Privacy Statutes:

South Dakota is rated the top privacy state in the U.S. for trusts. South Dakota, by statute, generally protects the privacy of those persons who have established a court-supervised trust or non-court-supervised trust with regard to any court proceeding concerning the administration of a trust.

The issue of privacy of court documents is very important to many families since the court cases may involve family disputes, wealth and/or other issues that the family does not want made available to the public for many reasons. This is not only important with disputes, but also with modifications, reformations or decanting of trust documents.

As a general rule both federal and state court records are available to the public, however some states do have exceptions for sealing records, but these exceptions generally do not apply to trusts. Additionally, internet access to court records is generally very limited but varies by state. Usually the only information available via the internet is provided to comply with written communication. This is subject to ongoing review and debate in most states. South Dakota seals trust records.