South Dakota

South Dakota spent most of its history with a public records law that presumed records were closed unless a statute opened them — the opposite of every other state.

That was reversed and records are now presumed open. But the long list of statutory exemptions built up under the old rule didn’t vanish with it, and South Dakota agencies are noticeably more cautious than their neighbors.

You have ten business days for a response. Denials go to the Office of Hearing Examiners, which is free to use and issues decisions — a better route than court, and worth knowing about because almost nobody uses it.

Expect to be asked what you want it for even though you don’t have to say. Be polite, be specific, and cite the presumption of openness.

South Dakota has spent decades making itself the leading domestic asset protection trust jurisdiction in the United States. It abolished the rule against perpetuities, allows self-settled spendthrift trusts, and provides strong statutory privacy for trust arrangements.

The practical consequence for an investigator: substantial wealth can be held in a South Dakota trust with no public record connecting it to a beneficiary. Trust instruments aren’t filed, beneficiaries aren’t registered, and court proceedings involving trusts can be sealed on request.

You won’t find it in the business registry either, because a trust isn’t an entity that registers. What you can sometimes find is the trust company — the corporate trustee is a regulated entity with a public charter, and Sioux Falls has a concentration of them.

If a subject with real money has a South Dakota connection and no visible assets, this is usually why.