South Dakota Death Records
The law implementing the South Dakota Vital Records System took effect in July 1905.
This system contains birth, death, fetal death, marriage, divorce/annulment and burial records.
The Vital Records System, led by the Department of Health, has 64 local Registers of Deeds,
which have helped to build and maintain the system.
In general, the State and County offices each hold a set of standard birth, death and marriage records.
In some instances however, County offices have records prior to the creation of the Vital Records
System.
As a standard, the State and County offices have records of death that occurred after 1905.
It is standard for each county to have the records of deaths that occurred in their county while
the Department of Health has the original records of all events that occurred in the State after 1905.