlier in 2013.

Yes.  Brookings has a implemented a local texting-while-driving ban.  A proposed statewide ban failed in the South Dakota Legislature earlier in 2013.

"Portability" allows married couples to take full advantage of each other’s unused federal estate and gift tax exclusion amounts.

Let’s look at a hypothetical Sioux Falls couple: John and Jan Jones. 

The Jones had $6 million in total assets, and their individual wills transferred all assets to the surviving spouse.  When John died in 2008, Jan inherited all his assets without incurring any federal estate taxes, because of the federal unlimited marital deduction.  John's federal estate tax exclusion, however, was wasted.  So, when Jan died in 2009 with $6 million in assets, her estate was able to take advantage of her personal federal estate tax exclusion only, not John's.  In 2009, the federal exclusion was $3.5 million.  As a result, $2.5 million of Jan's estate was subject to federal estate tax, at a 45% tax rate.

Now let’s look at how this scenario would change under current law, which permits portability of any unused federal estate tax exclusion to be transferred to a surviving spouse.  If John had died in 2011, the personal representative of his estate could have elected to use the unlimited marital deduction to transfer John's unused $5 million federal estate tax exclusion to Jan.  If Jan dies in 2013 with the $6 million in assets, her estate will have a total of $10,250,000 in federal estate-tax exclusions: the $5 million transferred from John (which was not indexed to inflation after John’s death) and her own $5,250,000 exclusion amount (which was indexed for inflation).  As a result, none of the $6 million estate would be subject to federal estate tax.

 

Yes.  Mitchell has a implemented a local texting-while-driving ban.  A proposed statewide ban failed in the South Dakota Legislature earlier in 2013.

Yes.  Sioux Falls has a implemented a local texting-while-driving ban.  A proposed statewide ban failed in the South Dakota Legislature earlier in 2013.