25.343.11 100th Legislative Session 1174
2025 South Dakota Legislature
House Bill 1174
Introduced by: Representative Hughes
Underscores indicate new language.
Overstrikes indicate deleted language.
An Act to revise certain provisions related to the rights and obligations of a father 1
of a child born to an unmarried mother. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA: 3
Section 1. That § 25-6-1 be AMENDED: 4
25-6-1. The father of an illegitimate child by publicly acknowledging it as his own, 5
receiving it as such into his family, with the consent of his wife if he is married and 6
otherwise treating it as if it were a legitimate child, thereby adopts it as such, and such 7
child is thereupon deemed for all purposes legitimate from the time of its birth. The other 8
provisions of law relating to adoption shall not apply in such cases.If the biological mother 9
of a child is not married to the father of the child at the time of the conception or birth of 10
the child, or at any time between conception and birth of the child, the father becomes an 11
acknowledged father of the child and adopts the child only by: 12
(1) Openly holding out the child as the father's own by receiving the child into the 13
father's household; 14
(2) Voluntarily contributing to the financial support of the child; or 15
(3) Voluntarily contributing to the daily supervision, protection, education, and care of 16
the child. 17
Following a father's adoption of a child pursuant to this section, the child is deemed 18
for all purposes to be the child of the father from the time of the child's birth. No other 19
provision of law relating to adoption shall apply. 20
Section 2. That § 25-6-1.1 be AMENDED: 21
25-6-1.1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law or court rule ruling, if the 22
biological mother of a child is not married to the father at the time of conception or birth 23
of the child, or at any time between conception and birth of the child, the father of an 24
illegitimate the child shall, as a requirement of due process, have has no rights to the 25 25.343.11 2 1174
Underscores indicate new language.
Overstrikes indicate deleted language.
service of process or notice in an adoption, dependency, delinquency, or termination of 1
parental rights proceedings proceeding, unless he the father is known and identified by 2
the mother to the court, or unless he the father, prior to the entry of a final order, in any 3
of the three proceedings, shall have acknowledged in the proceeding, acknowledges the 4
child as his the father's own by affirmatively asserting paternity, within sixty fifteen days 5
after the birth of the child, by: 6
(1) As outlinedBecoming an acknowledged father as provided in § 25-6-1; or 7
(2) By causing hisCausing the father's name to be affixed to the birth certificate as 8
provided by § 34-25-13.2; or 9
(3) Otherwise by commencing a judicial proceeding claiming a parental 10
rightCommencing an action for paternity pursuant to chapter 25-8. 11
A man who has sexual intercourse with a woman to whom the man is not married 12
is deemed to be on notice that a child may be conceived as a result and is entitled to 13
notice of an adoption proceeding or voluntary termination of parental rights proceeding 14
only as provided in this chapter. It is the duty of the father to affirmatively assert and 15
protect the father's rights and interest in the child. 16
The mother has the right to not identify the father or any other potential father of 17
the child to the court or to any other person in an adoption or voluntary termination of 18
parental rights proceeding. No inquiry may be made into the sexual history of the mother 19
in an adoption or voluntary termination of parental rights proceeding. The mother's failure 20
to inform the father of the mother's pregnancy is not a defense to the father's failure to 21
timely assert paternity as provided in this chapter. 22