25.343.12 100th Legislative Session 1174
2025 South Dakota Legislature
House Bill 1174
ENROLLED
AN ACT
ENTITLED An Act to revise certain provisions related to the rights and obligations of
a father of a child born to an unmarried mother.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
Section 1. That § 25-6-1 be AMENDED:
25-6-1. If the biological mother of a child is not married to the father of the child
at the time of the conception or birth of the child, or at any time between conception and
birth of the child, the father becomes an acknowledged father of the child and adopts the
child only by:
(1) Openly holding out the child as the father's own by receiving the child into the
father's household;
(2) Voluntarily contributing to the financial support of the child; or
(3) Voluntarily contributing to the daily supervision, protection, education, and care of
the child.
Following a father's adoption of a child pursuant to this section, the child is deemed
for all purposes to be the child of the father from the time of the child's birth. No other
provision of law relating to adoption shall apply.
Section 2. That § 25-6-1.1 be AMENDED:
25-6-1.1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law or court ruling, if the
biological mother of a child is not married to the father at the time of conception or birth
of the child, or at any time between conception and birth of the child, the father of the
child, as a requirement of due process, has no rights to the service of process or notice in
an adoption or termination of parental rights proceeding, unless the father is known and
identified by the mother to the court, or unless the father, prior to the entry of a final
order in the proceeding, acknowledges the child as the father's own by affirmatively
asserting paternity, within fifteen days after the birth of the child, by: 25.343.12 2 1174
HB1174 ENROLLED
(1) Becoming an acknowledged father as provided in § 25-6-1;
(2) Causing the father's name to be affixed to the birth certificate as provided by § 34-
25-13.2; or
(3) Commencing an action for paternity pursuant to chapter 25-8.
A man who has sexual intercourse with a woman to whom the man is not married
is deemed to be on notice that a child may be conceived as a result and is entitled to
notice of an adoption proceeding or voluntary termination of parental rights proceeding
only as provided in this chapter. It is the duty of the father to affirmatively assert and
protect the father's rights and interest in the child.
The mother has the right to not identify the father or any other potential father of
the child to the court or to any other person in an adoption or voluntary termination of
parental rights proceeding. No inquiry may be made into the sexual history of the mother
in an adoption or voluntary termination of parental rights proceeding. The mother's failure
to inform the father of the mother's pregnancy is not a defense to the father's failure to
timely assert paternity as provided in this chapter. 25.343.12 3 1174
HB1174 ENROLLED
An Act to revise certain provisions related to the rights and obligations of a father of a child
born to an unmarried mother.
I certify that the attached Act originated in
the:
House as Bill No. 1174
Chief Clerk
Speaker of the House
Attest:
Chief Clerk
President of the Senate
Attest:
Secretary of the Senate
House Bill No. 1174
File No. ____
Chapter No. ______
Received at this Executive Office
this _____ day of _____________,
2025 at ____________M.
By
for the Governor
The attached Act is hereby
approved this ________ day of
______________, A.D., 2025
Governor
STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA ,
ss.
Office of the Secretary of State
Filed ____________, 2025
at _________ o'clock __M.
Secretary of State
By
Asst. Secretary of State